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I've been looking for something about this subject and Frank Rich has kindly supplied it. This is not the only problem of the "Party of Lincoln" in this year's election, as Frank Rich kindly tells us. This is also an apparent reason why nearly 70% of the electorate have responded "no" when asked whether the Wright controversy has negatively impacted their opinion of Senator Obama. And why the Dem superdelegates will not be assessing Obama in terms of his own "preacher problem" when deciding whether or not he will be the party's Presidential candidate... The All-White Elephant in the Room By Frank Rich NY Times online May 4, 2008 BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for ?John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,? and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive. What you?ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is ?the Great Whore,? Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking ?the blood of the Jewish people.? That?s because the Great Whore represents ?the Roman Church,? which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust. Mr. Hagee is not a fringe kook but the pastor of a Texas megachurch. On Feb. 27, he stood with John McCain and endorsed him over the religious conservatives? favorite, Mike Huckabee, who was then still in the race. Are we really to believe that neither Mr. McCain nor his camp knew anything then about Mr. Hagee?s views? This particular YouTube video ? far from the only one ? was posted on Jan. 1, nearly two months before the Hagee-McCain press conference. Mr. Hagee appears on multiple religious networks, including twice daily on the largest, Trinity Broadcasting, which reaches 75 million homes. Any 12-year-old with a laptop could have vetted this preacher in 30 seconds, tops. Since then, Mr. McCain has been shocked to learn that his clerical ally has made many other outrageous statements. Mr. Hagee, it?s true, did not blame the American government for concocting AIDS. But he did say that God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its sins, particularly a scheduled ?homosexual parade there on the Monday that Katrina came.? Mr. Hagee didn?t make that claim in obscure circumstances, either. He broadcast it on one of America?s most widely heard radio programs, ?Fresh Air? on NPR, back in September 2006. He reaffirmed it in a radio interview less than two weeks ago. Only after a reporter asked Mr. McCain about this Katrina homily on April 24 did the candidate brand it as ?nonsense? and the preacher retract it. Mr. McCain says he does not endorse any of Mr. Hagee?s calumnies, any more than Barack Obama endorses Mr. Wright?s. But those who try to give Mr. McCain a pass for his embrace of a problematic preacher have a thin case. It boils down to this: Mr. McCain was not a parishioner for 20 years at Mr. Hagee?s church. That defense implies, incorrectly, that Mr. McCain was a passive recipient of this bigot?s endorsement. In fact, by his own account, Mr. McCain sought out Mr. Hagee, who is perhaps best known for trying to drum up a pre-emptive ?holy war? with Iran. (This preacher?s rantings may tell us more about Mr. McCain?s policy views than Mr. Wright?s tell us about Mr. Obama?s.) Even after Mr. Hagee?s Catholic bashing bubbled up in the mainstream media, Mr. McCain still did not reject and denounce him, as Mr. Obama did an unsolicited endorser, Louis Farrakhan, at the urging of Tim Russert and Hillary Clinton. Mr. McCain instead told George Stephanopoulos two Sundays ago that while he condemns any ?anti-anything? remarks by Mr. Hagee, he is still ?glad to have his endorsement.? I wonder if Mr. McCain would have given the same answer had Mr. Stephanopoulos confronted him with the graphic video of the pastor in full ?Great Whore? glory. But Mr. McCain didn?t have to fear so rude a transgression. Mr. Hagee?s videos have never had the same circulation on television as Mr. Wright?s. A sonorous white preacher spouting venom just doesn?t have the telegenic zing of a theatrical black man. Perhaps that?s why virtually no one has rebroadcast the highly relevant prototype for Mr. Wright?s fiery claim that 9/11 was America?s chickens ?coming home to roost.? That would be the Sept. 13, 2001, televised exchange between Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, who blamed the attacks on America?s abortionists, feminists, gays and A.C.L.U. lawyers. (Mr. Wright blamed the attacks on America?s foreign policy.) Had that video re-emerged in the frenzied cable-news rotation, Mr. McCain might have been asked to explain why he no longer calls these preachers ?agents of intolerance? and chose to cozy up to Mr. Falwell by speaking at his Liberty University in 2006. None of this is to say that two wacky white preachers make a Wright right. It is entirely fair for any voter to weigh Mr. Obama?s long relationship with his pastor in assessing his fitness for office. It is also fair to weigh Mr. Obama?s judgment in handling this personal and political crisis as it has repeatedly boiled over. But whatever that verdict, it is disingenuous to pretend that there isn?t a double standard operating here. If we?re to judge black candidates on their most controversial associates ? and how quickly, sternly and completely they disown them ? we must judge white politicians by the same yardstick. When Rudy Giuliani, still a viable candidate, successfully courted Pat Robertson for an endorsement last year, few replayed Mr. Robertson?s greatest past insanities. Among them is his best-selling 1991 tome, ?The New World Order,? which peddled some of the same old dark conspiracy theories about ?European bankers? (who just happened to be named Warburg, Schiff and Rothschild) that Mr. Farrakhan has trafficked in. Nor was Mr. Giuliani ever seriously pressed to explain why his cronies on the payroll at Giuliani Partners included a priest barred from the ministry by his Long Island diocese in 2002 following allegations of sexual abuse. Much as Mr. Wright officiated at the Obamas? wedding, so this priest officiated at (one of) Mr. Giuliani?s. Did you even hear about it? There is not just a double standard for black and white politicians at play in too much of the news media and political establishment, but there is also a glaring double standard for our