Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

[superdave]

Obama's pastor is definitely a racist that has horrible and plain wrong views of America. Obama admits going to church and listening to the views, but strongly disagrees with the Pastor's views.

Obama should've picked a different church. Why would you sit in church each week listening to a bigot? I thought Obama was smart.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/us/politics/18cnd-obama.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1205863328-WHNV6rg7hI2EEMKulQMFuA

[asdf_admin]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

yes. His pastor was very involved in his life. He can not play this off as some guy he went to see and had no idea. I am sure it will be dug that his Pastor has used strong verbiage for years. I read that he has been involved in Obama's life for over 20 years.

BTW, that was some very powerful stuff. I heard about 10 minutes of the sermon. Crazy.

[88Mariner]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

oh god. are you kidding me? I think this bringing up his pastor is rediculous. Do you agree with everything your teacher says? your pastor? your priest? your rabbi? your parents? Hell no.

Thing is, the Media is under the impression that you'll believe anything they say. The whole premise behind this argument is that obama believes anything his pastor said. But this isn't true, that's not reality.

Obama is a very intelligent person, moreso than any candidate we've seen in quite a number of years. Are you telling me a Harvard Law graduate, much less President of the law review, is just going to eat out of the plate blindly that is set on the table at his church?

Absolutely disgusting, this. Particlarly because the evidence, the full blunt of the evidence, disproves this notion.

When will Hannity and his friends question McCain’s endorsement by John Hagee? Hagee’s rhetoric is typical of the fundamentalist Right, conspiratorial in nature (though biblically-based) and morally indignant to the point of absurdity. I often find such speech as humorous and as amusing as that of black nationalists.

As far as I know, Obama has never stood up and said he proudly accepts the endorsement of Wright:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qNi7tPanUA&e[/YOUTUBE]

[asdf_admin]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

It's crazy but a solid media blitz.

[Miroslav]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

Not only can it hurt him politically, it has. He has even admitted so himself...I think many people are now thinking twice about him.

oh god. are you kidding me? I think this bringing up his pastor is rediculous. Do you agree with everything your teacher says? your pastor? your priest? your rabbi? your parents? Hell no.

Really? Come on now... You don't think that if you're running for U.S. President and the guy you have closely associated with for decades and call your Spiritual Advisor goes around saying things like "God damn America" that this is going to be relevant to the American people?

Obama's Spiritual Advisor apparently also likes to say things to the tune of: "9-11 is our fault" and "the US government invented HIV as means of genocide against black people". Now what if it had turned out that Hillary chose for decades to go to a church where the pastor was a member of the Klan and liked to put in inflammatory and racist rhetoric about "those damn N-----'s" in his sermons?

Who you choose to closely associate yourself says something about your values. People are right to look critically at Obama for picking racist whackjobs into his close circle of friends.

[CactusBeats]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

It's a good thing his pastor isn't running for President. I think people have this backwards. His pastor is endorsing him, not the other way around.

What most of white America doesn't understand is that Obama, as a black man, is living in two different worlds/cultures. He must walk the finest tightrope to appeal to the majority, white America, and also not disconnect from his community, black inner city Chicago. Thing is, most of white America does not have the time and mostly, is not interested in learning more about black inner city perspective and experience of living in this country. I am caucasian but have spent time in the inner city around disadvantaged African-Americans and got a glimpse from this perspective through my friends. Talk about a paradigm shift. Also, I do see racist views from the oppressed minority as having a somewhat less negative tinge than those racist views coming from the oppressor who enjoys the privileged position in society. But you would never suspect that white male America is the privileged race/gender from listening to right wing talk-radio. These white males are experts at playing the victim, even while their party holds the presidency. That really requires talent.

The right wing talk-radio hateocracy is going nuts over the fact that the pastor said that America brought 9/11 upon itself. Sh*t, Pat Robertson said the same thing, in relation to America's tolerance of gays/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered America six years ago. Obama's pastor has some racist views. Point taken. The guy also has many positive, virtuous things to say, but why aren't we hearing about those views? It's funny how one pastor's racist views suddenly become so important while the institutionalized racism that makes up our society doesn't seem to bother the right much at all.

