Wright leaves Obama campaign

[MrsSpringsteen]

Yes I would like to know exactly how Bill Clinton did them like Monica, from Rev Wright himself. It's hyperbole of some sort, I get that-but I am still . Now if he said GW Bush instead, well...

[Irvine511]

my guess is that it's a reference to the strong support the Clintons have always gotten from the African-American community, and the perception that they've gotten very little in return. the same could be said about the Democratic Party as a whole.

they've been "servicing" Bill, too.

[MrsSpringsteen]

I just thought that most African Americans thought the Clintons did quite a bit for them in return, that's why that confuses me.

[Irvine511]

Originally posted by MrsSpringsteen
I just thought that most African Americans thought the Clintons did quite a bit for them in return, that's why that confuses me.

i think most do.

but i think Wright might have been upset about the 1996 Welfare Reform Act.

just a guess.

[MrsSpringsteen]

Well then there are some conservative African Americans who probably supported that and who also think Barack Obama running for President means we don't need affirmative action-I read an article about that a few days ago. Of course that isn't a conservative church and he is playing to that audience. Maybe his zeal for Obama just makes him go over the top, I don't know.

[diamond]

Originally posted by MrsSpringsteen
I just thought that most African Americans thought the Clintons did quite a bit for them in return, that's why that confuses me.

the Clintons have a way of reminding people too much of all the favors that "supposedly" have done, which after a while makes ppl recoil.

almost like it's a subtle quid pro quoa and it angers independent thinking ppl silently.

dbs

[Irvine511]

pop quiz, y'all.

who wrote this:


[q]"God didn't call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war. . . . And we are criminals in that war. We've committed more war crimes almost than any nation in the world, and I'm going to continue to say it. And we won't stop it because of our pride and our arrogance as a nation. But God has a way of even putting nations in their place...[God will say:] And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power."[/q]

[deep]

he said much “worse” than that

and was hated more in his day than Jesse Jackson is today

but comparison to him is considered a plus

and Jackson a negative

[Irvine511]

Originally posted by deep
he said much “worse” than that

and was hated more in his day than Jesse Jackson is today

but comparison to him is considered a plus

and Jackson a negative

and anyone who associates with him,

expresses hate for America

by their silence.

[Irvine511]

a little more context for Wright's post 9-11 sermon that's made Sean Hannity cry:



[q]I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday. Did anybody else see him or hear him, he was on Fox News. This is a white man, and he was upsetting the Fox News commentators to no end. He pointed out, (Did you see him, John?) --a white man-- he pointed out-- an ambassador-- that what Malcolm X said when he got silenced by Elijah Mohammad was in fact true, America's chickens are coming home to roost.

We took this country, by terror, away from the Sioux, the Apache, the Arrowak (phonetic) the Comanche, the Arapajo, the Navajo. Terrorism--we took Africans from their country to build our way of ease and kept them enslaved and living in fear. Terrorism. We bombed Grenada and killed innocent civilians -- babies, non-military personnel. We bombed the black civilian community of Panama with Stealth Bombers and killed unarmed teenagers, and toddlers, pregnant mothers and hard working father. [fullest voice] We bombed Khadafi, his home and killed his child. Blessed be they who bash your children's head agains the rocks.

[fullest voice] We bombed Iraq, we killed unarmed civilians trying to make a living. We bombed the plant in Sudan to payback for the attack on our embassy -- killed hundreds of hard working people --mothers and fathers, who left home to go that day, not knowing they'd never get back home. [Even fuller voice] We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon and we never batted an eye. Kids playing in the playground, mothers picking up children after school -- civilians not soldiers. People just trying to make it day by day. We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and South Africa and now we are indignant? Because the stuff we have done overseas is brought back into our own front yard.

America's chickens are coming home, to roost. Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred, and terrorism begets terrorism.

[lower voice] A White ambassador said that, y'all, not a black militant. Not a Reverend who preaches about racism, an ambassador whose eyes are wide open, and whose trying to get us to wake up, and move away from this dangerous precipice upon which we are now poised. The ambassador said that the people we have wounded don't have the military capability we have, but they do have individuals who are willing to die and take thousands with them, and we need to come to grips with that.