political parties. The Clintons and Mr. Obama are always held accountable for their racial stands, as they should be, but the elephant in the room of our politics is rarely acknowledged: In the 21st century, the so-called party of Lincoln does not have a single African-American among its collective 247 senators and representatives in Washington. Yes, there are appointees like Clarence Thomas and Condi Rice, but, as we learned during the Mark Foley scandal, even gay men may hold more G.O.P. positions of power than blacks. A near half-century after the civil rights acts of the 1960s, this is quite an achievement. Yet the holier-than-thou politicians and pundits on the right passing shrill moral judgment over every Democratic racial skirmish are almost never asked to confront or even acknowledge the racial dysfunction in their own house. In our mainstream political culture, this de facto apartheid is simply accepted as an intractable given, unworthy of notice, and just too embarrassing to mention aloud in polite Beltway company. Those who dare are instantly accused of ?political correctness? or ?reverse racism.? An all-white Congressional delegation doesn?t happen by accident. It?s the legacy of race cards that have been dealt since the birth of the Southern strategy in the Nixon era. No one knows this better than Mr. McCain, whose own adopted daughter of color was the subject of a vicious smear in his party?s South Carolina primary of 2000. This year Mr. McCain has called for a respectful (i.e., non-race-baiting) campaign and has gone so far as to criticize (ineffectually) North Carolina?s Republican Party for running a Wright-demonizing ad in that state?s current primary. Mr. McCain has been posing (awkwardly) with black people in his tour of ?forgotten? America. Speaking of Katrina in New Orleans, he promised that ?never again? would a federal recovery effort be botched on so grand a scale. This is all surely sincere, and a big improvement over Mitt Romney?s dreams of his father marching with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Up to a point. Here, too, there?s a double standard. Mr. McCain is graded on a curve because the G.O.P. bar is set so low. But at a time when the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll shows that President Bush is an even greater drag on his popularity than Mr. Wright is on Mr. Obama?s, Mr. McCain?s New Orleans visit is more about the self-interested politics of distancing himself from Mr. Bush than the recalibration of policy. Mr. McCain took his party?s stingier line on Katrina aid and twice opposed an independent commission to investigate the failed government response. Asked on his tour what should happen to the Ninth Ward now, he called for ?a conversation? about whether anyone should ?rebuild it, tear it down, you know, whatever it is.? Whatever, whenever, never mind. For all this primary season?s obsession with the single (and declining) demographic of white working-class men in Rust Belt states, America is changing rapidly across all racial, generational and ethnic lines. The Census Bureau announced last week that half the country?s population growth since 2000 is due to Hispanics, another group understandably alienated from the G.O.P. Anyone who does the math knows that America is on track to become a white-minority nation in three to four decades. Yet if there?s any coherent message to be gleaned from the hypocrisy whipped up by Hurricane Jeremiah, it?s that this nation?s perennially promised candid conversation on race has yet to begin. Here's the link - Drudge center column: http://www.drudgereport.com/ Cleo -- "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke "I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." From "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven", W.B. Yeats
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(14 of 14)
Re: John McCain's Preacher Problem and More Lapses from the Party of Lincol
May 4, 2008 10:14 PM
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Pastor Ron Parsley, a white version of Jeremiah Wright rails against the genocide of black Americans
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd4IbQ8vfHM
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(13 of 14)
Re: John McCain's Preacher Problem and More Lapses from the Party of Lincol
May 4, 2008 10:10 PM
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The American Crazy Preacher Review
John Stewart/Keith Olberman youtube vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QDr_3bbTmg
Barack Obama gives another speech to distance himself from former pastor Jeremiah Wright. Meanwhile, John McCain receives little scrutiny over the religious figures he aligns himself with. Is there a double standard?
Graham had praised and defended both Clintons before. And in a new interview, Hillary Clinton reports that the evangelist fulfilled a pastoral role during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and helped the First Lady endure the ordeal....Hillary Clinton's relationship with Graham goes back nearly as far as the current President's. A lifelong Methodist, Clinton had seen Graham on television growing up in Chicago. But she did not hear him preach in person until 1971, when she attended the Northern California crusade at the invitation of her then boyfriend, Bill Clinton, who had first heard Graham preach in Little Rock in 1959.
Full article: www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599, 1650798,00.html
Rudy Giuliani's priest has been accused in grand jury proceedings of molesting several children and covering up the molestation of others. Giuliani would not disavow him on the campaign trail and still works with him.
Mitt Romney was part of a church that did not view black Americans as equals and actively discriminated against them. He stayed with that church all the way into his early thirties, until they were finally forced to change their policies to come into compliance with civil rights legislation. Romney never disavowed his church back then or now. He said he was proud of the faith of his fathers.
Jerry Falwell said America had 9/11 coming because we tolerated gays, feminists and liberals. It was our fault. Our chickens had come home to roost, if you will. John McCain proudly received his support and even spoke at his university's commencement.