Basically, one should attempt to walk a mile in someone else's shoes before he/she can even begin to understand what his/her perspective is. Everyone's truth comes from a different perspective. I find it digusting when people of privilege are so quick to condemn the minority who is much less privileged. But we live in a free society where I personally choose to tolerate the right's right to be as repressive and judgmental as they choose because those views are right and truthful to/for them.

[CactusBeats]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

Not only can it hurt him politically, it has. He has even admitted so himself...I think many people are now thinking twice about him.



Really? Come on now... You don't think that if you're running for U.S. President and the guy you have closely associated with for decades and call your Spiritual Advisor goes around saying things like "God damn America" that this is going to be relevant to the American people?

Obama's Spiritual Advisor apparently also likes to say things to the tune of: "9-11 is our fault" and "the US government invented HIV as means of genocide against black people". Now what if it had turned out that Hillary chose for decades to go to a church where the pastor was a member of the Klan and liked to put in inflammatory and racist rhetoric about "those damn N-----'s" in his sermons?

Who you choose to closely associate yourself says something about your values. People are right to look critically at Obama for picking racist whackjobs into his close circle of friends.

You might feel differently about HIV too if the government in power had subjected men of your race to radically unethical experiments. Such as where black men were INTENTIONALLY infected with syphillis through a government program instituted by white men. Yes, it happened and not very long ago.

And I agree with you that people are right to look critically at all of this. That is what running for president is all about. The fallout from this will say more about how racist our society is or is not than how racist Obama's pastor is.

[k3n3]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

C'mon, really???
If Hillary or John McCain had been a member of that hateful, disgusting church we all know as the Westboro Baptist Church, do ya honestly think either one would have had a snowball's chance in hell of ever being nominated, let alone elected?

There's no difference here, the color of your skin doesn't justify an individuals choice to be a rascist or just plain hateful, and what this pastor said was irrational, factually incorrect, and proveably wrong.

Obama admitted that he was aware of this; he had a chance (after 20 years) to distance himself from it, and he chose not to. That means he either agrees with it, or wasn't smart enough to see this guy as a political liability. Either way, I doubt he'll survive this...

[88Mariner]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

Not only can it hurt him politically, it has. He has even admitted so himself...I think many people are now thinking twice about him.



Really? Come on now... You don't think that if you're running for U.S. President and the guy you have closely associated with for decades and call your Spiritual Advisor goes around saying things like "God damn America" that this is going to be relevant to the American people?

Obama's Spiritual Advisor apparently also likes to say things to the tune of: "9-11 is our fault" and "the US government invented HIV as means of genocide against black people". Now what if it had turned out that Hillary chose for decades to go to a church where the pastor was a member of the Klan and liked to put in inflammatory and racist rhetoric about "those damn N-----'s" in his sermons?

Who you choose to closely associate yourself says something about your values. People are right to look critically at Obama for picking racist whackjobs into his close circle of friends.

God damn America? well, let's see...i guess he shouldn't be pissed about slavery!

9-11 is our fault? Blowback is a bitch, aint it? Besides, this is nothing different than what jerry falwell said, and nobody skewered him!

Maybe the US-AIDS-Black-Genocide thing was a bit far...but who hasn't said shit like that? Given consideration of the Tuskegee Airmen....it's not much a suprise that the government has taken an ethically wrong move against black people.


NeoCons are really effin' scared about Obama, and being the intellectually bankrupt group they are, have embraced the liberal tactic of guilt-by-association. Hell, they did it with Ron Paul too.

But if you want NeoCons, then i guess Hillary or McCain will do. They are one-in-the-same...

[88Mariner]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

"Obama admitted that he was aware of this; he had a chance (after 20 years) to distance himself from it, and he chose not to. That means he either agrees with it, or wasn't smart enough to see this guy as a political liability. Either way, I doubt he'll survive this..."

