Can you tell you’re getting played?
I keep reading bulletins and news reports about Barack Obama’s pastor, and the remarks this pastor has made. Who cares?
Barack Obama didn’t make these statements.
His retiring old pastor did.
Barack decided to distance himself, without trying to destroy an old man who was about to retire.
I think that shows character and integrity, yet he is being condemned for remarks that this pastor made.
Because he ‘associated’ with this pastor.
Bill and Hillary Clinton ‘associated’ with the McDougals, who later went to prison for fraud in the Whitewater Land Investment Scandal.
In fact, the Clintons claimed to have lost documents that showed the level of their own involvement.
Hillary Clinton went as far as to claim some of the documents never existed.
The ‘non-existent’ documents magically appeared, with Hillary’s finger prints on them, just weeks after the statute of limitations on prosecution went by.
The Mc Dougals were called to testify against the Clintons and would not speak. They refused to testify in Bill Clinton’s hearings about his lies regarding Monica Lewinsky. Of course, President Clinton pardoned them as soon as he was ‘cleared’.
Now I ask you this: If Hillary Clinton went into business with a couple who commited fraud against the federal government, refused to testify at a Congressional hearing, and personally lied about the existence of documents proving this, wouldn’t you think that ignoring a cranky old pastor in his last days was maybe not such a big deal?
Who do you think is behind this story?
The same man who pressured others into providing illegal loans for his real estate investments? That’s right; Bill Clinton.
And of course that whole mob.
Sean Hannity jumps in because he wants the Old Boy Network to prop up John McCain and Keep The War Alive.
They are Wagging the Dog.
That’s us, by the way.
We have a candidate who has been shot down for being ‘different’, for having a strange name, for having an upbringing unlike the Bush & Clinton money pacts.
Look around you, people.
Gas prices are through the roof.
Housing prices are tumbling.
Loan rates are out of control.
Soldiers returning home to their families are being stop-lossed and sent back to Iraq after their term of service is contractually over.
Isn’t it time for something different?
Maybe these stories about Barack Obama being a muslim conspirator and hater of America are simply garbage, blown out of proportion by a group of losing teams who want a president named Bush (McCain is the same) or Clinton for LIFE.
Vote for who you believe in.
But don’t get played by this sound bite crap.
The Clintons were carpet-baggers before he took office and the Republican party is the Haves and the Have Mores.
Have the courage to study the facts, not just buy into whatever you saw on YouTube last night.
This is the President of the Most Powerful Country on Earth we’re talking about. It’s not American Idol or the Hills.
Do a little research for yourself. Go to Wikipedia, at least, for Christ’s sake, and stop letting Fox News And CNN tell you what to think.
They own multiple homes, cars, property, cable stations and they certainly aren’t missing their families while they sit their ass in Iraq.
The United Sates of America.
If you love it, take the time to care a little.
Lord David
Patriot & Artist
Skull Club
New Orleans
March 20th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
We’ve seen this video stuff circulating that depicts Barack Obama as a black separatist and non-patriotic.
As it turns out, this was put together by underground conservatives and recently surfaced widely when an aide to the John McCain Campaign released to National Press.
The Conservative Republicans at the John McCain camp were so disgusted by the bias and fictionalized reality of these videos that they have suspended the aide who released them, indefinitely.
I told you it was all campaign crap.
Even the ultra conservatives are calling it racist bullshit.
And “just plain stupid.”
Thank you, Senator McCain.
The truth is a powerful force.
LD
March 21st, 2008 at 10:28 pm
right round september I’m sure they’ll be unfolding his middle name. Hussein, will be outted. Did you know that Barack was called Barry in high school? He attended Punahou in Hawaii with my ex husband. He is a lovely man, and a very smart one, which is why they keep trying to beat him down. They don’t want change. Anyhow… Someone should out his name of “Barry” and show that he isn’t such a strangely named person at all. Someone who stands for CHANGE.
March 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 am
Good rant. You might want to check the link below
Different Standards for black and white preachers.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/different-standards-for-b_b_92337.html?view=print
March 23rd, 2008 at 7:34 pm
There is no such thing as a standard, not really. Everything gets skewed by race, class, economics, and cultural perspective. The best way to combat this is making comparisons like that. Always glad to get your comments Cajun!
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:25 pm
So who cares?
A lot of people care when you have a preacher spouting racist remarks.
I care when someone wants to be president and he sits in a church for 20 years under a racist preacher.
I care that the church is racist and does not allow other races especially white.
I care when Obama disrespects the grandmother who raised him in an affulent neighborhood, sent him to expensive private schools and Obama calls her a “typical white person”.