Reverend John Hagee has called the Catholic Church the "Great Whore." He has said that the Anti-Christ will rise out of the European Union (of course, the Anti-Christ will also be Jewish). He has said all Muslims are trained to kill and will be part of the devil's army when Armageddon comes (which he hopes is soon). John McCain continues to say he is proud of Reverend Hagee's endorsement.
Reverend Rod Parsley believes America was founded to destroy Islam. Since this is such an outlandish claim, I have to add for the record, that he is not kidding. Reverend Parsley says Islam is an "anti-Christ religion" brought down from a "demon spirit." Of course, we are in a war against all Muslims, including presumably Muslim-Americans. Buts since Parsley believes this is a Christian nation and that it should be run as a theocracy, he is not very concerned what Muslim-Americans think.
John McCain says Reverend Rod Parsley is his "spiritual guide."
What separates all of these outrageous preachers from Barack Obama's? You guessed it. They're white and Reverend Jeremiah Wright is not. If it's not racism that's causing the disparity in media treatment of these preachers, then what is it? I'm willing to listen to other possible explanations. And I am inclined to believe that the people these preachers go after are more important than the race of the preacher. It's one thing to go after gays, liberals and Muslims -- that seems to be perfectly acceptable in America -- it's another to accuse white folks of not living up to their ideals.
I think there is another factor at play as well. The media is deathly afraid of calling out preachers of any stripe for insane propaganda from the pulpits for fear that they will be labeled as anti-Christian. But criticism of Rev. Wright falls into their comfort zone. It's easy to blame him for being anti-American because he criticizes American foreign and domestic policy. If Rev. Wright had preached about discriminating against gay Americans or Muslims, there probably would not have been any outcry at all. That falls into the category of "respect their hateful opinions because they cloak themselves in the church."
But one thing is indisputable -- the enormous disparity in how the media has covered these white preachers as opposed to Rev. Wright. Have you ever even heard of Rod Parsley? As you can see from what I listed above, all of these white preachers have said and done the most outlandish and offensive things you can imagine -- and hardly a peep. If the disparity in coverage isn't racist, then what is it?
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(11 of 14)
Re: John McCain's Preacher Problem and More Lapses from the Party of Lincoln
May 4, 2008 2:17 PM
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Last night, I watched the movie Mississippi Burning for the first time since its release 20 yrs ago.
This is a film I recommend everyone watch during this campaign season, what with a black candidate, and the thoughts expressed by Rev. Wright.
Is is a sober, horrifying reminder of the murderous actions of right-wing racists in this country, just 40 yrs ago -- hunting down black people at night, boming and burning down their houses and churches, burning them to death, lynching them, beating them to death with baseball bats, cutting off their scrotums in some cases, and spewing the most bilious, toxic bile at them -- all for wanting equal rights
And let we forget, much of this brutal treatment was at the hands of the law -- the local police and sheriffs departments, who sicced vicious dogs on them during a peaceful protest
Also, as another reminder, here is a great song-video clip, by Mavis Staples, soulfully singing an old civil rights song from the era -- Eyes on the Prize -- accompanied by video clips of some of this brutal treatment of blacks in the '60s, often by law enforcement
Powerful stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZWdDI_fkns
--
Edited by LiveAndLetLive at 05/04/2008 11:52 AM PDT
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(10 of 14)
Re: John McCain's Preacher Problem and More Lapses from the Party of Lincoln
May 4, 2008 2:03 PM
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> The All-White Elephant in the Room
> By Frank Rich
NY Times online
May 4, 2008
> BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for ?John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,? and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive.
> What you?ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is ?the Great Whore,? Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking ?the blood of the Jewish people.? That?s because the Great Whore represents ?the Roman Church,? which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust.
> Mr. Hagee is not a fringe kook but the pastor of a Texas megachurch. On Feb. 27, he stood with John McCain and endorsed him over the religious conservatives? favorite, Mike Huckabee, who was then still in the race.
> Are we really to believe that neither Mr. McCain nor his camp knew anything then about Mr. Hagee?s views? This particular YouTube video ? far from the only one ? was posted on Jan. 1, nearly two months before the Hagee-McCain press conference. Mr. Hagee appears on multiple religious networks, including twice daily on the largest, Trinity Broadcasting, which reaches 75 million homes. Any 12-year-old with a laptop could have vetted this preacher in 30 seconds, tops.
> Since then, Mr. McCain has been shocked to learn that his clerical ally has made many other outrageous statements. Mr. Hagee, it?s true, did not blame the American government for concocting AIDS. But he did say that God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its sins, particularly a scheduled ?homosexual parade there on the Monday that Katrina came.?
> Mr. Hagee didn?t make that claim in obscure circumstances, either. He broadcast it on one of America?s most widely heard radio programs, ?Fresh Air? on NPR, back in September 2006. He reaffirmed it in a radio interview less than two weeks ago. Only after a reporter asked Mr. McCain about this Katrina homily on April 24 did the candidate brand it as ?nonsense? and the preacher retract it.
> Mr. McCain says he does not endorse any of Mr. Hagee?s calumnies, any more than Barack Obama endorses Mr. Wright?s. But those who try to give Mr. McCain a pass for his embrace of a problematic preacher have a thin case. It boils down to this: Mr. McCain was not a parishioner for 20 years at Mr. Hagee?s church.
