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chinthee

BG, you're one step behind. Obama already came out today and categorically denounced those statements by his pastor. He didn't mince words about it. This guy is a liability to Obama and he knows it and is distancing himself from him. He's known the guy 20 years.

Milkman

I just read the quotes from the pastor. What he's saying is not very controversial or new....but oops....it's an election year. Obama has "categorically" denounced, rejected these comments, yadda, yadda.

Who cares? The media.

But it's one more little arrow in the arsenal against Obama.

He's still on the high ground. I hope he can weather these jabs.

Norton

This kind of crap sells. Media will always highlight garbage like this. The media seems obsessed with reporting sensationalist comments made by people associated with Obama and Clinton then implying the statements are somehow what Clinton and Obama profess. With the economy in melt down, the media would be far better off focusing on what both Hillary and Obama plan to fix it.

__________________
There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.

Woodrow Wilson

Hootad Binky

What about McCain and Pastor Hagee, whose open and repeated demands for a first-strike on Iran (in order to launch Armageddon, of course) now look rather unwise in light of the CIA report finding no evidence of weapons-grade enrichment.

The corpulent Mr. Hagee also preached that the homeless Katrina victims was God's retribution for dismantling of illegal West Bank outposts of Israeli settlers as part of the Bush admin's Roadmap to Peace initiative, which was far too liberal for Rev. Hagee.

Anyway McCain was asked up on a podium with Hagee, who had endorsed him (despite McCain having previously spoken out publicly against the influence of religion on American politics, one of reasons a lot of Evangelicals still don't like him) if he believed in the views of Hagee and McCain wisely replied that as a President he would not be defined by another person simply because that person endorsed him.

Which is what Obama should be saying now.

__________________
Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone elses opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. -Oscar Wilde

Milkman

Here's link to the works, quoted statements, and writings of Pastor John Hagee.

A nutter, IMO: John Hagee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

raycarey

foxnews and rabid bloggers.

by the way, what's the deal with mccain's supporter (some sort of religious nut job) who is constantly denigrating catholics?

raycarey

i got an email from a nigerian banker the other day.....is that true too?

and by the old timer, while you may have gotten it in an email, it's simply a cut and paste from some dopey blogger.

Milkman

This is pastor John Hagee.

See my Wiki link above. He has a lot of views, that I consider odd.

Hootad Binky

A conservative Catholic group got quite upset at Hagee's endorsement. Saw a video of him pointing to representation of the Catholic church on a bizarre end-times mural represented as a sort of half woman/dog whore of babylon thing, no wonder they're upset

http://teakdoor.com/us-domestic-issu...tml#post423518 ("Dispensationalism" Why Evangelicals Pray For Nuclear Holocaust)

chinthee

It appears the Pastor debacle may be hurting Obama. Fox TV just reported that in several recent national polls, Obama's lead over Clinton has been cut to only 4 points.

We'll have to see how this develops, but the Clinton camp must be whooping it up over this gift from heaven right now. Fox also says the muckraker journalists are now trying to dig up proof that Obama was present at those inflammatory sermons.

Texpat

His platform is based on change. Pastor Wright has sown the seeds that there might not be much change at all. And seeing as how only 16% of America is Black, this could be devastating to his campaign.

chinthee

^Watching more analysts discuss this on Fox. It was a very large church evidently, and with Obama denying he ever heard some comments, they are scrutinizing the Pastor's record to see if this was an ongoing thing. It does seem incredulous that these comments were just one time events over 20 years. Obama previously called him his special Uncle, and said he was a close mentor.

This can only get worse for Obama probably. It's a shame IMO, as I favor him over Clinton.

raycarey

keep watching fauxnews and believing old timer. has it even crossed your mind that they'd prefer a general election with clinton as the dem candidate?

of course they're going to try and make hay out of this, but it really isn't an issue that is going to change the outcome of the race for the nomination or the general election. it might very well sway some voters in PA, but obama never really had a chance to win there....but this 'scandal' won't significantly change the delegate outcome in that state. and if anything, when the pendulum of pubic opinion inevitably swings back the other way, obama will do even better in NC....and will quite possibly end up with more delegates than if the 'scandal' had not taken place.

but like i said, keep watching and believing what they tell you on faux news....it's fair and balanced...just ask 'em.

chinthee

^Ray, you must have some wires crossed in that refried brain of yours. I rarely watch Fox News. I do when at my home in Bangkok because it's the only US news station I get. I don't like Fox news to be honest. And, in case you haven't noticed, I kinda like Obama, maybe even favor him. Haven't decided yet.

Try to get your member grudges straight. Maybe you should construct a matrix or something.

raycarey

why is it that the same posters who breathlessly cite the propoganda they see on foxnews always claim they rarely watch it?

actually, it's not a case of noticing or not...more that i simply don't care. get over yourself.

Norton

The Church Fights back!!! This will play out further amongst black voters and moderate whites as exactly what it is, dirty politics and media sensationalism.
IMO, Hillary will gain nothing from this and likely be hurt by it. The good news for Obama it will be one less thing the Republicans will slam him with.

"(CNN) -- The Rev. Jeremiah Wright's former church criticized the news media Sunday for coverage of his sermons, saying in a statement that Wright's "character is being assassinated in the public sphere."

Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois, defended Wright, saying he "has preached a social gospel on behalf of oppressed women, children and men in America and around the globe."

The statement came two days after Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, a longtime friend of Wright and attendee of the church, denounced sermons that have become the subject of recent controversy. Obama called them "inflammatory and appalling."

"It is an indictment on Dr. Wright's ministerial legacy to present his global ministry within a 15- or 30-second sound bite," the Rev. Otis Moss III, the current pastor of the church, said in the statement.

"The African-American Church was born out of the crucible of slavery, and the legacy of prophetic African-American preachers since slavery has been and continues to heal broken, marginalized victims of social and economic injustices," Moss added.

"This is an attack on the legacy of the African-American Church, which led and continues to lead the fight for human rights in America and around the world."
In the same statement, the Rev. John H. Thomas, the general minister and president of the United Church of Christ -- the denomination to which Wright's church belongs -- said the news media were creating a "caricature" of his congregation.

"It's time for us to say 'No' to these attacks and declare that we will not allow anyone to undermine or destroy the ministries of any of our congregations in order to serve their own narrow political or ideological ends," Thomas said.

The sermons in question became the subject of scrutiny last week after being highlighted in an ABC News report.

At one December service, Wright argued Clinton's road to the White House is easier than Obama's because of her skin color.
"Hillary was not a black boy raised in a single-parent home; Barack was," Wright says in a video of the sermon posted on YouTube. "Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people. Hillary! Hillary ain't never been called a 'nigger!' Hillary has never had her people defined as a non-person."

Wright, who retired this year from his post, also says in the video, "Who cares about what a poor black man has to face every day in a country and in a culture controlled by rich white people?"

In denouncing those sermons Friday, Obama defended his 20-year relationship with Wright, saying that the pastor has served him in a spiritual role -- not a political one."

Church: Obama ex-pastor is under unfair attack - CNN.com

raycarey

exactly.

Boon Mee

Well, he's toast anyhow you cut it.
So long as we continue to mop up those al Qadeas in Iraq and the economy does not go further south, McCain is a shoe-in.

raycarey

well i guess that settles that. barack obama will be 44th president of the US.

Hootad Binky

Why would the POTUS, either Obama or McCain, be beholden to some obscure minister? All of this will be forgotten by the next primary; it's not important.