He does not measure up as much of a man to dis the “white” grandmother who opened her arms, doors and pocketbook when the Kenyan family wanted noting to do with him and did not want their blood lines moddied with white blood.
In my opinion this is one messed up individual and I have to question why he remained in a racist church.
March 24th, 2008 at 10:37 am
To M. Daniel;
I think you should go back and read the link that The Cajun has provided. The Catholic Church has shielded priests who were pedophiles. Does that mean all Catholics are pedophiles, too?
I think not.
I also think that calling someone a ‘typical white person’ is far from insulting or ‘dissing them’. Typically, white Americans have a pretty good life. As a Single White Male, I’m not at all insulted by that remark. It could be said that Mister Obama’s detractors are clutching at straws.
I also noticed that you never addressed the Clinton’s involvement with corrupt land deals, Bill’s confirmed use of Governatorial pressure to secure illegal loans for his & Hillary’s private business, etc. I guess ripping off the federal government is okay, as long as white people don’t feel insulted. Fraud knows no color boundries, I suppose.
Finally, how many Country Clubs across America go on for years without any non-white members? How many Black members are there to the Skull & Bones club, of which both Bush Presidents were members?
I hardly think that Pastor Wright is the equivalent of the Grand Dragon he’s being made out to be. I certainly think that if I went through my early adulthood as a black man, pre-civil rights ammendment, I’d be pissed off, too.
How about discussing Barack Obama’s statements regarding this 20 year period, instead of judging him by the words of another? And do you really think that the USA is a place that has the image of persecuting white people? Really? Could anyone actually believe that? Drop the race card. It’s a last ditch effort to discredit a man’s total career, made by scared old white men.
LD
March 24th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Let me preface this by saying that I do not like politicians in general, and dislike entire the current presidential crop based on their stances on issues I think are important.
I do think that the associations of presidential candidates are proper for scrutiny by the public, including religious/church affiliation. Many to most people choose their church because they believe in what’s preached, and want to join a community of like-minded people. Most of the protestant so-called Megachurches are cults of personality, where people choose to attend based more upon the individual preacher than the underlying doctrines of that particular protestant denomination. Other churches are more doctrinal than personality-based. There are MANY christian denominations to choose from, and if you disagree with one, you can switch to another. I know enough people who left the catholic church due to its organizational handling of the pedophile priests, and switched over to protestant churches. Others have left one church to attend another of the same denomination because they disagreed with how the particular church was run, or what the preacher was preaching, or because they didn’t like the congregation, or any number of other reasons.
Like him, agree with him, hate him, whatever - Obama made the conscious choice to attend and be involved in a church that espoused certain beliefs, whether or not he holds those beliefs himself. He had a 20-year friendship with a man who vocally and publicly espoused certain beliefs, and chose to attend and support the church where his friend made those statements. I do have to wonder why he would attend THAT church if he disagreed with the preacher, when there are so many thousands if not millions of other churches to choose from. And this is completely leaving out non-christian religions, or choosing not to be associated with a religion at all.
In terms of Hillary, that woman has been involved in more shady deals and with more shady people than most people can imagine. The public SHOULD call her out on it, and demand explanations.
The public should also call out McCain any and all skeletons in his closet, especially his legislative history.
The president is an office, but it’s also a person, and that person represents our country. We have to choose on ability to lead AND on how we want to be represented to the rest of the world. The individual we choose and her/his personality and interests are a large vessel through which we are represented in the global arena. Therefore, personal stuff of the individual seeking such an office is important for the public to know.
March 24th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Dear Modern Day Estella:
What a clear & elegant response. I agree wholeheatedly.
Let me say that I am not endorsing any particular candidate here, so much as I am pointing out media bias and intentional contraversy created by the release of selective information. Hence the reference to ‘getting played.’
I also think that the obsession, by the media and audience alike, with anything related to race relations, is a serious reflection of our society as a whole. The fact that many are troubled by Mister Obama’s involvement with a racially biased pastor is acceptable, understandable, and certainly merits discussion. When it eclipses actual criminal activity that has never been fully investigated and involves a former president, who pardoned alleged co-conspritors, well, that’s just crazy. The additonal fact that much of this information was shot out of a cannon to the press by one of John McCain’s campaign toadies certainly gives credibility to no one.
Let it all be dragged out into the light, please, once and for all. These people want to run our country, for god’s sake.
Thanks for your clarity of thought and sound advice.
LD
March 25th, 2008 at 7:18 am
The simple fact of the matter is we, the citizens of the United States, are being asked to choose the lesser of several evils, yet again.
As immature as this sounds, my response to the whole thing is “YUCK.”