> That defense implies, incorrectly, that Mr. McCain was a passive recipient of this bigot?s endorsement. In fact, by his own account, Mr. McCain sought out Mr. Hagee, who is perhaps best known for trying to drum up a pre-emptive ?holy war? with Iran. (This preacher?s rantings may tell us more about Mr. McCain?s policy views than Mr. Wright?s tell us about Mr. Obama?s.) Even after Mr. Hagee?s Catholic bashing bubbled up in the mainstream media, Mr. McCain still did not reject and denounce him, as Mr. Obama did an unsolicited endorser, Louis Farrakhan, at the urging of Tim Russert and Hillary Clinton.
> Mr. McCain instead told George Stephanopoulos two Sundays ago that while he condemns any ?anti-anything? remarks by Mr. Hagee, he is still ?glad to have his endorsement.?
> I wonder if Mr. McCain would have given the same answer had Mr. Stephanopoulos confronted him with the graphic video of the pastor in full ?Great Whore? glory. But Mr. McCain didn?t have to fear so rude a transgression. Mr. Hagee?s videos have never had the same circulation on television as Mr. Wright?s. A sonorous white preacher spouting venom just doesn?t have the telegenic zing of a theatrical black man.
> Perhaps that?s why virtually no one has rebroadcast the highly relevant prototype for Mr. Wright?s fiery claim that 9/11 was America?s chickens ?coming home to roost.? That would be the Sept. 13, 2001, televised exchange between Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, who blamed the attacks on America?s abortionists, feminists, gays and A.C.L.U. lawyers.
> (Mr. Wright blamed the attacks on America?s foreign policy.) Had that video re-emerged in the frenzied cable-news rotation, Mr. McCain might have been asked to explain why he no longer calls these preachers ?agents of intolerance? and chose to cozy up to Mr. Falwell by speaking at his Liberty University in 2006.
> None of this is to say that two wacky white preachers make a Wright right. It is entirely fair for any voter to weigh Mr. Obama?s long relationship with his pastor in assessing his fitness for office. It is also fair to weigh Mr. Obama?s judgment in handling this personal and political crisis as it has repeatedly boiled over. But whatever that verdict, it is disingenuous to pretend that there isn?t a double standard operating here. If we?re to judge black candidates on their most controversial associates ? and how quickly, sternly and completely they disown them ? we must judge white politicians by the same yardstick.
> When Rudy Giuliani, still a viable candidate, successfully courted Pat Robertson for an endorsement last year, few replayed Mr. Robertson?s greatest past insanities. Among them is his best-selling 1991 tome, ?The New World Order,? which peddled some of the same old dark conspiracy theories about ?European bankers? (who just happened to be named Warburg, Schiff and Rothschild) that Mr. Farrakhan has trafficked in. Nor was Mr. Giuliani ever seriously pressed to explain why his cronies on the payroll at Giuliani Partners included a priest barred from the ministry by his Long Island diocese in 2002 following allegations of sexual abuse. Much as Mr. Wright officiated at the Obamas? wedding, so this priest officiated at (one of) Mr. Giuliani?s. Did you even hear about it?
> There is not just a double standard for black and white politicians at play in too much of the news media and political establishment, but there is also a glaring double standard for our political parties. The Clintons and Mr. Obama are always held accountable for their racial stands, as they should be, but the elephant in the room of our politics is rarely acknowledged:
> In the 21st century, the so-called party of Lincoln does not have a single African-American among its collective 247 senators and representatives in Washington. Yes, there are appointees like Clarence Thomas and Condi Rice, but, as we learned during the Mark Foley scandal, even gay men may hold more G.O.P. positions of power than blacks.
> A near half-century after the civil rights acts of the 1960s, this is quite an achievement. Yet the holier-than-thou politicians and pundits on the right passing shrill moral judgment over every Democratic racial skirmish are almost never asked to confront or even acknowledge the racial dysfunction in their own house.
> In our mainstream political culture, this de facto apartheid is simply accepted as an intractable given, unworthy of notice, and just too embarrassing to mention aloud in polite Beltway company. Those who dare are instantly accused of ?political correctness? or ?reverse racism.?
> An all-white Congressional delegation doesn?t happen by accident. It?s the legacy of race cards that have been dealt since the birth of the Southern strategy in the Nixon era. No one knows this better than Mr. McCain, whose own adopted daughter of color was the subject of a vicious smear in his party?s South Carolina primary of 2000.
> This year Mr. McCain has called for a respectful (i.e., non-race-baiting) campaign and has gone so far as to criticize (ineffectually) North Carolina?s Republican Party for running a Wright-demonizing ad in that state?s current primary. Mr. McCain has been posing (awkwardly) with black people in his tour of ?forgotten? America. Speaking of Katrina in New Orleans, he promised that ?never again? would a federal recovery effort be botched on so grand a scale.
> This is all surely sincere, and a big improvement over Mitt Romney?s dreams of his father marching with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Up to a point. Here, too, there?s a double standard. Mr. McCain is graded on a curve because the G.O.P. bar is set so low. But at a time when the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll shows that President Bush is an even greater drag on his popularity than Mr. Wright is on Mr. Obama?s, Mr. McCain?s New Orleans visit is more about the self-interested politics of distancing himself from Mr. Bush than the recalibration of policy.
