“God Damn America”????
By politicaldisgust on Mar 23, 2008 in Democrat, Disgust Rant, Republican
So there is absolutely no confusion at all let me start by saying I am not anti Obama or pro Obama. I actually like some of the things he says, but as you know at this point I have not made any final voting decisions yet.
But if the recent lunatic wild rantings of Obama’s Pastor Jeremiah Wright have shown us anything it is that no matter which side you are on - BOTH are just as bad as the other. I am forever amazed how both sides will find a way to justify even the most ridiculous crap, all to defend “their guy”. Finding anything positive with the verbal vomit that has come out of Wright’s mouth is sad to me and honestly makes me lose respect for those who support Obama.
You can see another news report on Wright’s speech at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ38N8OUg3Q
Of course the republicans have gone nuts over the speech and are using it widely. At issue is that Obama has openly called Wright his “mentor” and “a father figure”. Wright married Obama and his wife and baptized his children. Obama has spent 20 years at his church listening to many speeches and being influenced by him and his words. There is no denying this information. On top of the recent speeches, Rev. Wright has drawn fire for his long-standing affiliation with anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakham, with whom he once traveled to Libya for a meeting with Muammar Qaddafi. So Obama has to somehow now distance himself from a man he has openly and publicly praised for the good of his presidential campaign, even if he actually does believe the words that came out of Wright’s mouth.
But everyone, including Democrats, should be outraged by his BS speech, which was inappropriate and wrong. I have actually seen and heard first hand hard line Democrats “spinning” the speech positively. It is completely nuts. And Obama made a slick well written speech in response to try to calm the firestorm and answer questions about his many decades long relationship with Wright. Was that good enough for you? It was not for me. In situations like this why can’t politicians just be honest. Either he should say publicly that he 100% agreed with Wright’s statements, or the opposite. No double talk. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to just hear Obama say “I am embarrassed and upset with Pastor Wright’s comments. They are completely out of line and inappropriate. I do not support him. I should have left his church 20 years ago when I heard his inflammatory and anti-American thoughts”. But he can’t say that. The world knows that these comments are not new. Obama has heard them before and he still chose to remain a regular at this church. This presents a big issue for a candidate trying to become the President.
Reverse the situation and pretend that an associate of a Republican politician made similar comments. The Democrats would go nuts and rightly so. All while the Republicans did the spinning. Of course this HAS happened many times in the past and will happen again and again. The problem is that most democrats AND republicans have become too blind to admit that they will openly accept the outrageous things done by members of “their team” that they would rabidly attack if the exact same thing was done by the other side.
Both sides continue to show their asses, for lack of a better way to put it. Completely blind, willing to spin at all costs, and do the same thing the other side does whenever convenient. The motives and actions of the party supporters are a real joke. There is a bigger movement then the hard line supporters of each side want to realize and it is no wonder why so many people are turned off to politics in general and just don’t care.
Wright “retired” a few months ago. Very convenient. Or did someone realize that his words were so damaging that they would bring down Obama so he was “removed” for the good of the campaign? I guess we will never know. But the speeches live on and it is hard not to be disgusted. Was it Wright’s right to make these comments - yes. But that does not mean I have to like them, accept them, support them, or support anyone who does - NO
6 Comment(s)
By Tuffcop on Mar 25, 2008 | Reply
“All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are — were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment. And I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.”
- Pastor John Hagee
A McCain supporter/endorser. John McCain actively sought out his endorsement.
I expect an article from you soon about this. Oh, and outrage.
“How utterly repulsive, insulting, and heartbreaking to God for his chosen people to credit idols with bringing blessings he had showered upon the chosen people. Their own rebellion had birthed the seed of anti-Semitism that would arise and bring destruction to them for centuries to come.”
- Hagee, about Jews
By politicaldisgust on Mar 25, 2008 | Reply
Good point Tuffcop and I am not completely disagreeing with you. My point was how absurd it is that BOTH sides are willing to blindly support the completely wacko actions and things that directly come out of the mouths of people they support or are directly related to them. The Pastor Wright example is just the most current and could be something that Obama can not escape in his bid for the White House.
