Looks like he'll be the sideshow of the day.
More on him later.
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From Power To Ferraro To Wright...
13 Mar 2008 02:09 pm
Comments (56)
Wow, tremendous insight.
I assume we're talking about Mets third baseman David Wright.
The Good thing is that as far as newscycles go this will become quite tiresome soon. And perhaps will have very little barring on the rest of the primaries.
I don't think this is as big as you think it is. MSNBC and CNN haven't picked it up, neither have most of the news sites.
Did I neglect to mention Wright's Ward Churchill like CELEBRATION OF 9/11 as an overdue comeuppance to all those "rich whitey's" on Wall Steet?
I don't know that the leaders of the TUCC were dancing in the streets and shooting their rifles in the air on September 11, 2001, but the sentiment was very similar.
Now that the Rev is retired, maybe he can join the similarly unemployed Ward Churchill on the far left campus circuit spreading the word about "what really happened" on that day.
robert ethan,
So do you think Obama holds views like that?
This guy's going to dog Obama for the next eight months. Time to reject and denounce. As an Obama voter, I have trouble with a lot of what he's said. I can only imagine how undecideds will view him. I hope Obama's been preparing for this.
NHCt, Obama has already denounced and rejected the views put for by Rev Wright in the recent videos. In fact, these videos aren't really new. Much of this has already come out in the past.
What is interesting is both the timing and source of these videos.
Right on the heels of the Ferraro dust-up and from Fox News of all people.
I am not accusing the Clinton campaign at all in this affair.
But it is pretty obvious the Republicans know the candidate they have a shot at beating is Clinton and want to do their best to get her the nomination.
The terribly ironic things about this is that it's a debate the Republicans should be TERRIFIED to have. Once we start investigating preachers who make ridiculous statements it will turn into a massive church vs state battle with crazies all over the place. But there is one difference in this case...
Wright is black.
john:
Not reject or denounce the views, but reject and denounce HIM.
This could be Obama's Sista Soulja moment. A chance to prove he's not afraid of pissing off some people in the African American community. Will he take it?
This could be Obama's Sista Soulja moment. A chance to prove he's not afraid of pissing off some people in the African American community. Will he take it?
Tim K, stop embarassing yourself and go watch Obama's speech at MLK's church in January (before the SC primary). He stood in MLK's church and called out the African American community for the anti-semitism and homophobia that comes from some of its members:
And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community.
We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.
Tim K,
If blacks found out about Obama's views on affirmative action, I think many will be pissed off. He is not against it per se but he believes that poor whites should be part of the equation. In other words, class should be part of the equation.
THIS IS OLD NEW....
STOP HYPERVENTILATING!
Tim K,
Why should Obama reject and denounce his pastor, rather than his pastor's views? Aren't the views the problem? If not, why aren't you calling for Hillary Clinton to reject and denounce Geraldine Ferraro, since all Clinton has done to date is "regret that those things were said"? You seem selective in your outrage.
THIS IS OLD NEW....
STOP HYPERVENTILATING!
THIS IS OLD NEW....
STOP HYPERVENTILATING!
THIS IS OLD NEW....
STOP HYPERVENTILATING!
THIS IS OLD NEW....
STOP HYPERVENTILATING!
Don't be so needlessly personal.
I don't mean I need to be convinced. I'm talking about symbolism. It needs to be high profile. Not a speech he gave at a church that probably 95% of people never even knew about. 95% of African Americans probably don't even know he made that speech.
I knew he's said things in front of black audiences, so this isn't news to me.
Folks, robert ethan is a racist wacko. Do not respond and he'll go away.
And Tim, don't go there.
alex:
I'm not calling on Clinton to denounce or reject Ferraro or her views because those views were accurate.
Obama probably will have to pull a pretty dramatic Sistah Souljah on this guy. It's too bad, because Wright's sermons are essentially correct. But black people in America are not allowed to talk about racism.
Dave,
Are you naive or willfully blind?
This guy married the Obamas. He baptized their children. Obama gave this guy's church more than $20,000 in 2006. This is three years after Wright's 2003 speech of "god damn America."