> Mr. McCain took his party?s stingier line on Katrina aid and twice opposed an independent commission to investigate the failed government response. Asked on his tour what should happen to the Ninth Ward now, he called for ?a conversation? about whether anyone should ?rebuild it, tear it down, you know, whatever it is.? Whatever, whenever, never mind.
> For all this primary season?s obsession with the single (and declining) demographic of white working-class men in Rust Belt states, America is changing rapidly across all racial, generational and ethnic lines. The Census Bureau announced last week that half the country?s population growth since 2000 is due to Hispanics, another group understandably alienated from the G.O.P.
> Anyone who does the math knows that America is on track to become a white-minority nation in three to four decades. Yet if there?s any coherent message to be gleaned from the hypocrisy whipped up by Hurricane Jeremiah, it?s that this nation?s perennially promised candid conversation on race has yet to begin.
Frank Rich is The Man! I was so happy when, a few years ago, hd made the decision to take the brilliance and high standards he had demonstrated for years as a critic, and lend them to political commentary
He can always be counted on to expose the blatant hypocricy and moral corruption of the right. But he is no party-line "liberal propagandist," as the Right would have you believe. He has been plenty hard on the Democrats as well, for their failure to stand up to Bush and cut off war funding, etc
This column points out yet another Lie of the Right -- another edxmple of their racism and hypcricy and dishonesty
God Bless Frank Rich!
And, to paraphrase Rev. Wright: "God Damn Those Lying, Racist Republicans! : )
--
Edited by LiveAndLetLive at 05/04/2008 11:08 AM PDT
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(9 of 14)
Re: John McCain's Preacher Problem and More Lapses from the Party of Lincol
May 4, 2008 12:59 PM
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I don't think any of the three remaining candidates are religious zealots. And I think the country is so turned off by the current administrations mis-use of religious influence that it will be considered unseemly for any of them to lie about God talking to them directly or anything remotely like that.
It's the media who needs to be retrained.
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(8 of 14)
Re: John McCain's Preacher Problem and More Lapses from the Party of Lincol
May 4, 2008 11:00 AM
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Cleo,
Ha! you're so preaching to the choir, at least if that was directed at me...lol
Spent the morning listening to Farrakhan's recent NOI Savior's Day speech and that man is wordy. But it was interesting, Cleo. I think he'll come up at some point in the campaign now that the media's just about rode Rev. Wright for all he's worth.
Farrakhan explained that all year he'd been working on his ministry so that he and his followers could defend it, if need be. I took that to mean to the media and in reference to Obama.
A very very different tactic and strategy than Rev. Wright, who has seemed to glory in the spotlight at Obama's expense.
Farrakhan was very praising of Obama, very hopeful about his candidacy and obviously intentionally stated that he was being extremely careful that nothing he said could be used against Obama.
So, that's appreciated.
He said this was the most difficult sermon he'd ever had to compose. I believe it. There was nothing hostile, bitter, hateful, etc. in the entire speech. Quite a feat for NOI.
In a way, at one point, I think he was defending Rev. Wright obliquely because he talked of the difficulty leaders of completely black districts have in adjusting from thinking of Obama as the black candidate to thinking of him as America's candidate. There's a graciousness intended, I think, offering Obama support and encouragement even though Obama denounced him.
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(7 of 14)
Re: John McCain's Preacher Problem and More Lapses from the Party of Lincoln
May 4, 2008 7:31 AM
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Thanks for augmenting this thread with more information about McCain's religious connections.
I missed your posting of the Rich op-ed, but, even if I had known it was here somewhere, it surely deserved a thread of its own.
The arguments here surrounding this issue have rarely touched upon how this issue would play against the GOP in the general, when, as the GOP's association with evangelicals has shown, Jeremiah Wright would have been exposed as a gigantic diverting racist red herring.
I chuckled to hear Christopher Hitchens, an anti-religionist and believer in the separation of church and state to his bones, say in a recent Tim Russert interview, "religion is spoiling the Presidential election".
The purpose of the separation of church and state is to assure that superstition will not be the hand guiding the exercise of state power.
One need only look at the troubles in Northern Ireland, the Inquisition, the Crusades, the Salem witch trials, and the timeless turmoil in the Middle East to see clearly the rationale for avoiding associations the GOP seems determined to cynically exploit in its grabs for national power and as one of the more pathetic rationales for continuing its unending "war for oil".
Cleo
--
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke
"I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." From "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven", W.B. Yeats
--
Edited by CleopatraVIII at 05/04/2008 4:33 AM PDT
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(6 of 14)
Re: John McCain's Preacher Problem and More Lapses from the Party of Lincol
May 4, 2008 7:28 AM
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Farrakhan is pissed off for being made a 'litmus test' used by the media to evaluate any black person who gets into US politics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7QUftErt_M&feature=related
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(5 of 14)
Re: John McCain's Preacher Problem and More Lapses from the Party of Lincol
May 4, 2008 7:23 AM
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Mar 22, 2008
McCain's pastor, Dan Yeary, defends Obama's pastor - Yahoo! News
"All preachers have a tendency to overstate because our passion is so intense. But I thought Obama did a fine job in response. He preserved his friendship with his pastor while disagreeing with him," Dan Yeary said.