March 25th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
@Lord David- Modern Day Estella is a former HumidCIty contributor, you can see why we miss her terribly!
@Modern Day Estella- I might add that the person assuming the Big Chair in the Oval Office absolutely needs to be the best we can muster. He/she will have to redevelop all of the associations and friendships this nation had before a crop of neo-conservative bunglers decided our international goodwill was a checp enough commodity to freely squander.
The Shrub’s succesor needs to be the best, and to get the best we need to drag all three through the wringer (and then put what comes through the wringer under the microscope).
March 25th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Um… I’m always glad to be in a meaningful conversation and a lot of good points have been made here.
The initial thrust of this blog was not about the various questionable activites of those involved. It was about the Clinton Camp and McCain Staffers attacking Obama at the same time, as if it were planned out, and the media frenzy over it. Has anyone noticed the stories about Barack Obamas passport files being hacked? (passport-gate?) or the fact that 35 billion dollars worth of defense contracts are being done in Europe? More on this later…
We are harranging these issues because we have been led here. The slight of hand is in action and all sorts of crazy legslation is running through the Republican Senate while the media keeps us busy here. We’re focused on a bitter old pastor while the plans for the hardware of the American Miltary system are being handed over to foriegn nations, along with $35 billion dollars worth of jobs.
And it only cost 4,000 lives.
The tails continues to wag the dog, people.
Arf.
March 26th, 2008 at 7:54 am
I’m getting a little off subject here, but I’m getting thoroughly sick of politicians, the mainstream media, and the subterfuge cat-and-mouse game they’re playing with our very lives and livelihoods.
What never continues to shock me is that this country has developed a “politician class” - about as glib and sincere as used car salesmen. These people have no apparent skills beyond oratory, smiling deceit, and squirming like worms on hooks when called out. Deflect, Deflect, Deflect.
This “politician class” claims to represent our interests, assuming “we” are adherents of whatever lobbying group can pull the most votes. They pander, make false promises, think they are above the law … and when we, without any viable alternative choices, place them in office, they actually BECOME above the law. Oh, so many immunities from being held liable for what you do.
I’m also highly suspicious of those politicians standing on their soapboxes to preach about the plight of the poor who then plunk their pampered asses in a luxury car to return to their 28,000 square foot mansion. I have a strong feeling they could DO a lot more than they do, but rather are content to say the words we all want to hear, and DO little themselves. Instead of building a giant fungus in a clear-cut patch of our planet to stand as a testament to EGO and SELF, why not use that money to buy houses and give them to the poor, or to pay crews of maintenance workers to go into our inner cities and refurbish? Because these politicians don’t really believe what they tell us. They don’t care about you, me, or anyone but themselves except when it comes time to vote them into their Immunity and cushy office.
As opposed to the original Greco-Roman ideal of the man who would come in, serve his country when called, and then return to his life within the community, we have men and women who have made CAREERS out of nothing but living off the voters and taxpayers. Reagan may have gone on about the Welfare Queens - I think it’s about time someone goes on about the ULTIMATE governmental bloodsuckers - the politicians themselves. They’re supposed to be Public Servants, yet here we are, serving them.
I call bullshit on the whole thing.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:00 am
*never cease to shock me …
I really should compose these things a) out of rant mode; b) when I’m more awake; and c) when I’m not theoretically focused on “transmittals of sales forecast data”
March 26th, 2008 at 9:08 am
“Once the new power has taken over they have to establish a new status quo just to keep the factories and trains running. …Because, when it comes to the nitty-gritty, they won’t let the people have any power; they’ll give all the rights to perform and to dance for them, but no real power…”
John Lennon - 1969
March 26th, 2008 at 11:29 am
@MDE Your login to post still exists, feel free to use it anytime! I’d love to put your rant about the Political Class on the front page, it echoes my own sentiments precisely!
March 26th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Go right ahead, Loki - do with my rant as you please.
It’s been so long since I posted, I don’t even remember my login!
I should probably get back into it - I have too damn many rants bottled up inside.
March 26th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Get a room, you two.
I hear there are vacancies at the Watergate….
;)
March 27th, 2008 at 7:46 am
LD - that has to be about the scariest concept EVER!
March 27th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Hey, I’ve got 14 1/2 minutes of tape…..
March 27th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
You guys are all GREAT. When I read things like this I always think things like, “Hey, why doesn’t (brilliant articulate thinker) run for office?” But I know it’s much easier said than done, except perhaps for small-scale local positions.
