On March 20, 2008, Real Clear Politics posted an article by Anne Coulter that echoed across the internet, Fox News um, television, and newspaper reports, becoming the quintessential cliché heard round the world: Throw Grandma Under the Bus. In it, Coulter wrote,
"Discrimination has become so openly accepted that -- in a speech meant to tamp down his association with a black racist -- Obama felt perfectly comfortable throwing his white grandmother under the bus. He used her as the white racist counterpart to his black racist ‘old uncle,’ Rev. Wright."
I just saw the ad currently running in Pennsylvania that features, among others, Madelyn Dunham – Obama’s rather frail, but otherwise healthy-looking, grandmother. And judging by the looks of things, she doesn’t seem at all a woman who’s been tragically run over by a bus recently.
Actually Coulter got confused. Dunham wasn’t under the bus. She was waiting for it. In Obama’s first autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," he relates the story of how one day he saw his grandmother visibly shaken and asked her what was wrong. She replied, "A man asked me for money yesterday. While I was waiting for the bus." It turned out the man had been very aggressive and also happened to be Black. At this point, he then listened to a painful story from his grandfather about the racial components of the event.
In the ad, his grandma praised this ability to listen to others, saying, "Well, I think it's given him a lot of depth and a broadness of view."
Poor Anne! This whole 2008 Dem primary really has her baffled.