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Re: John McCain's Preacher Problem and More Lapses from the Party of Lincol
May 4, 2008 7:22 AM
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McCain's preacher -
Dan Yeary
Currently: Pastor at North Phoenix
for 13 years
Prior Pastorate: Coral Gables,Florida
for 18 years
Family: Wife - Melinda; Son - Wes, Director, FCA National Chaplain Training Center, Auburn University; Daughter - Missy, pastor's wife to Steve Wells, Houston, Texas; Son - Doak, Dade County firefighter, Miami, Florida
Hobby: golf
Favorites: Chocolate chip cookies and butterscotch pie, Auburn football, Suns basketball, Diamondbacks baseball
He preaches at a mega church 7-8K members in Phoenix.
Here's Yeary on youtube cheerleading some other church called UCB.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WWIwUYQv7g
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Re: John McCain's Preacher Problem and More Lapses from the Party of Lincol
May 4, 2008 7:00 AM
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hi Cleo,
I posted the same article on one of the threads but can't recall which one. Very good article to put Wright into perspective where he's judged against his religious peers.
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This is from CNN transcripts, McCain interviewed during his presidential run in 2000, excerpt that pertains to the GOP and religion.
America is more than the sum of its divided parts, and so our party should be. America is more powerful than its established power centers, and so our party should be. America is greater than the accumulation of wealth, and so our party should be. This is my message to my party and my country. It is an honest, Republican message that threatens none of our party's principles or the social values of any constituency in our party. On the contrary, it is an inclusive but principled message that trusts in the people to guide our nation in this new century.
I am a conservative, my friends, a proud conservative who has faith in the people I serve, but those who purport to be defenders of our party but in who -- who in reality have lost confidence in the Republican message are attacking me. They are people who have turned good causes into businesses.
Let me be clear, let me be clear. Evangelical leaders are changing America for the better. Chuck Colson, head of Prison Fellowship, is saving men from life -- from a lifetime behind bars by bringing them the good news of redemption. James Dobson, who does not support me, has devoted his life to rebuilding America's families. Others are leading the fight against pornography, cultural decline and for life. I stand with them. I am a pro-life, pro-family fiscal conservative, an advocate of a strong defense, and yet Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and a few Washington leaders of the pro-life movement call me an unacceptable presidential candidate. They distort my pro- life positions and smear the reputations of my supporters.
Why? Because I don't pander to them, because I don't ascribe to their failed philosophy that money is our message. I believe in the cause of conservative reform. I believe that because we are right we will prevail in the battle of ideas, unspoiled by the taint of a corrupt campaign finance scheme that works against the very conservative reform of government that is the object of our labors. The Republican Party will prevail...
(APPLAUSE)
The Republican Party will prevail because of our principles, because that's what it's about, my friends: principles, not special- interest money or empire or ego.
(APPLAUSE)
The union bosses. who have subordinated the interest of working families to their own ambitions, to their desire to preserve their own political power at all costs, are mirror images of Pat Robertson. Just as we embrace working people, we embrace the fine members of the religious conservative community, but that does not mean that we will pander to their self-appointed leaders.
(APPLAUSE)
Some -- some prefer to build walls and exclude newcomers from our support. Apparently, appeals to patriotism can only be held by card- carrying Republican, and only certain Republicans at that, not the kind of Republicans who might dissent from the soft-money ethics of a tired party establishment. Apparently Republican reformers, independent reformers or Democrat reform -- Democratic reformers, any group that might, like the Reagan Democrats of 20 years ago, be attracted to our cause of conservative reform and national greatness are too great a threat to the Washington status quo. That surprises me, that surprises me since the essence of evangelism is to seek converts. My campaign is bringing new people into the Republican Party everyday.
(APPLAUSE)
I don't apologize for this. No, I wear it as a badge of honor. I will not padlock the Republican Party and surrender the future of our nation to Speaker Gerhardt and President Al Gore.
(APPLAUSE)
My friends, we're building a new Republican majority, a majority to serve the values that have long defined our party and made our country great. Social conservatives should flock to our banner. Why should you fear a candidate who believes we should honor our obligations to the old and the young? Why should you fear a candidate who believes we should first cut taxes for those who need it most? Why should you fear a candidate who wants to reform the practices of politics in government so they fairly reflect your aspirations for your family and country? Why should you fear a candidate who would sign without hesitation a partial birth adoption -- abortion band, or who would work tirelessly with anyone to improve adoption and foster care choices for those who might be considering the taking of unborn life? Why should you fear a candidate...
(APPLAUSE)
Why should you fear a candidate who shares your values? My friends, I am a Reagan Republican who will defeat Al Gore.
(APPLAUSE)
Unfortunately, Governor Bush is a Pat Robertson Republican who will lose to Al Gore.
(APPLAUSE)
I recognize and celebrate that our country is founded upon Judeo- Christian values, and I have pledged my life to defend America and all her values, the values that have made us the noblest experiment in history. But public -- but political intolerance by any political party is neither a Judeo-Christian nor an American value. The political... (APPLAUSE)
The political tactics of division and slander are not our values, they are...
(APPLAUSE)
They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country.
(APPLAUSE)
Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.
