I guess this is the part where I admit that I haven’t read the entire thread thoroughly, because I didn’t realize that Flying Dutchman had already expressed this. But speaking for myself, I actually think it is a fair point.
Comparisons to KKK? Absolutely not. Pales in comparison…but I am not talking KKK. I am talking just run of the mill, anti-black statements along the lines of “Those blacks need to get off their butts, stop blaming the white man for their problems and get a job.” or something like that.
I don’t believe Obama believes those things just because his pastor has made those comments. But I do believe that if Hillary had a pastor with anti-black statements, much would be said of it.
Bullshit. Not only can Obama still win the presidency, but short of pulling a scandal on the scale of Spitzer in the future, his senate seat is his for as long as he’d like it.
Bullshit. He’s in the process of distancing Wright right now, and this will probably be forgotten long before PA, let along the general.
Not content with slandering Obama, Belowjob turns on African-Americans in general. Classy.
Or, y’know, Wright wasn’t all racist all the time, and Obama didn’t know or overlooked the objectionable stuff given Wright’s other sermons, service, and their personal friendship.
Own up to it BJ, you were just waiting for something like this to happen so you could gloat about how evil and stupid Obama and his constituency is.
I don’t think he did express those sentiments, I was just saying that’s the sort of thing I expect from his type of conservative. No doubt much would be made of Hillary’s pastor saying such things, though much is being made of this too. But there’s still a huge difference between waxing hyperbolic about white racism and actually expressing that racism. Just like there’s a difference between virulent anti-german racism as a result of the holocaust and those who advocate killing all jews. Both are racist sentiments, but they are not analogous.
As mentioned, McCain has a similar issue and I do think it is yesterday news (It did not affect him much), it is really BAD for the people demanding that Obama do more extreme things than what he has already done because then one has to suspect other reasons for the criticism.
And speaking of Farrakhan, I have to now point that you are getting your information from gutter sources:
What exactly do you want links to? That he said the government lied about inventing HIV? That the government knew about the attack on Pearl Harbor beforehand? That the government imported drugs? That the government gave blacks syphilis?
These are all urban legends for which there is no evidence. This guy is a nut.
If Clinton or McCain attended a church that looked like a klan rally you wouldn’t have a problem with it? Senator Obama gave money to this church. If he didn’t share the views he has a history of supporting them. If his contributions become public then a dollar figure will be attached.
Given that the Democratic party pushed for a resolution condeming Bob Jones University back in 2000 Because Bush made an appearance there I don’t see how this can be swept under the rug.
Hey, FWIW, I’ve been in the tank for Obama for quite a while now. Not just that, I’m pretty much a dyed in the wool Hillary hater. I’ve tried to talk myself into voting for her, because she’s got to be better than a 72 year old political hack with serious anger management issues. But as of yet, I’m not there. She makes my skin crawl. I won’t defend this as entirely rational, her claim of greater experience is bullshit.
I like Obama. I like his Harvard and Law Review credentials. I like his deep experience with ground level, hands on politics. I like the fact that he’s been able to win over many of the country’s most successful businessmen and political leaders, not to mention some of the Clinton’s best former advisers. I like the fact that he’s run an effective, well organized campaign. Overall, his platform is too left wing to be ideal for me, but with the mess the so called conservatives have made of things, we were in for a liberal president anyway.
But this Wright situation has legs. It will grow over the weekend and be what everyone’s talking about on Monday. It will hurt Obama seriously. No way around it.
But let’s face it, the SDMB is an assemblage of tech savvy, intellectually omnivorous people, college educated and skewed young. Obama loyalists, IOW.
I think that Reverend Wright will end up being Obama’s Donna Rice. The twenty year association with the man will raise doubts in enough minds for them to see past Obama’s charisma on the stump.
Are you hearing yourself? All Bush did was make an appearance and legislators wanted to make a formal declaration. Obama was a supporter of the church in question. A supporter.
There’s just no comparison, for reasons that have already been addressed. And a KKK comparison is ridiculous because I’ve seen no racism in any of the remarks attributed to Wright. I haven’t watched the videos for fear of crashing my computer, but while I see some dumb and ill-informed remarks, I see no racism.
This goes beyond just Wright. It is the church members as well. Watch the video; Wright is saying things that are just absolutely fuckin’ insane and the congregation is cheering in approval. They are totally buying into Wright’s bullshit. For those of you that go to church, what do you think the your church’s congregation’s reaction would be to someone saying the government lied about inventing HIV or that the government knew about the attacks on Pearl Harbor beforehand?
It does seem odd that with all the churches to pick from in Chicago, Obama would pick one where the pastor (who is also a mentor to Obama) screams incredibly stupid and delusional things that are loudly approved of by what seems like everyone in attendance if he is so strongly at odds with the sentiments expressed by Wright and approved of by the congregation.
If it goes to the convention and superdelegates tip the balance it will be a bloodbath. Money will dry up quickly. It’s already getting ugly and the donations currently being made are being used for the Primary election.