Jeremiah was a bullfrog, was a good friend of mine

[Harlan Huckleby]

Recordings of sermons from Obama's pastor Jeremiah Wright have hit the airwaves. It's Louis Farrakhan stuff: racist, anti-American. The argument that Obama does not adopt the guy's views are not going to fly. Barack has followed this pastor for 20 years, chose this man as mentor for his kids.

I've long thought that Obama's membership in a segregated church was a problem. Then the comment from Michele Obama that she is proud of America for first time. This is going to be a deep hole to get out of.

I listened to a couple of black intellectuals on wisconsin public radio yesterday. Unbelievable. http://clipcast.wpr.org:8080/ramgen/.../dun080313d.rm The hatred towards the Clintons is red hot. They claim that white people vote for Clinton out of racism. (The 90% black support for Obama is evidently simply a virtue.) The lady refered to Hillary's support as Lilly White (guess hispanics don't count). But isn't this just a result of black solidarity behind Obama?

[Joemailman]

Not sure if ties to Wright will cost Obama the nomination or not. I doubt it. If the race is between Obama and McCain, McCain has his own problems with supporters. John Hagee's bigoted comments toward Catholics haven't got the airtime that Wright has, but that will change if this is the way the campaign is going to go. I don't think either Obama or McCain would want that, but I don't know if they can control third-party groups.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Not sure if ties to Wright will cost Obama the nomination or not. I doubt it.

Agreed, Obama is still on glide path to nomination.

The best outcome for Dems is Obama-Clinton.

BTW, I don't personally have a huge problem with Jeremiah Wright or Michele Obama's comments. I understand where they are coming from. They don't really hate America, they are pissed off at past & lingering injustice. I have a love/hate relationship with Black America - and it really is a separate place mentally.

[Harlan Huckleby]

here's a meet-and-greet with reverand wright:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWvxTUy47Fk&feature=related

He actual is not radical, in the sense that a lot of black people think this way.

I don't think Obama is radical, he is independent minded.

[Freak Out]

McCain has his own problems with supporters. John Hagee's bigoted comments toward Catholics haven't got the airtime that Wright has, but that will change if this is the way the campaign is going to go.

Hagee has been in the news.....just not the news most watch Joe. Moyers has done a couple pieces I've seen as well as some independent media outlets but you probably wont see anything mentioned of his beliefs on Israel, Iran or the catholic church until the general election. The thing that scares me about guys like him and his church members isn't so much their belief that we need to attack Iran to trigger the final battle it's that they have influence in Washington and know how to work within the halls of power.

[swede]

My favorite part of the vids of Wright are where he says that Bill Clinton "did America like he did Monica Lewinsky. He roooode her dihrtay!"

No transcript can adequately portray how Wright swung his hips as he pretended to be Big Bill looking down at the broad backside of America as he doggified her good. Ohh baby!

What an odd thing for a minister to be really good at doing.

My UCC minister never did that sort of thing. The white UCC ministers just preach that everything that everyone else does is okay on the off-chance that God is big on abortion, homosexuality, adultery, and, in this case, hatin' on America.

[The Leaper]

John Hagee's bigoted comments toward Catholics haven't got the airtime that Wright has, but that will change if this is the way the campaign is going to go.

Comparing the link between Hagee/McCain and Wright/Obama is ridiculous.

Obama has a choice where he goes to church...and he CHOOSES to go to Wright's church, which in essence is an endorsement of Wright's viewpoints to some extent.

Hagee is merely an official of a huge organization that threw support behind McCain...as it ALWAYS does for the GOP candidate. He has no personal ties to McCain whatsoever.

[Tyrone Bigguns]

John Hagee's bigoted comments toward Catholics haven't got the airtime that Wright has, but that will change if this is the way the campaign is going to go.

Comparing the link between Hagee/McCain and Wright/Obama is ridiculous.

Obama has a choice where he goes to church...and he CHOOSES to go to Wright's church, which in essence is an endorsement of Wright's viewpoints to some extent.

Hagee is merely an official of a huge organization that threw support behind McCain...as it ALWAYS does for the GOP candidate. He has no personal ties to McCain whatsoever.

I have attended many churches/synagogues/mosques...and at each one found myself at odds with certain things. Attending a place of worship doesn't mean you agree with everything the man of the cloth says.

Nice try. McCain actively courted Hagee for a FULL YEAR. John McCain was at the CUFI conference, courting Hagee's support -- and telling him what he wanted to hear. He met with him early in 07 as well. And, he was "honored" to receive his endorsement.

McCain:
I think we could have Armageddon.