(APPLAUSE)
Many years ago, a scared American prisoner of war in Vietnam was tied in torture robes by his tormenters and left alone in an empty room to suffer through the night. Later in the evening, a guard he had never spoken to entered the room and silently loosened the ropes to relieve his suffering. Just before morning, that same guard came back and re-tightened the ropes before his less humanitarian comrades returned.
He never said a word to the grateful prisoner, but some months later on a Christmas morning as the prisoner stood alone in the prison courtyard, the same Good Samaritan walked up to him and stood next to him for a few moments. Then with his sandal, the guard drew a cross in the dirt. Both prisoner and guard stood wordlessly there for a minute or two venerating the cross until the guard rubbed it out and walked away.
This is my faith, the faith that unites and never divides, the faith that bridges unbridgeable gaps in humanity. That is my religious faith and it is the faith I want my party to serve, and the faith I hold in my country. It is the faith that we are all equal and endowed by our creator with unalienable rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is the faith I would die to defend. Don't let...
(APPLAUSE)
Don't let anyone fool you about me, my friends, or about this crusade that we have begun. If you want to repair the people's confidence in the government that represents us, join us. If you want to restore the people's pride in America, join us. If you want to believe in a national purpose that is greater than our individual interests, join us.
(APPLAUSE)
We are the party of Ronald Reagan, not Pat Robertson. We are the party...
(APPLAUSE)
We are the party of Theodore Roosevelt, not the party of special interests. We are...
(APPLAUSE)
We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, not...
(APPLAUSE)
We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, not Bob Jones.
(APPLAUSE)
Join us, join us, join us and welcome anyone of good faith to our ranks. We should be, we must be, we will be a party as big as the country we serve.
Thank you and God bless, and thank you for being here today.
--
Edited by RainyKincaid at 05/04/2008 4:01 AM PDT
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(1 of 14)
John McCain's Preacher Problem and More Lapses from the Party of Lincoln
May 4, 2008 6:25 AM
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I've been looking for something about this subject and Frank Rich has kindly supplied it.
This is not the only problem of the "Party of Lincoln" in this year's election, as Frank Rich kindly tells us.
This is also an apparent reason why nearly 70% of the electorate have responded "no" when asked whether the Wright controversy has negatively impacted their opinion of Senator Obama.
And why the Dem superdelegates will not be assessing Obama in terms of his own "preacher problem" when deciding whether or not he will be the party's Presidential candidate...
The All-White Elephant in the Room
By Frank Rich
NY Times online
May 4, 2008
BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for ?John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,? and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive.
What you?ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is ?the Great Whore,? Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking ?the blood of the Jewish people.? That?s because the Great Whore represents ?the Roman Church,? which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust.
Mr. Hagee is not a fringe kook but the pastor of a Texas megachurch. On Feb. 27, he stood with John McCain and endorsed him over the religious conservatives? favorite, Mike Huckabee, who was then still in the race.
Are we really to believe that neither Mr. McCain nor his camp knew anything then about Mr. Hagee?s views? This particular YouTube video ? far from the only one ? was posted on Jan. 1, nearly two months before the Hagee-McCain press conference. Mr. Hagee appears on multiple religious networks, including twice daily on the largest, Trinity Broadcasting, which reaches 75 million homes. Any 12-year-old with a laptop could have vetted this preacher in 30 seconds, tops.
Since then, Mr. McCain has been shocked to learn that his clerical ally has made many other outrageous statements. Mr. Hagee, it?s true, did not blame the American government for concocting AIDS. But he did say that God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its sins, particularly a scheduled ?homosexual parade there on the Monday that Katrina came.?
Mr. Hagee didn?t make that claim in obscure circumstances, either. He broadcast it on one of America?s most widely heard radio programs, ?Fresh Air? on NPR, back in September 2006. He reaffirmed it in a radio interview less than two weeks ago. Only after a reporter asked Mr. McCain about this Katrina homily on April 24 did the candidate brand it as ?nonsense? and the preacher retract it.
Mr. McCain says he does not endorse any of Mr. Hagee?s calumnies, any more than Barack Obama endorses Mr. Wright?s. But those who try to give Mr. McCain a pass for his embrace of a problematic preacher have a thin case. It boils down to this: Mr. McCain was not a parishioner for 20 years at Mr. Hagee?s church.
That defense implies, incorrectly, that Mr. McCain was a passive recipient of this bigot?s endorsement. In fact, by his own account, Mr. McCain sought out Mr. Hagee, who is perhaps best known for trying to drum up a pre-emptive ?holy war? with Iran. (This preacher?s rantings may tell us more about Mr. McCain?s policy views than Mr. Wright?s tell us about Mr. Obama?s.) Even after Mr. Hagee?s Catholic bashing bubbled up in the mainstream media, Mr. McCain still did not reject and denounce him, as Mr. Obama did an unsolicited endorser, Louis Farrakhan, at the urging of Tim Russert and Hillary Clinton. Mr. McCain instead told George Stephanopoulos two Sundays ago that while he condemns any ?anti-anything? remarks by Mr. Hagee, he is still ?glad to have his endorsement.?