Let me stop my faith footnote right there, and ask you to think about that over the next few weeks if God grants us that many days. Turn back to your neighbor, and say, "Footnote is over." [Voices: "Footnote is over."]

[End Faith Footnote]

[Gentle voice] Now, now. C'mon back to my question to the Lord, "What should our response be right now. In light of such an unthinkable act. I asked the Lord that question Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

I was stuck in Newark, New Jersey. No flights were leaving La Guardia, JFK, or Newark Airport. On the day tht the FAA opened up the airports to bring into the destinations of cities those flights that had been diverted because of the hijacking, a scare in New York close all three regional airports and I couldn't even get her for Mr. Radford's father's funeral. And I asked God, "What should our response be?

I saw pictures of the incredible. People jumping from the 110th floor; people jumping from the roof because the stair wells and elevators above the 89th floor were gone-- no more. Black people, jumping to a certain death; people holding hands jumping; people on fire jumping. [plaintiff high voice] And I asked the Lord, "What should our response be?" I read what the people of faith felt in 551BC. But this is a different time, this is a different enemy, a different world, a different terror. This is a different reality. What should our response be, and the Lord showed me three things. Let me share them with you quickly and I'm gonna leave you alone to think about the faith footnote.

Number one: The Lord showed me that this is a time for self-examination. [cheers] As I sat 900 miles away from my family and my community of faith, two months after my own father's death, God showed me that this was a time for me to examine my relationship with God. MY own relationship with God-- personal relationship with God.

I submit to you that it is the same for you. Folk flocked to the church in New Jersey last week, you know that foxhole-religion syndrome kicked in, that emergency chord religion, you know that little red box you pull in emergency? It showed up in full force. Folk who aint thought about coming to church in years, were in church last week. I heard that mid-week prayer services all over this country which are poorly attended fifty-one week a year were jam packed all over the nation the week of the hijacking the 52nd week. [inaudible]

But the Lord said, this aint the time for you to be examining other folks relationship this is a time of self examination. But the Lord said, "How is "our" relationship doing Jeremiah? How often do you talked to me personally, how often do you let me talk to you privately? How much time do you spend trying to get right with me, or do you spend all your time trying to get other folk right?

This is a time for me to examine my own relationship with God. Is it real or is it fake? Is it forever or is it for show? Is is something that you do for the sake of the public or is it something that you do for the sake of eternity? [voice rising] This is a time for me to examine my own, and a time for you to examine your own relationship with God -- self examination.[/q]

[deep]

Kerry was asked what gives Obama credibility.

"Because he's African-American. Because he's a black man. Who has come from a place of oppression and repression through the years in our own country."

Is Sen Kerry saying something similar to Geraldine Ferraro?

[tim722]

It's looking more and more that McCain will win it all since the Dumocrats can't find a true leader to win the White House.

[BVS]

Originally posted by tim722
Dumocrats

Isn't that clever...

[A_Wanderer]

^ Only turkeys have left wings!

[deep]

and Chicken Hawks have right wings

[Irvine511]

^ what a romantic poster

[U2democrat]

[MrsSpringsteen]

April 25, 2008

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, said in excerpts from an interview released on Thursday that people airing snippets of his fiery sermons were trying to paint him as "some sort of fanatic."


Wright, who has kept a low profile since repeated televised airings last month of segments of his sermons, is semi-retired from Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, a church the Democratic presidential candidate joined 20 years ago.

In grainy video of sermons he delivered years ago, Wright is seen calling the September 11 attacks retribution for U.S. policies and condemning America's failings on race.

At one point he shouts to his congregation, "God Bless America? No, God damn America."

"The persons who have heard the entire sermon understand the communication perfectly," he told PBS' Bill Moyers in the interview to be broadcast on Friday.

Those who are airing the snippets "are communicating exactly what they want to do, which is to paint me as some sort of fanatic."

The clips have been available on the Internet for months, but sparked controversy when cable television news shows began airing them last month.

Initially, Obama, who would be the first black president, dismissed Wright's rhetoric as that of an elderly uncle who sometimes says things one doesn't agree with.