Why didn't Obama leave this church and join another church? Why didn't he denounce this guy in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, or 2007?
Jeremiah Wright is a racist and an anti-semite. Obama had no business dealing with a guy like him for 20 years. He refers to him as a "crazy uncle?" This is a lot more than that. Jeremiah Wright's rhetoric is divisive, racist, and hate-filled. Obama keeps talking baout his good judgement. Why didn't he have the good judgement to get away from this guy?
Obama cannot that easily distance himself from this guy now. Obama and Jeremiah Wright are inseparably intertwined now.
Have you seen that ABC News video?
You can be a strong Obama supporter yet reject people like Jeremiah Wright? Can't you?
If this was a white pastor supporting one of the Republican candidates, wouldn't you be at the forefront of calling for that candidate to leave the race?
Is your devotion to Obama so blind, that you can't be objective?
Could you imagine if Clinton's Methodist minister went around saying things like that... oh my, all you pro-Obama people would be having a field day.
Tom,
There are equally offensive Pastors supporting McCain. Hagee comes to mind. But the MSM ain't going to call McCain on it.
"I don't think this is as big as you think it is. MSNBC and CNN haven't picked it up, neither have most of the news sites.
Posted by Brad"
Brad = 'hoping' nobody notices
This is what the whole vetted thing was about.
wright might be just okie dokie with obama and his supporters but joe and jane sixpack and ma and pa kettle [The people that elect presidents] ain't gonna like it. And I'm betting obama won't be able to hoodwink and bamboozle the American people for long with the "he's just a crazy uncle" crap.
Tim K, no I wouldn't be making a big deal of it as long as Clinton showed a sincere rejection of the comments, like she didn't with Ferraro's. Some Obama supporters probably would, but in general I believe Obama supporters are a little more tolerant than Clinton supporters.
Secondly, Ferraro's views were not accurate. That has already been shown to be true. They can be an opinion, which of course everybody (right) is allowed to have, but accurate is not the case.
Not a peep from Dumpster Diver Drudge on this matter. He must be getting some pretty heavy reimbursement from the Obama campaign for his reporting on the Primary cycle. Usually Drivel&Sludge is the first fly on every fresh turd, the moment it hits the ground.
If this is old, so is the Keating 5 or any other McCain shady episode. It's only old if most Americans know about it, which in this case they don't. Obama has tried to avoid denouncing Wright, for understandable reasons. Either find some way to get the preacher known for his good works or cut the chord. At the moment, if someone's heard of the guy, it's only the scary stuff. He makes it very easy to box Obama in as just another angry black man. I don't believe this because I pay attention. But most voters don't. Wright is a potential nightmare.
Jeremiah Wright is a racist and an anti-semite. ...Jeremiah Wright's rhetoric is divisive, racist, and hate-filled.
I watched the Wright video last night on Ben Smith's blog. The whole thing. I didn't find anything racist or offensive about it. It seemed, instead, to be accurate, fearless, and truthful. (I'm white, by the way.)
Please point to anything in that sermon that is anti-semitic and racist. Let's have a discussion about the content. I'd like to know what is so offensive about it.
Not a peep from Dumpster Diver Drudge on this matter.
Nor from Sullivan. I find that shocking.
It's now eminently clear that anybody who wants four (or eight!) more years of Bushism should be doing everything in their power to help Barack Obama secure his party's nomination.
Bill Richardson likely to endorse Obama.
http://dharmafarma.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/richardson-close-to-endorsing-obama-possible-running-mate-i-hope-so/
"There are equally offensive Pastors supporting McCain. Hagee comes to mind. But the MSM ain't going to call McCain on it."
Can we all agree that a political alliance of convenience is, perhaps, less of a big deal than a 20+ year personal relationship that Obama has with Wright? I find McCain's group hug with Hagee and Parsley disturbing, but it aint the same thing as the guy who a) presided over your wedding b) baptized your children making these kind of lunatic statements.
I'm sick of this whole 'who said what to whom' thing. This is journalists talking to each other. They are not addressing me.
Every single day there is something new. One day it's McCain, the other Clinton or Obama. When will all this ugliness stop.