I wonder if Mr. McCain would have given the same answer had Mr. Stephanopoulos confronted him with the graphic video of the pastor in full ?Great Whore? glory. But Mr. McCain didn?t have to fear so rude a transgression. Mr. Hagee?s videos have never had the same circulation on television as Mr. Wright?s. A sonorous white preacher spouting venom just doesn?t have the telegenic zing of a theatrical black man.
Perhaps that?s why virtually no one has rebroadcast the highly relevant prototype for Mr. Wright?s fiery claim that 9/11 was America?s chickens ?coming home to roost.? That would be the Sept. 13, 2001, televised exchange between Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, who blamed the attacks on America?s abortionists, feminists, gays and A.C.L.U. lawyers. (Mr. Wright blamed the attacks on America?s foreign policy.) Had that video re-emerged in the frenzied cable-news rotation, Mr. McCain might have been asked to explain why he no longer calls these preachers ?agents of intolerance? and chose to cozy up to Mr. Falwell by speaking at his Liberty University in 2006.
None of this is to say that two wacky white preachers make a Wright right. It is entirely fair for any voter to weigh Mr. Obama?s long relationship with his pastor in assessing his fitness for office. It is also fair to weigh Mr. Obama?s judgment in handling this personal and political crisis as it has repeatedly boiled over. But whatever that verdict, it is disingenuous to pretend that there isn?t a double standard operating here. If we?re to judge black candidates on their most controversial associates ? and how quickly, sternly and completely they disown them ? we must judge white politicians by the same yardstick.
When Rudy Giuliani, still a viable candidate, successfully courted Pat Robertson for an endorsement last year, few replayed Mr. Robertson?s greatest past insanities. Among them is his best-selling 1991 tome, ?The New World Order,? which peddled some of the same old dark conspiracy theories about ?European bankers? (who just happened to be named Warburg, Schiff and Rothschild) that Mr. Farrakhan has trafficked in. Nor was Mr. Giuliani ever seriously pressed to explain why his cronies on the payroll at Giuliani Partners included a priest barred from the ministry by his Long Island diocese in 2002 following allegations of sexual abuse. Much as Mr. Wright officiated at the Obamas? wedding, so this priest officiated at (one of) Mr. Giuliani?s. Did you even hear about it?
There is not just a double standard for black and white politicians at play in too much of the news media and political establishment, but there is also a glaring double standard for our political parties. The Clintons and Mr. Obama are always held accountable for their racial stands, as they should be, but the elephant in the room of our politics is rarely acknowledged: In the 21st century, the so-called party of Lincoln does not have a single African-American among its collective 247 senators and representatives in Washington. Yes, there are appointees like Clarence Thomas and Condi Rice, but, as we learned during the Mark Foley scandal, even gay men may hold more G.O.P. positions of power than blacks.
A near half-century after the civil rights acts of the 1960s, this is quite an achievement. Yet the holier-than-thou politicians and pundits on the right passing shrill moral judgment over every Democratic racial skirmish are almost never asked to confront or even acknowledge the racial dysfunction in their own house. In our mainstream political culture, this de facto apartheid is simply accepted as an intractable given, unworthy of notice, and just too embarrassing to mention aloud in polite Beltway company. Those who dare are instantly accused of ?political correctness? or ?reverse racism.?
An all-white Congressional delegation doesn?t happen by accident. It?s the legacy of race cards that have been dealt since the birth of the Southern strategy in the Nixon era. No one knows this better than Mr. McCain, whose own adopted daughter of color was the subject of a vicious smear in his party?s South Carolina primary of 2000.
This year Mr. McCain has called for a respectful (i.e., non-race-baiting) campaign and has gone so far as to criticize (ineffectually) North Carolina?s Republican Party for running a Wright-demonizing ad in that state?s current primary. Mr. McCain has been posing (awkwardly) with black people in his tour of ?forgotten? America. Speaking of Katrina in New Orleans, he promised that ?never again? would a federal recovery effort be botched on so grand a scale.
This is all surely sincere, and a big improvement over Mitt Romney?s dreams of his father marching with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Up to a point. Here, too, there?s a double standard. Mr. McCain is graded on a curve because the G.O.P. bar is set so low. But at a time when the latest Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll shows that President Bush is an even greater drag on his popularity than Mr. Wright is on Mr. Obama?s, Mr. McCain?s New Orleans visit is more about the self-interested politics of distancing himself from Mr. Bush than the recalibration of policy.
Mr. McCain took his party?s stingier line on Katrina aid and twice opposed an independent commission to investigate the failed government response. Asked on his tour what should happen to the Ninth Ward now, he called for ?a conversation? about whether anyone should ?rebuild it, tear it down, you know, whatever it is.? Whatever, whenever, never mind.
For all this primary season?s obsession with the single (and declining) demographic of white working-class men in Rust Belt states, America is changing rapidly across all racial, generational and ethnic lines. The Census Bureau announced last week that half the country?s population growth since 2000 is due to Hispanics, another group understandably alienated from the G.O.P.
Anyone who does the math knows that America is on track to become a white-minority nation in three to four decades. Yet if there?s any coherent message to be gleaned from the hypocrisy whipped up by Hurricane Jeremiah, it?s that this nation?s perennially promised candid conversation on race has yet to begin.
Here's the link - Drudge center column:
http://www.drudgereport.com/
Cleo
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"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke
"I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams." From "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven", W.B. Yeats
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