Short answer: NO, of course she shouldn't have said it. By saying it she demonstrated clearly that she doesn't understand the majority non-racists in Fly Over country. Of course a good number of them internalized it because they're accustomed to being spoken of in such terms by what they consider elites (I'd be one of those, BTW, due to my having earned a Master's degree). A lot of those folks, displaced Union workers, have cause to feel that "deplorable" is the way their government must feel about them. Obama essentially said the same thing when he talked about people "clinging to their guns and bibles." The Liberal Elite have a long history of characterizing everyone in the MidWest in the worst terms imaginable - most importantly the working class of the Rust Belt who have had their futures stolen from them by the New Democrat's new buddies.

The point is, without regard to how you, I or anyone else feels about those people, they have enough power at the voting booth to stop virtually anyone. You alienate them at your own (and arguably your nation's) peril. If that almost self-evident lesson isn't learned even after the disaster of this year's Presidential election, there's very little reason (read: none) to hope things will improve.