I think that Senator Obama will find it very difficult to seperate himself from Wright. My suspicion, after watching some of his sermons, is that Mrs. Obama believes very deeply in Wright. Regardless of whether Senator Obama believes in him, he might be facing pressure from his wife NOT to dump him overboard.
This is a definate weak point for Senator Obama.
So Wright is now "Every family's 'crazy uncle'".
In Obama's case, Uncle Jeremiah joins a "crazy father" who was simultaneously married to, and fathering children with, several differant women at the same time. Mostly in an alchoholic stupor that cost him several limbs and eventually his life at the age of 42.
Along with a "crazy grandmother" (NOT THE UNRELATED NICE LITTLE OLD LADY IN KENYA THE MEDIA INTERVIEWS), who abandoned Barack Sr. and his siblings to move to Nairobi to become a prostitute.
And arguably a "crazy mother" who flitted around the world and never held a real job, while sending Barack to be raised by her own parents.
So, here's the actual text that people find most offensive:
"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people," he said in a 2003 sermon. "God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."
We've heard a lot of stuff like this from white evangelical preachers--only with them, it tends to be God damn America because of the gays or feminists, or whatever. But for a preacher to say America is a wicked country is pretty run of the mill.
Also, what has he said that's "racist"?
Why should Barack be responsible for what others say?
Wake up America BHO in my opinion is a liar?
http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/02/barak-obama-questions-about-ethnic.html
Every American should read this
A televised speech in Martin Luther King's church by a black presidential candidate the day before Martin Luther King day is actually pretty high profile. Not that I mind Obama repeating it.
Also, while Obama is closer to Wright than McCain is to Hagee or Parslow, I find Wright's views a lot less objectionable. This is a country run by rich white men, & I can well understand why a black preacher would get angry with it at times. At times I agree with his language; at times I find it inflammatory; at times outright offensive--but none of it compares to calling the Catholic Church a whore or calling for the destruction of Islam & Muslims. And I think that the MAIN reason Obama gets more scrutiny is that he, and his minister, are black.
This is a big problem for Obama.
First, one poster said that other news outlets aren't making much of it, but no one needs *any* news organization to pick this up for it to spread like wildfire.
Secondly, it's doesn't compare to people like Ferraro or even Hagee, despite the fact that McCain *sought* Hagee's endorsement. Obama *chose* to go to Pastor Wright's church. One chooses which church to attend, and in city such as Chicago one has many options. Obama can say that Wright is like an uncle he doesn't always agree with, but Obama didn't have to choose the church in the first place.
The only silver lining is Obama can't be cast as both a Muslim *and* a member of Wright's church at the same time ;-)
"Bill Richardson likely to endorse Obama.
http://dharmafarma.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/richardson-close-to-endorsing-obama-possible-running-mate-i-hope-so/
Posted by SonnyL."
Who is Bill Richardson?
After this will they say he is a muslim?!!
I guess not.
Obama/Webb 08.
scruncher said - "The only silver lining is Obama can't be cast as both a Muslim *and* a member of Wright's church at the same time ;-)".
That doesn't necessarily apply. This church very recently awarded Louis "X" Farrakhan it's Outstanding Acheivement Award.
Farrakhan is not really a practicing Muslim. The church did not give him an award. And the award, given by a magazine was for contributions that Farrakhan has made to rehabilitating people after they have served time in jail.
That does not excuse Farrakhan's racist and anti-semitic statements, but if you are going to make accusations, at least get your facts straight.
Oh, I see it was robert ethan who made that comment. Facts are irrelevant then.
"Facts" like the fact that "the magazine" is owned, operated, and distributed, by the TUCC?
"Facts" like the fact that Farrakhan is(was) leader of The Nation Of Islam in America?
john - From Wikipedia -
From 1978 to the present, Louis Farrakhan has been the leader of a reconstituted Nation of Islam, the original organization having been renamed and dissolved by Warith Deen Muhammad. The Nation of Islam's National Center and headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois, and is also home to its flagship Mosque No. 2, Mosque Maryam.
