Earth to press: NOBODY CARES about "Bittergate"

Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, has endorsed Obama.

In addition to offering vocal support for the candidate, Rooney also penned a letter to his fellow Pennsylvanians making a case for Obama. "True sports fans know that you support your team even when they are the underdogs," Rooney wrote. "Barack Obama is an underdog here but it is with great pride that I join his team."

Meanwhile, voters in western PA don't care about Obama's remarks.

Yes, some Democrats in Pennsylvania's Rust Belt communities were upset by Barack Obama's suggestion that voters there "cling to guns or religion" because of bitterness about their economic lot. But many more seem to think it was no big deal — and if there's a problem, it's with the political slapfest that has followed....

"It's so difficult to watch every word," said Mary Ellen Matunis, a Clinton backer from Shenandoah.

"I was not offended," she said. "Poor choice of words, but I think it was just misspoken."

The only people losing sleep over this remark are the professional pundit class. As the Nation puts it:

The endless coverage of Barack Obama's comments about small-town America is a great example of the type of manufactured scandal that gives political journalism a bad name.

It's obvious why the Clinton campaign and the McCain campaign want to keep this faux scandal alive. It's disturbing to see so many in the media swallow the spin.

Few have wrestled with the actual substance of what Obama said. But after three days of carefully calibrated outrage, voices in Pennsylvania and elsewhere are stepping forward to defend Obama's alleged gaffe.