Hagee:

"the United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West... a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ."

Hagee:
Newsflash!

This morning I had an extended breakfast with Senator John McCain of Arizona. Our topic of discussion was Israel and his candidacy for the Presidency of the United States of America.

Senator McCain's comments concerning Israel are on target! He gets it! While I do not want to put the specifics of our conversation in this update I am glad to report to our leadership and supporters that John McCain is solidly pro-Israel.

We discussed his positions on other matters that I will share with you when I speak with you in person. This newsflash goes to the ends of the earth and I don't want to read it in the media tomorrow.

This is the person you are defending?

Sought the endorsement of this loon. Just as he did when he launched an initiative called Catholics for McCain with a host of prominent Catholic leaders, "Catholics for McCain will play an active role in educating and communicating with fellow Catholics about why John McCain is the best candidate to successfully promote Catholic values in the upcoming election.”

And, he "straight talked" about not agreeing with everything Hagee said. What exactly doesn't he agree with.

But, i'm sure it won't matter to you or the other conservative voters. Guess Karl Rove was wrong when he identified the Catholic vote in 2004 as the most vital to the GOP's electoral successes.

Guess he won't want the jewish vote, the muslim vote or those affected by Katrina.

Just the usual flip flop from McCain..first Bob Roberts U, now this. Sell your soul for the election.

[Joemailman]

John Hagee's bigoted comments toward Catholics haven't got the airtime that Wright has, but that will change if this is the way the campaign is going to go.

Comparing the link between Hagee/McCain and Wright/Obama is ridiculous.

Obama has a choice where he goes to church...and he CHOOSES to go to Wright's church, which in essence is an endorsement of Wright's viewpoints to some extent.

Hagee is merely an official of a huge organization that threw support behind McCain...as it ALWAYS does for the GOP candidate. He has no personal ties to McCain whatsoever.

So religious bigots like Hagee always throw their support behind the GOP candidate? If you say so.

McCain said he was honored to receive the endorsement of Hagee, which is something he would not have said in 2000 when I voted for him in the Wisconsin primary. McCain is no longer a maverick but is now just another politician willing to say anything or embrace anyone who can get him elected. Too bad.

[Tyrone Bigguns]

John Hagee's bigoted comments toward Catholics haven't got the airtime that Wright has, but that will change if this is the way the campaign is going to go.

Comparing the link between Hagee/McCain and Wright/Obama is ridiculous.

Obama has a choice where he goes to church...and he CHOOSES to go to Wright's church, which in essence is an endorsement of Wright's viewpoints to some extent.

Hagee is merely an official of a huge organization that threw support behind McCain...as it ALWAYS does for the GOP candidate. He has no personal ties to McCain whatsoever.

So religious bigots like Hagee always throw their support behind the GOP candidate? If you say so.

McCain said he was honored to receive the endorsement of Hagee, which is something he would not have said in 2000 when I voted for him in the Wisconsin primary. McCain is no longer a maverick but is now just another politician willing to say anything or embrace anyone who can get him elected. Too bad.

He has always been the same. You got suckered in 2000.

Next leaper will tell us that McCain's adultery is ok as well.

[Jimx29]

knock me over with a feather:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4452990&page=1

But he (obama) defended Rev. Wright's overall record, accusing ABC News of "cherry picking" statements of the man with a 40-year career.

"Cherry picking" my ass

An ABC News review of dozens of Rev. Wright's sermons, offered for sale by the church, found repeated denunciations of the U.S. based on what he described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black Americans.

[Tyrone Bigguns]

knock me over with a feather:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4452990&page=1

But he (obama) defended Rev. Wright's overall record, accusing ABC News of "cherry picking" statements of the man with a 40-year career.

"Cherry picking" my ass

An ABC News review of dozens of Rev. Wright's sermons, offered for sale by the church, found repeated denunciations of the U.S. based on what he described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black Americans.

Did you actually read the whole story?

I found myself in agreement with quite a bit what he said.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Obama Denounces His Pastor’s Statements
By JODI KANTOR
Published: March 15, 2008

In the handful of years Senator Barack Obama has spent in the national spotlight, his stance toward his pastor has gone from glowing praise to growing distance to — as of Friday — strong criticism.

On Friday, Mr. Obama called a grab bag of statements by his longtime minister, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., “inflammatory and appalling.”

“I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue,” he wrote in a campaign statement that was his strongest in a series of public disavowals of his pastor’s views over the past year.

Earlier in the week, several television stations played clips in which Mr. Wright, of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, referred to the United States as the “U.S. of K.K.K. A.” and said the Sept. 11 attacks were a result of corrupt American foreign policy.