So Obama was aware of this? Surely this means that he was not brainwashed by it. Perhaps he found other redeeming values with the Church.

I can't believe i'm a conservative and defending him, but I am. When i see bullshit arguments, I guess the target of that smearing doesn't matter....

[cosmo]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

The very fact that he stayed with the church should scare everyone. Why did he stay with the church for 20 years? This guy Jeramiah Wright proclaims that the 'white man' brought forth AIDS to America to bring genocide to the black race.

Oprah Winfrey went a few times and left immediately after hearing his message. Obama stayed. He knew about his rhetoric. His preacher was scheduled to speak last year at his address to announce that he was running for president, but at the last minute canceled his appearance. Why?

Moreover, what if John McCain were tied to such a racist preacher? McCain's campaign would be over. So why isn't Obama's? If McCain were to have a speech defending his attendance at such a church, would that save him?

I doubt it. There's a bias in the media. They're telling us that Obama doesn't agree with his message. They're telling us that he doesn't subscribe to his philosophy. Utter rubbish. If he didn't he wouldn't attend that church.

If George Bush attended such a church, would the media be telling us this? Highly unlikely.

Go to their website and read their message. It made my skin crawl.

[cosmo]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

Weird, twisted philosophy. This comes from a document explaining "The Black Value System" on the website of the Obamas' Trinity Church:

Disavowal of the Pursuit of “Middleclassness”

Classic methodology on control of captives teaches that captors must keep the captive ignorant educationally, but trained sufficiently well to serve the system. Also, the captors must be able to identify the “talented tenth” of those subjugated, especially those who show promise of providing the kind of leadership that might threaten the captor’s control.

Those so identified as separated from the rest of the people by:

Killing them off directly, and/or fostering a social system that encourages them to kill off one another.

Placing them in concentration camps, and/or structuring an economic environment that induces captive youth to fill the jails and prisons.

Seducing them into a socioeconomic class system which while training them to earn more dollars, hypnotizes them into believing they are better than others and teaches them to think in terms of “we” and “they” instead of “us”.

So, while it is permissible to chase “middle-incomeness” with all our might, we must avoid the third separation method-the psychological entrapment of Black “middleclassness”: If we avoid the snare, we will also diminish our “voluntary” contributions to methods A and B. And more importantly, Black people no longer will be deprived of their birthright, the leadership, resourcefulness, and example of their own talented persons.

[cosmo]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

Hagee’s rhetoric is typical of the fundamentalist Right

Pshhhh. Don't be ridiculous..... That's absurd.

[toasty]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

Moreover, what if John McCain were tied to such a racist preacher?

Ironically, McCain evidently is tied to a minister who has the same type of message -- he just happens to be white.

Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, Ohio -- whom Sen. John McCain hails as a spiritual adviser -- has suggested on several occasions that the U.S. government was complicit in facilitating black genocide.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/21/mccain-spiritual-guide-ac_n_92757.html

This was news to me.

[cosmo]

Re: Could Obama's church pastor hurt him politically?

Ironically, McCain evidently is tied to a minister who has the same type of message -- he just happens to be white.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/21/mccain-spiritual-guide-ac_n_92757.html

This was news to me.

His quote:

"If I were call for the sterilization or the elimination of an entire segment of society, I'd be labeled a racist or a murderer, or at very best a Nazi," says Parsley. "That every single year, millions of our tax dollars are funding a national organization built upon that very goal -- their target: African Americans. That's right, the death toll: nearly fifteen hundred African Americans a day. The shocking truth of black genocide."

Me: Although I do not agree with this guys philosophy, I do see where he is going with it. Moreover, what are we to think of the eugenics movement and how it began, you know, by Margaret Sanger, who was a racist and brought forth the procedure of abortion specifically to be used for the black community.

Planned Parenthood was founded on racist beliefs. I wouldn't go as far as to call it genocide, but I do see where he is going with it. Sanger and Planned Parenthood targeted african americans. That much is true.

And how is siding with the black community against 'genocide', racist in any way?