On a day when — for the third day in a row — Senator Hillary Clinton was blasting Senator Barack Obama for suggesting that people in small towns were bitter (working the word into her comments) it now turns out that her husband former President Bill Clinton made remarks somewhat similar to the ones she’s now using to argue that Obama is in-effect unelectable and a defeat waiting to happen for the Democratic Party.

The Huffington Post has found this excerpt from Bill Clinton comments published in the Sunday Los Angeles Times in 1991:

“You know, he [Bush] wants to divide us over race. I’m from the South. I understand this. This quota deal they’re gonna pull in the next election is the same old scam they’ve been pulling on us for decade after decade after decade. When their economic policies fail, when the country’s coming apart rather than coming together, what do they do? They find the most economically insecure white men and scare the living daylights out of them. They know if they can keep us looking at each other across a racial divide, if I can look at Bobby Rush and think, Bobby wants my job, my promotion, then neither of us can look at George Bush and say, ‘What happened to everybody’s job? What happened to everybody’s income? What … have … you … done … to … our … country?’”

And underneath it, the HP runs Obama’s comments that are being denounced by the Clinton campaign (which even has “We’re Not Bitter” stickers that are being handed out at some events):

Here’s how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn’t buy it. And when it’s delivered by — it’s true that when it’s delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laugher), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter). […]

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

But there’s more: Talking Points memo quotes Harvard University political scientist Theda Skocpol as saying the Clintons say the same thing in private that they’re now lambasting Obama for — and using as an argument to superdelegates for him being unelectable. Here’s part of the quote:

I have been in meetings with the Clintons and their advisors where very clinical things were said in a very-detached tone about unwillingness of working class voters to trust government — and Bill Clinton — and about their unfortunate (from a Clinton perspective) proclivity to vote on life-style rather than economic issues. To see Hillary going absolutely over the top to smash Obama for making clearly more humanly sympathetic observations in this vein, is just amazing. Even more so to see her pretending to be a gun-toting non-elite. Give us a break!

I wonder if she realizes that gaining a few days of lurid publicity that might reach a slice of voters is going to cost her a great deal in the regard of many Democrats, whose strong support she will need if she somehow claws her way to the nomination — and even more so if she does not clinch the nomination. The distribution of “we’re not bitter” stickers to her campaign rallies is the height of over-the-top crudity, and the reports are that very few audience members seem to have much enthusiasm for this nonsense. Not surprisingly, people cannot see the reasons for so much fuss.

Yes, she wants a big break, she desperately wants the nomination she and Bill believe is hers by right. We all know that. But where is her authenticity and her dignity and her sense of any proportion?

Yet, this whole brou-ha-ha is a case study in how American politics now operates. You have statements indicating a similar attitude on the part of Bill Clinton and what their attitudes are in private. But most news coverage will only use clips of Hillary Clinton berating Obama and using the word “bitter” at every chance to keep the issue alive before the voters see seeks to woo.

What continues to be stunning is that for nearly the entire run of the Bush administration Democrats and independents have been highly critical of it because GOPers were said to say one thing in public and perhaps do another thing behind the scenes. This was called intolerable and Democrats and independents insisted there absolutely must be a higher standard of credibility.

Now, in the Democratic primaries, many who decried this modus operendi will look the other way or try to rationalize it, or dismiss reports that don’t fit in with their own political agenda (to win no matter what).

Outrage among some Democrats seems conditional. But it may not be conditional in the case of many independent voters who may be turned off the the plasticity of selective outrage which seemingly has as its underlying mantra: Consistency conshmistency — it’s an issue we can use against him!

FOOTNOTE: The must-read site The Political had this fascinating piece earlier today about what Hillary Clinton really thinks. It’s clear that it’s sourced from Clinton camp associates and makes the case that the Clintons believe Hillary Clinton must save the Democratic Party from certain defeat if Obama gets the nomination. But Clinton’s own comments and consistency will likely become a huge issue. And if she gets the nomination it increasingly seems like that some portions of vital Democratic constituencies will be “bitter” over the negative tone of her campaign and stay home on Election Day.