On Friday, Senator John McCain’s campaign forwarded to reporters an article in The Wall Street Journal in which Mr. Wright was quoted as saying, “Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run,” and accusing the United States of importing drugs, exporting guns and training murderers.

Later in the day, Rush Limbaugh dwelled on Mr. Wright in his radio program, calling him “a race-baiter and a hatemonger.”

In the statement he released a few hours later, Mr. Obama, known for his uplifting messages about national unity, professed a certain innocence about his pastor’s most incendiary messages.

“The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation,” he said.

The eight-paragraph statement, first posted on the Web site The Huffington Post, did not recount Mr. Wright’s claims but addressed concerns about whether his beliefs reflected Mr. Obama’s. “He has never been my political adviser,” Mr. Obama wrote. “He’s been my pastor.”

Mr. Obama has belonged to Trinity for two decades. He was married by Mr. Wright, and his two daughters were baptized by him.

Mr. Obama credits a sermon of Mr. Wright’s, “The Audacity of Hope,” with drawing him to Christianity, and he used those words as the title of his second book.

But the evening before he announced his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Mr. Obama started to distance himself from Mr. Wright, canceling an invocation he had asked the minister to give at his presidential announcement.

Mr. Wright, 66, who last month fulfilled longstanding plans to retire, is a beloved figure in African-American Christian circles and a frequent guest in pulpits around the country. Since he arrived at Trinity in 1972, he has built a 6,000-member congregation through his blunt, charismatic preaching, which melds detailed scriptural analysis, black power, Afrocentrism and an emphasis on social justice; Mr. Obama praised the last quality in Friday’s statement.

His most powerful influence, said several ministers and scholars who have followed his career, is black liberation theology, which interprets the Bible as a guide to combating oppression of African-Americans.

He attracts audiences because of, not in spite of, his outspoken critiques of racism and inequality, said Dwight Hopkins, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, in an interview last year.

But Mr. Wright’s blistering statements about American racism can shock white audiences.

“If you’re black, it’s hard to say what you truly think and not upset white people,” said James Cone, a professor at Union Theological Seminary and the father of black liberation theology, who has known Mr. Wright since he was a seminary student.

Mr. Wright is no longer on Mr. Obama’s African American Religious Leadership Committee, though Mr. Obama’s aides would not elaborate on the circumstance of his departure, and Mr. Wright did not answer a message left on his cellphone requesting an interview.

The minister’s defenders say the statements that have been playing this week on television are outliers, taken out of context, and that he is not antiwhite. The United Church of Christ, the denomination of the Chicago church, is overwhelmingly white. And Mr. Wright is an equal opportunity critic, often delivering scorching lectures about black society, telling audiences to improve their education and work ethic.

“I can remember Jeremiah saying in probably half his sermons: Everyone who’s your color ain’t your kind,” Richard Sewell, a church member, said in an interview last year.

One of the statements that have been most replayed this week comes from the sermon Mr. Wright delivered following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards,” he said. “America’s chickens are coming home to roost.”

Asked in an interview last March to explain the sermon, Mr. Wright said he had been questioning the country’s desire for vengeance against the perpetrators, counseling his congregants to look inward instead.

Immediately after the attacks, the country’s response was “to pay back and kill,” he said. But before it got “holier than thou,” he said, the nation should have considered how its own policies had led to the events of that day. (Last year, Mr. Obama said, “The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification,” and added that he and his wife were at home on the day of the sermon, tending to their new baby.)

In the interview last spring, Mr. Wright expressed frustration at the breach in relationship with Mr. Obama, saying the candidate had already privately said that he might need to distance himself from his pastor. But perhaps the two could repair things, said Mr. Wright, pointing out that Mr. Obama’s opponent, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, had faced worse.

“At least there are no semen stains on any dresses,” Mr. Wright said, one of several digs he has taken at the Clintons.

“That kind of frankness scares people in the campaign,” he added.

[Harlan Huckleby]

____________________
Free Elliot!
The other guys did it too.
And besides it wasn't really bad.
And he's really, really sorry and he's been punished enough.

Right on, bro! Welcome aboard.

[Harlan Huckleby]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAYe7MT5BxM

"Jesus was a poor black man who lived in a country controled by rich white people." (the Romans. those are Italians, so they're Europeans, he explains.)

"Hillary never had a cab wiz past her. I am sick of Negroes who just don't get it!"

This guy is a stitch. There is a lot of truth in what he says. But why is he taking on Hillary from the pulpit? Jesus loves Hillary too.