Yes, it must be tiresome to have a leading Democratic candidate caught in a twenty year long intimate relationship with a racial bigot. Obama's connections with Rev. Jeremiah Wright must be difficult to excuse, since the Left has made even the most casual tainted relationships political poison. In this case, the racial bigotry and hatred for America are just as abhorrent as they would be if sprouted from a White Supremacist's church, and Obama has been tarred with the same brush.
But, then as Cyclops said, "its no big deal". If you believe this kid, who failed to detect the racial bigotry and anti-American sentiments of his close friend, adviser and pastor after twenty-years, is ready to sit in the Presidential mansion, then by all means make him your nominee. You may believe tha his one term as a junior Senator, and total unfamiliarity with national security will bring about a more peaceful world, so maybe you can convince moderate voters who detest racism to hold their noses. How can you excuse Obama so easily when you on the Left are so quick to condemn others for the misdeeds of casual acquaintances, or a slip of the tongue? Hypocrisy isn't pretty.
I don't judge Wright to be a bigot. Generally, only white folks with a less than favorable view of blacks in general label Wright as a bigot.
I really doubt that Obama's close relationship to a racial bigot will be forgotten any time this year. As time goes on, more stones will be tipped over and Obama already can no longer sanctimoniously claim unspotted virtue.
But, that's O.K.... roll the dice and run him in the General Election.
The really sad part of the Wright thing is that it has given a lot of white folks an excuse to vent their own bigotry and demonstrated we still have a long way to go to bridge the racial divide.
Asherman wrote:I really doubt that Obama's close relationship to a racial bigot will be forgotten any time this year. As time goes on, more stones will be tipped over and Obama already can no longer sanctimoniously claim unspotted virtue.
But, that's O.K.... roll the dice and run him in the General Election.
He never claimed unspotted virtue. Read his book and stop being so ignorant.
From a WaPo review of The Audacity of Hope
Obama's own experiences also help him illuminate the root causes of anti-Americanism abroad. During his time in Indonesia, the archipelago was at the beginning of an oil-generated boom that spread prosperity, unevenly, throughout the islands. The United States had helped install Sukarno, a military dictator, after a bloodbath that claimed at least an estimated 500,000 lives. But once the Indonesian economy collapsed in the 1990s, militant Islamists were able to gain a hearing for their diatribes against modernist culture and American power. For Obama, this new "land of strangers" serves as a lesson about the way that U.S. influence -- cultural, economic and military -- has both uplifted and angered the world, in roughly equal measure. He also points out that most Americans can't find Indonesia on a map.
Throughout the book, Obama strikes similar ethical chords. He credits President Reagan's "clarity about communism" but regrets that it "seemed matched by his blindness regarding other sources of misery in the world." He endorses marriage workshops and shudders at the explicit lyrics of some rap songs, but he opposes legal restrictions on intimate behavior. "Perhaps I just find the ways of the human heart too various, and my own life too imperfect, to believe myself qualified to serve as anyone's moral arbiter," he writes, echoing Jesus's judgment that only those without sin should cast the first stone.
Obama's knack for mixing stirring rhetoric about good and evil with practical policy ideas is rare in the modern history of U.S. politics. At times, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Kennedy and Reagan managed the feat. But none of these men wrote his own presidential speeches. Nor did Kennedy or Reagan really write the books that carry their names. In contrast, The Audacity of Hope is clearly Obama's own creation; the rhythms, the self-deprecating humor and the graceful transitions all resemble those in his memoir.
Asherman wrote:
But, that's O.K.... roll the dice and run him in the General Election.
Its too late for them, Asherman. They put these people on a pedestal, based on a couple of things, Clinton being the wife of Bill, and Obama having given a great speech at the DNC, which is a matter of opinion by the way, but bottom line, not based on experience or anything of real substance. This is what happens when the media and the party props up people based on hype instead of qualifications.
So since it is too late to start over, buckle your seat belt, supporters of Obama and Clinton will circle their wagons, and once the Democrats figure out which one will represent them, the media will also circle the wagons and it will be full speed ahead. They will never admit it was gigantic mistake and their candidate is a complete and total dud.
Ah yes, Obama's book. How do you suppose his admission of drug use will sit with moderate American voters? But, then he's changed, hasn't he? He found religion, and for 20 years now has supported a church and pastor who preach racial disharmony and hated for the United States. His wife said not so long ago that for the first time she isn't ashamed to be an American. During the National Anthem, Obama doesn't respect the flag enough to salute it. Not fair! Stuff taken out of context, happenstance. Just a little inexperience. Perhaps, but these things are mounting up and his long association with Rev. Wight is "the smoking gun" you liberals are so eager to find.
Don't get me wrong, I believe you should run Obama in the up coming election. Lets see how he does when the competition doesn't mind teeing off the radical Left by playing deaf, dumb and blind to your candidates failings.
