Obama, liberals showing 'elitists skirts,' Ridge says

Former Gov. Tom Ridge (R)MINNETONKA, Minn. -- Former Gov. Tom Ridge (R) gave a fiery speech to the Pennsylvania delegation gathered for breakfast Thursday morning, expressing outrage at what he saw as Barack Obama's "elitist" criticism of Sarah Palin's experience as a small-town mayor.

"Folks on the other side show their elitists skirts from time to time, their elitists trousers ... when they diss people from small towns," Ridge said, seemingly personally offended by the criticism. "It's rather remarkable to me that this crowd on the other side of the aisle thinks so little" of that kind of experience.

Ridge was referring to remarks made immediately after news of Palin's selection broke, when the Democratic Presidential nominee's campaign assailed the choice because of the Alaskan governor's lack of experience. Obama distanced himself from those comments later in the day, but Ridge told reporters after his speech he doesn't care.

"How dare Obama, how dare he diss her experience?" Ridge asked, adding that the senator from Illinois needs to start taking responsibility for his campaign's remarks.

"I've seen this happen too many times," Ridge said.

The former governor then took another familiar route at the delegation's breakfast, referring to Obama's now-infamous remarks in San Francisco where he said "bitter" Pennsylvanians "cling" to their guns and religion. American citizens have gone to church and beared arms since 1789, he said.

"He went to Harvard Law School, but somebody ought to tell him about the Constitution of United States and the Bill of Rights," Ridge said.

The man once rumored to be on McCain's vice presidential short-list tried to channel the delegation's enthusiasm, telling them they needed to actively campaign to help the GOP ticket win in a critical swing state.

"It's going to be up to us to win this election," he said.