I don't know how many people here are practicing Christians. But those who are, and are also swing voters, have had lots of pastors and priests whose political views they think are off-the-wall. How many Catholics had a priest who was a Marxist liberation theologian? How many evangelical Protestants (who may be politically moderate themselves) have had extreme right pastors? Church goers rarely leave their Churches as a result.
I doubt Wright's views are really that unusual among black Protestant pastors.
MSNBC just reported on a poll, that 13% of Americans believe that Barrack is a muslum. No one knows what is in a person heart and who they pray to in the privacy of their home, one thing is obvious he openly says he a Christian. I think he is a liar. I don't beleive anything he says.
http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/02/barak-obama-questions-about-ethnic.html
MSNBC just reported on a poll, that 13% of Americans believe that Barrack is a muslum. No one knows what is in a person heart and who they pray to in the privacy of their home, one thing is obvious he openly says he a Christian. I think he is a liar. I don't beleive anything he says.
http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/02/barak-obama-questions-about-ethnic.html
MSNBC just reported on a poll, that 13% of Americans believe that Barrack is a muslum. No one knows what is in a person heart and who they pray to in the privacy of their home, one thing is obvious he openly says he a Christian. I think he is a liar. I don't beleive anything he says.
http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/02/barak-obama-questions-about-ethnic.html
MSNBC just reported on a poll, that 13% of Americans believe that Barrack is a muslum. No one knows what is in a person heart and who they pray to in the privacy of their home, one thing is obvious he openly says he a Christian. I think he is a liar. I don't beleive anything he says.
http://kennethelamb.blogspot.com/2008/02/barak-obama-questions-about-ethnic.html
Ah more evidence of White America's racist double standard. McCain just says "I don't agree with everything (insert name of insane White xian here) says" and it goes away.
But those rules don't apply to Obama.
This is a racist double standard. McCain can get away with saying that he does not agree with Hagee's views, stand next to him and get his endorsement, but Obama has to denounce his pastor, it is not enough to just say that he disagrees with Pastor Wright?
There is not even a shred of evidence that Obama has ever said anything unpleasant about any racial group ever. Yet this does not stop the right-wingers from throwing mud at him.
On the contrast, McCain has repeatedly made mean-spirited remarks. He called Chelsea-Clinton uglly, and he refers to Asians as "gooks" and condoned it when Hillary was referred to as a bbitch. Hillary Clinton has made fun of Indian Americans, especially by making a crass joke on Gandhi.
Is there any single instance when Obama has ever said anything bad about whites, jews, asians or whatever. On the contrary,, he has consistently stood up and spoken against intolerance.
robert ethan, it would have been nice if a) your facts were correct or b) you actually had some understanding of what you are talking about.
The magazine is not published or connected in any way with the TUCC. It happens to be published by the daughter of Rev. Wright, but that does not in any way mean that TUCC is involved or endorsing it.
The Nation of Islam is connected to the religion of Islam by name only. Do some checking on the belief systems put forth by Farrakhan. Any respectable Muslim would turn away from it immediately.
Reading through the comments, I noticed that "THIS IS GREAT NEWS! FOR HILLARY!" is missing :)
If Obama denounces Wright HIMSELF, as one commentor suggested, Obama would be a wishy washy flake. I mean, to denounce the minister of the church you have been going to for 20 years? If you do that, people could legitimately ask if Obama is who he says he is.
Obama has said that Wright is like and uncle who sometimes says things he strongly disagrees with. That's good enough for me. Or am I the only person with an uncle (and a grandfather in fact) who is not a bad person but sometimes makes despicable statements?
| 
You could spend the next 6 weeks on this guy, and the church Obama "found himself" in, Amblinders. Not that I expect you will.
Extreme, whacky, off the wall, fiercly ANTI-SEMETIC, strong supporters of Louis Farrakhan and the BLACK POWER MOVEMENT.
Under Federal Investigation for ABUSING THEIR TAX EXEMPT STATUS. Part of a local criminal investigation concerning the MURDER OF THEIR GAY CHOIR DIRECTOR.
He will add a little "color" to the dreary dog days between now and Pennsylvania (Michigan/Florida).
Posted by robert ethan | March 13, 2008 2:43 PM