Also as with ALL such internet discussions, I have my two cents. (Call me a Luddite, but after all these years I STILL find it odd to jump into internet discussions with people one has never met and is not likely to ever meet. Yet every once in awhile I do succumb to the temptation to pop up into one of these conversations with strangers!). There’s one point that I’ve seen raised only very rarely (though it was raised once by a preacher who was involved in a CNN discussion. Mainstream media’s good for some things, sometimes!). Namely: How common is it within Black churches of a certain tradition (and I am COMPLETELY ignorant about churches so I don’t even know what kinds of denominations EXIST) for reverends of roughly the same age/ background as Wright’s, to occasionally spout off on an anti-American-Imperialism rant? Is it a relatively common style of preaching, with relatively typical themes? If so, why blast Obama so badly for ending up in such a church?
Secondly, this may again reveal great ignorance on my part (or the fact that I live in a very segregated city), but aren’t MOST churches pretty well racially segregated? What’s the big deal about the fact the church was all Black? Aren’t there quite a few all White churches as well, let alone looking at country clubs?
Thirdly: Has anyone looked at the composition of the people who attended this church and similar churches? If the churchgoers contain many mainstream folks who are not given to extremist radical rants, then we’d also have to wonder why THEY would all stay in a church that is so hateful?
Fourthly, the critics insist on ignoring Barack’s protestation that it was NOT common for Wright to go on such hateful, divisive rants. I think if there was evidence of tons and tons of such hateful statements over the past 20 years, FOX and other right wing outlets would have dug them out by now. Fifth, Having said all of that, I was offended by Wright’s statements. NOT the USKK of A stuff or the silly, paranoid idea about AIDS… The only part of the speech that offended me was that he was far more worked up about hating U.S. policies than he was about mourning the loss of innocent lives of fellow Americans. It’s tragic when any innocent person dies, but I’m not going to mourn American citizens LESS than I do innocent victims of U.S. attacks (”collaterel damage”). It almost sounded like he’d be MORE upset to hear about innocent Afghani or Iraqi civilians being killed, than to hear about U.S. citizens being killed.
Sixth: It seems to me that Obama is a relatively well-meaning, insightful, even-tempered person and he does not SEEM as consumed by personal ambition as Billary do. Yes, all politicians are kind of gross (as phrased far, far more eloquently by Modern Day Estrella above!!!), but at least Barack strikes me as a relatively good guy who is simply playing the games that all politicians must play — given the way that the game is CURRENTLY set up. (And you know what, if you are still cynical and think Obama is very ambitious — did anyone notice Governor Richardson and how he conducted himself through his campaign and in his speech endorsing Obama? I SWEAR that he is a very good man. M.D. Estrella, I think even YOUR heart might soften if you take a look at him). At any rate… Until/ unless we can trash the whole system and start it up again from scratch(?!), I’ll look at the system the way it is now. And it’s hard to be both a good person and a good politician given the way the game is set up. You can’t make it big onto the national political scene if you have a low income. These tend to be a certain ilk of person, but OF that type of group, Obama strikes me as a relatively decent dude.
Seventh: NOW — having said all of that. If this Rev. Wright truly spewed hateful venom into Obama’s ears for 20 years, as his main spiritual guide… then pray tell, HOW did Barack himself come out so apparently well-meaning and even-tempered? It seems to me that we must conclude that more often than not, Wright’s guidance WAS towards inner calm and peace, or otherwise Barack himself would come across like a hateful hothead. Either that or Barack found it possible to consistently ignore excessively radical rants, and so did the other honorable and respectable members of the church (many of whom will probably turn out to be upstanding pillars of their community, if that is ever investigated).
Respectfully yours, Humbly Opinionated
March 28th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Dear Humbly Opinionated:
Thanks for joining the discussion, and for doing it so thoughtfully & intelligently. I agree wholeheartedly with all points made.
In a chat with humidcity editor & chief, Loki, just yesterday, I said that perhaps Mr. Obama was deeply entrenched in his community, including this church, and simply tried to ignore the occasional ranting of an old man that they had all come to know over many years.
It occured to me too, that if he had been spouting this stuff for two decades, someone would have spoken up long before, and Barack Obama would hardly be the voice of reason that he is today.
He is, in my opinion, the best choice we are going to get out of the machine we call American Politics. To have come so far and maintained a peaceful, thoughful demeanor in the face of the ‘Campaign Trail’ is a very good sign.
As for those who would be detractors over this Pastor Wright episode, imagine what a US President has to sit and listen to patiently when dealing with China, Bosnia, Cuba for that matter…
Is he or she expected to jump up and point fingers, denoucing their beliefs? Isn’t that what we have now that has left us the most hated nation on Earth? Perhaps by befriending and understanding, one can lead others to a higher level of both those things.
Thanks again.
Drop in any time.
Lord David