By Paul on Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
You mention that if the Republicans were to be associated with someone spouting vitrolic garbage the Democrats would jump all over it. But the fact is, the Republicans associate with any number of anti-American nut jobs and they typically get a free pass. Consider the following:
When Senator Obama’s preacher thundered about racism and injustice Obama suffered smear-by-association. But when my late father — Religious Right leader Francis Schaeffer — denounced America and even called for the violent overthrow of the US government, he was invited to lunch with presidents Ford, Reagan and Bush, Sr. (h/t Glenn Greenwald)
The fact is, these religious wingnuts don’t just associate with Republican leaders, the actually are asked to assist in policy level discussions. Now that’s far more scary than anything Wright has ever spouted off.
–Paul
http://progressiveworldreview.com
By Mactavish on Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
This brings up an interesting point.
The largest single ‘branch’ of Christianity in the U.S. is Protestantism; Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, etc. Roughly 150 million, including me. I’m a right-leaning Libertarian and moderate Methodist Christian. I rejected organized religion most of my life, but came around to my current beliefs through events that will remain known only to me.
The great majority of practicing Protestants are completely normal folks who raise their kids, pursue careers, drink beer, play golf on Sunday, drop F-bombs on occasion, and engage in charity work. And most do so without judging others. They don’t watch the so-called ‘religious leaders’ on TV, nor do they walk in lock-step with evangelical leaders who run mega-churches and control multi-million dollar media empires. In fact, if you asked the average Methodist to identify Hagee, you’d most likely get a blank stare.
These ‘leaders’ certainly hold sway over a certain population; mainly their church members and others that buy into (literally) their message that is so cleverly packaged as truth.
However, the rest of us who follow our beliefs and run soup kitchens and make mission trips to Haiti, find hate speech highly offensive and decidedly un-Christlike, whether it comes from Hagee, Wright, David Duke or L. Ron Hubbard.
By Phoenix on Mar 27, 2008 | Reply
Honestly from the snippet of the sermon that I heard, the only thing that I heard that could be considered wrong is “God Damn America” he should’nt have said that. Other than that, in the clip that they showed on CNN I saw nothing else really wrong. Yes, it should’nt have been said in church, but was it wrong? I don’t think so. I mean, HRC wasn’t a “black boy raised in a single parent home” and I sure she doesn’t know what it feels like to be called the N word or live in a country controlled by rich white people. In hearing this, I didn’t see how a person can take offense, because quite frankly she doesn’t. Coming from the pastor of a majority AA church I simply take this as a observation, that maybe just maybe were finally getting a president who understands the plight of AAs, and other minorities for that fact because he is one. Then there’s the 9/11 comments. While they definetly should not have been said, his comments are no different then those of Pat Robertson.
I think that pastor Wright could have been a lot more wise with what and how he communicated things, but I don’t think he should look at Obama as though he’s just a horrible person because he chose to keep this man as his pastor. I’m sure every sermon wasn’t like the few that have been shown, and I am sure that he did disagree with some of the things he said, but if everytime someone disagreed with a friend of family member, they cut them off, there would be no growth. I think its hard for us sometimes to let go of people who mean a lot to us, even when we see their faults, especially if we can understand where they come from.
It’s not an excuse and it doesn’t make it right but I think we all must remember that slavery only ended two seconds ago. My grandmothers, grandmother was a slave, and while I think we as AA should stop using it as an excuse, it still was a race with a 400 year headstart for the “white” community. We still had seperate restrooms 60 years ago, and to everyone who grew up in that time, it may be hard to let go of some of the feelings that built up. Not saying its right, not saying a pass should be given, just simply saying lets look at the entire picture and have some understanding and not try to cast stones simply because something another person said has rubbed us the wrong way.
By politicaldisgust on Mar 28, 2008 | Reply
Phoenix, thanks for the comment. but your entire post basically says over and over that he should not have done this or done that, and it does not make it right - so basically you are agreeing that his words are inappropriate.
You said “Not saying its right, not saying a pass should be given, just simply saying lets look at the entire picture and have some understanding and not try to cast stones simply because something another person said has rubbed us the wrong way.”
Of course it rubs me the wrong way, but that is not my real concern. It is how this man, with his prejudices and anti American slurs has potentially effected a person who might be our next president over the past 20 years of their relationship.