Roxxxanne wrote:Asherman wrote:I really doubt that Obama's close relationship to a racial bigot will be forgotten any time this year. As time goes on, more stones will be tipped over and Obama already can no longer sanctimoniously claim unspotted virtue.
But, that's O.K.... roll the dice and run him in the General Election.
He never claimed unspotted virtue. Read his book and stop being so ignorant.
As if all presidents had "sanctimonious claims to unspotted virtue."
How ridiculous!
Jerry Falwell had a long history of misogynist and other hateful statements, which didn't stop both Bush and McCain from figuratively kissing his ring. Falwell was particularly famous for blaming 9/11 on feminists, lesbians, and abortionists. There was very little outrage among the right for these statements.
Neither Bush nor McCain cited Falwell as their spiritual leader however; neither attended his church for a week, much less 20 years, and neither put him on their campaign staff.
It is not who endorsed who or who supports who that is the issue here. It is a 20-year close relationship with a pastor who has become a polarizing and controversial figure.
Asherman wrote:Ah yes, Obama's book. How do you suppose his admission of drug use will sit with moderate American voters? But, then he's changed, hasn't he? He found religion, and for 20 years now has supported a church and pastor who preach racial disharmony and hated for the United States. His wife said not so long ago that for the first time she isn't ashamed to be an American. During the National Anthem, Obama doesn't respect the flag enough to salute it. Not fair! Stuff taken out of context, happenstance. Just a little inexperience. Perhaps, but these things are mounting up and his long association with Rev. Wight is "the smoking gun" you liberals are so eager to find.
Don't get me wrong, I believe you should run Obama in the up coming election. Lets see how he does when the competition doesn't mind teeing off the radical Left by playing deaf, dumb and blind to your candidates failings.
This is another example of a smear from the right. One salutes the Pledge of Allegiance, not the National Anthem.
Actually one salutes the flag and neither the Pledge nor the National Anthem.
Foxfyre wrote:Actually one salutes the flag and neither the Pledge nor the National Anthem.
Yes, but it is done at the time of the Pledge.
Advocate wrote:Foxfyre wrote:Actually one salutes the flag and neither the Pledge nor the National Anthem.
Yes, but it is done at the time of the Pledge.
Whether during the Pledge or during the National Anthem, however, that photo of Obama being the only one on the podium without his hand over his heart, his refusing to wear a flag lapel pin when other members of Congress were doing so, etc. in and of themselves are of little importance. But attach them to the whole Jeremiah Wright bruhaha, however, and they likely take on new significance.
Roxxxanne wrote:I don't judge Wright to be a bigot. Generally, only white folks with a less than favorable view of blacks in general label Wright as a bigot.
A rather sweeping, unqualified statement. Have you any evidence or argument with which to back it up?
I have no opinion about the Rev. Wright other than the observation that he is given to repeated exortations advocating bigotry on the part of his congregation - offhand a rather odd position for a Christian minister to take.
Typical of a smear from the right, it circulated a photo of Obama not saluting. The right purposely failed to note that the Anthem was being played.
As for the flag pin, wearing one is not patriotism. Patriotism is doing something to benefit the country. The worst slime in congress regularly wear the flag.
So you think that Jerry Falwell's endorsement of McCain is the same thing as Obama's 20 years as an enthusiastic follower of Rev. Wright are the same thing? One is a casual political alliance where the parties aren't more than acquaintances, and the other is a close religious relationship that extended well beyond attending church services occasionally. There has never been a time when Falwell and McCain haven't disagreed over major issues, but until this past week Obama and Wright were joined at the hip. Falwell, so far as I know, has never preached racial divisiveness, nor condemned the United States as a terrorist nation. Rev. Wright's prejudices and inflammatory speeches argue for "collective guilt" that is applied to white America and shared by whites in general. It certainly looks as if Rev. Wright has more in common with the KKK than he does with most Christian churches.
This isn't a creation of the media, indeed if the media had been on its toes the story would have probably broken at the beginning of the primary season. But, if he's your choice then go for it. John Kerry was a giant compared to this kid, and the moment he failed to topple that evil spawn of the Devil from the Executive Chair, the Left ripped him to shreds. Keep up the good work, the GOP needs you!
Advocate wrote:Typical of a smear from the right, it circulated a photo of Obama not saluting. The right purposely failed to note that the Anthem was being played.
As for the flag pin, wearing one is not patriotism. Patriotism is doing something to benefit the country. The worst slime in congress regularly wear the flag.
It is not a smear to accurately identify a serious public relations problem that has developed for a candidate. You can deny it until the cows come home and you will only be perceived as blinded by the image of your chosen hero and incapable of tolerating any criticism or negative impressions. Is your hero so fragile that you cannot tolerate the slightest negative opinion related to him?
And are you telling me that you and other leftists or anti-Bush/Republican/conservative folks would not jump at the chance to point out the slightest slip of the tongue or screw up committed by Bush/a Republican/a conservative? Are you in fact suggesting that you have never done so? Did you consider it to be a smear when you did it?