But when the televised snippets drew criticism and questions about whether Obama approved of them, he distanced himself from Wright and denounced some of his views.

UNAPOLOGETIC

In a speech in Philadelphia, Obama described America's struggles with race and the anger felt by many blacks that had been expressed by Wright.

Wright, 66, was unapologetic in the interview, saying that he was unsettled by being portrayed as a symbol of black anger and that he felt he had been used for political purposes. He did not say by whom.

"I think they wanted to communicate that I am unpatriotic, that I am un-American, that I am filled with hate speech, that I have a cult at Trinity United Church of Christ. And, by the way, guess who goes to his church, hint, hint, hint?" he said, referring to Obama.

"I felt it was unfair. I felt it was unjust. I felt it was untrue. I felt for those who were doing that, were doing it for some very devious reasons," Wright said.

On Thursday, the campaign of presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain said it had been assured that North Carolina Republicans would withdraw an advertisement critical of Obama's links to Wright. McCain said he wanted to run a respectful campaign.

But the North Carolina Republican Party served notice later it still planned to air the ad.

Asked about Obama's criticisms of him, Wright said it was understandable given that Obama was a politician with a different audience.

"He says what he has to say as a politician. I say what I have to say as a pastor. But they're two different worlds," he said, adding he and Obama did not discuss politics.

[MrsSpringsteen]

If anyone wants to watch him on Bill Moyers it's here- the transcript is too.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04252008/watch.html

[deep]

from Salon.com

Monday April 28, 2008 17:42 EDT

I was wrong about Wright
-- Joan Walsh

I've now watched Rev. Jeremiah Wright's speech to the Detroit NAACP and his National Press Club appearance this morning. I've also read all 632 (and counting) letters in reply to my Sunday post about Wright's conversation with PBS's Bill Moyers. And in response, I'd like to retract something I wrote on Sunday. Here's the section I regret:

"One thing about my reaction surprised me. I had seen short clips and I was prepared to argue that Wright is a stone-cold narcissist, unprepared to let Obama surpass him, uninterested in whether he's wrong. But Moyers' interview made me see how hurt Wright is. He's genuinely wounded, and I felt sorry for him."

I regret that I hedged my observation about Wright's narcissism. He may be wounded, but this is a man of enormous self-regard, and he's clearly trying to hurt Barack Obama. His national rehabilitation tour started fairly sympathetically with the Moyers conversation, but it's devolved into self-pity and self-glorification ever since. His Sunday night talk to the NAACP was mostly silly, from the questionable science behind his insistence that black children are right-brained (creative) while white children are left-brained (logical and analytical) to his mocking the way white people talk, dance, clap, worship and sing. I understand and agree with Wright's notion that "different is not deficient," but mocking white people, including JFK and LBJ, doesn't seem like the best way to get his point across (yes, he was talking to the NAACP, but he knew -- and relished -- that he had a national audience). At his Monday speech he insisted attacks on him were really an attack on the black church, a typically Wright-centric view of the world, while his security was reportedly provided by the Nation of Islam.

Let me say that I don't believe Barack Obama believes any of the offensive things Wright said or reiterated on his revenge tour: that the government gave black people AIDS, that the black and white children are different in the way Wright says, that 9/11 was an example of Jesus' teaching "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." But questions will dog Obama about how someone with his expansive view of racial justice sat in a pew listening to Wright for 20 years.

Unfortunately, Obama's best defense is probably a politically unpalatable truth: He didn't pay that much attention. I think the truth is that Obama was and is a fairly secular guy who (according to "Dreams From my Father") was trying to organize black churches in the 1980s and heard from more than one black preacher that he needed to find himself a church to have credibility. He looked around and found Wright's, which was the fastest-growing black church in the area. He liked its social gospel, it helped his standing in the community, and so he joined. We may never know how often he attended, but he stayed for 20 years.

Clearly it was bad judgment to stay with the church, given Wright's divisive views, once Obama knew he had national political ambitions. But what, if anything, can Obama say now to limit the political damage? We've asked some smart political and cultural analysts what they think Obama should do, and we'll be bringing that to you asap.