Ken reassures Time Magazine…

Ken, I’m not sure what you are getting at here. Are you saying his speech WASN’T frank (at least in comparison to most political speeches), or are you saying people had other problems with it? It seems to me his speech went well beyond your average “while I don’t agree with everything he says, he is still a friend” statement that politicians normally issue in a situation like this, and instead tried to explain (not justify) why his pastor would say these things. As far as politics go, I’d say his speech was fairly “frank”.

He did answer the question of how can a person bring their family to the church of a raving lunatic by stating he didn’t agree with those specific statements. The idea that Wright spent all of his time railing at the United States is absurd. Yes he said stupid things that I certainly find beyond idiotic, but they are a minute fraction of what he talks about. I know that, as Obama said, I have strongly disagreed with some of the statements my pastor has said in church, but that doesn’t mean I need to renounce the church or the pastor. In fact, by those rules, John McCain wouldn’t be able to attend my church, since the pastor frequently speaks out against the war.

The Lott comparison is a false one for a very simple reason. Lott MADE the statements. Obama did not. Lott insinuated our country would be better off if we had simply instituted racially divisive policy. Obama simply sat in the audience while someone else made idiotic claims.

Look, if we are going to play this game, then I suppose we need a whole new batch of candidates. Obama is out because of Wright, a picture just surfaced that shows the Clintons have met with him as well, so Hillary is out, and certainly McCain is out with his choice of embracing Hagee, who has certainly said as many if not more idiotic things than Wright.

Come on BT. If someone on the right suddenly lets fly with some heinous comment about, say, homosexuals (you know, some type of “AIDS is the cure” rhetoric) they don’t get any sort of contextual pass by virtue the non-inflammatory things they say the other 95% of the time. If any pastor said something like that from the pulpit no decent person is going to sit there saying, “well, everyone has their quirks; we’ll ignore this.”

Sardu, I’m not saying Wright should be responsible for what he says, my point is simply that Wrights entire cannon is not “Whitey sucks”. If that was what he was ALWAYS preaching, then it would stand to reason that Obama must share that sensibility. If it is simply something he said during a 20 year period, it is entirely possible, in fact entirely probable, that this was simply something Obama and Wright disagree with.

This entire “controversy” is incredible. Because a guy Obama listens to said these things, it is now assumed that Obama BELIEVES these things. Again, by this standard, due to his embrace of Hagee, we must assume that John McCain believes the Catholic church is “The Great Whore”, New Orleans was flooded because they had a gay pride parade the week before, all Muslims have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians, and attacking Iran is a precondition for Armageddon.

Not to mention George Bush and Dick Cheney should now be held responsible for everything Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity believe and say, since they consider them friends. Bill Mahar must hate liberals because he is friends with Ann Coulter. And how in God’s name do we reconcile the belief systems of James Carville and Mary Matlin? I mean they spend EVERY DAY with each other, not just Sundays. If they spend every day with each other, and clearly love each other, doesn’t each of them have to believe everything they hear the other one say?

Food, I’m not going to change your mind by simply posting on a message board, and I am sure you have given this a lot of thought, but I would simply say that I’d hope we could all wait until Obama does something that proves he is racist to give up on him, rather than finding him guilty by association.

“Food, I’m not going to change your mind by simply posting on a message board, and I am sure you have given this a lot of thought, but I would simply say that I’d hope we could all wait until Obama does something that proves he is racist to give up on him, rather than finding him guilty by association.”

He already did prove it: He chose to keep the racist as a spiritual mentor for 20 years. You’re asking me to see that as inconclusive evidence of racism.

That’s not possible. There is nobody in America who could have a racist for a spiritual mentor for 20 years without being a racist him/herself. It’s just not possible.