Rev. Wright

First of all, great endorsement today from Gov. Richardson. My favorite part was his call for Hillary to recognize she can’t win and to get out of the race so Democrats can begin to look forward to and plan for the General.

So I just watched the full sermon in which Rev. Wright made the comments about “America’s Chickens are coming home to roost!” It is on Marc Ambinder’s blog.

Now to people who aren’t Christians, they may still find the Reverend’s comments offensive. The Rev. calls believers to examine their personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That is the point of his message. I am fine with the Gospel being described as controversial: Jesus was controversial. What I am not cool with is the church of Christian believers not defending Rev. Wright’s right to preach from the pulpit of Trinity and in some cases, Political christians have attacked Jeremiah Wright. Now whether folks like Tony Perkins think 9/11 happened because of gays, or because of America’s foreign policy, if Tony Perkins is more committed to the Bible than he is to the GOP he should keep his mouth shut on both accounts or he should have blasted Robertson and Falwell for their comments following 9/11.

I did not blast Robertson and Falwell and I will defend Rev. Wright. I believe that the nature of America is found in our good works…I believe the heart of America is good. Rev. Wright’s sermon indicates that following 9/11, he felt otherwise. While I, and Sen. Obama, disagree with him, when you get into the weeds of what he’s saying, it’s really a philosophical and academic case he is making, based in U.S. history of a scale many of those criticizing him have no clue about.

Political christians can do what they want, but Christian politicians, other Christians, and those of good conscience, should defend Senator Obama and not allow the media to once again bash Christianity and Christian leaders under the guise of journalism. Let’s judge our candidates’ on what they have said or think, and not on 10-second sound-bites of a black preacher shown over and over with the intent of scaring whites.

By the way, I would like to second the Obama campaign’s thank you to Chris Wallace. He is clearly a Republican-leaning journalist who is often harder on Democrats than he is on Republicans…but today, he was fair.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here is the link.

 

Obama, Huckabee and other news

I have only liked three candidates in this Presidential campaign: Joe Biden, Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama. The last two have shown in the past two days that they (along with Biden) are the only candidates who had core convictions. Mike Huckabee did so here: (Go about 3:15 in)

I am so proud of Huck.

Obama, on the other hand, gave one of the most sweeping, substantive speeches of the last 50 years in American politics. It was an honest speech that showed why he is the man to lead this country. He could have pandered to whites who wanted him to disown his pastor and leave his church, but he didn’t. He could have called white suspicion naive and ludicrous, but he didn’t. It was a remarkable speech.

I am currently planning for the big April 9 event and doing some schoolwork, so I have not been able to blog as much as I would have liked. I can tell you what, if I had time, I would be blogging on:

1. If Hillary can donate 5 million dollars to her campaign, could she donate some money to her wardrobe!? If I have to see that bee looking pantsuit one more time, I swear…!

2. By the way, about Hillary, the only campaign she still has a chance of winning is the campaign to destroy the Democratic Party.
I don’t know how many Democrats think a continuation of the failed policy in Iraq, or a third-term for Bush, is better than Senator Barack Obama in the White House.

3. I love the black church. I think it is one of the best parts of our country. However, conspiracy theories aren’t helping no one.

4. Tony Perkins and the FRC should pay more attention to the Bible and less attention to the political fortunes of the Republicans in Congress. In my latest FRC Action Alert E-mail…I was sent a paragraph of Ken Blackwell criticizing Obama’s Pastor and Obama for being in favor of a liberation philosophy and socialism. None of which, to my knowledge, were discussed in his speech. This paragraph by Ken was FRC’s response to Obama’s speech. One would think that FRC Action would rather protect the black church, which is with them on the social issues, then castigate the church because it doesn’t vote Republican. In the lead-up to April 9, I will be blogging a bit more about why the Religious Right has been led astray and if they can ever get back on a path when their eyes are on the Lord, instead of power in D.C.

5. Buffalo Sabres are going to the playoffs baby! (knock on wood)

 

Let’s Talk Politics: Spitzer, Clinton and various other topics

Spitzer:

I think it is an awful thing to consider that Spitzer was weighing his options, considering if he would be able to survive. The man should have dropped out right away. He should be ashamed of himself. He is a disgrace to the office and he is a despicable man for dragging his wife out for a press conference.

What I find equally distressing is that we have heard, watched and read things that are questioning whether prostitution is bad or not. For the man or the woman. The man had a wife and three children. It was wrong. For some people, Spitzer pushing for a gay marriage bill would be more legitimate if he wasn’t simultaneously dishonoring his own.

It is a sad statement if the feminist movement has transformed into a movement which defends prostitution. I love the men who frame their support for prostitution or abortion as “a woman has a right to do whatever she wants with a woman.” And women embrace that as part of being a woman, expressing their femininity. When in actuality, it’s at least partially men who want to be able to have sex with anyone and without any consequences.

But I digress…

There is no such thing as privacy for a public official. I believe that the public and the press should stay out of some things, but for Spitzer to call his using a prostitute and breaking the law a private manner is pure folly. Public officials should be held to a higher standard.

Between this and Clinton, I have never been so consumed with disgust at political officials in my party.

Which brings us to…Clinton.

I have a lot to say on her.

1) Electability

Hillary Clinton’s argument is that she wins democratic voters, which are the voters we’ll need in November. And that Obama wins big cities, which Democrats will win anyways.

She also selectively picks out states, and makes the ludicrous claim that a primary victory correlates with general election performance. As I remember, Obama won Maryland, Wisconsin, Virginia, Louisiana, Missouri. All states with primaries, all swing states. See the Clinton’s have done with electability what they have with everything else since February 5. They have thrown the kitchen sink at Obama and at the voters. Throwing whatever crap they could against the wall and seeing if anything will stick.

But you see…here’s the problem…None of her arguments make sense. In the general, Democrats will back Obama. What is not certain is that the independents and Republicans that will back Obama will support Hillary. Actually, it is pretty certain…they won’t. In a Zogby poll, Clinton starts off the general with 47% of the country saying they would NEVER vote for her. That’s a ceiling of 53%.

Clinton supporters can be as delusional as they want about her general election prospects. They could pretend that she is as gifted of a politician as Bill. They could pretend that she will win the commander-in-chief argument against McCain. They could pretend that people won’t be affected by the possibility of both Clinton’s back in the White House. They could pretend that the Republicans won’t play as dirty with her as she has with Obama. However, none of these things will happen.

2) Florida and Michigan

First of all, let’s take Michigan off the table. Obama wasn’t on the ballot. When he signs a pledge, he means it.

With Florida, yes, Clinton has an advantage in the state. However, let’s not forget that she held fundraisers in the state, and that even before South Carolina she began to pander to Florida and Michigan. So her advantages in the states are partially due to her breaking the spirit of the pledge she signed, as well as her stabbing NH and Iowa in the back as soon as the cast their votes for her. The NH Union Leader told NH voters they had been duped.

I believe that there should be a revote. Clinton is going to lose. The writing is on the wall. Obama is and should support a revote, beat her in Michigan, and maybe that will shut her up.

3) Ferraro

The Clinton’s have repeatedly used surrogates to run a smear campaign. Ferraro’s comments are another step in that direction. They use surrogates to state explicitly what Hillary only says implicitly. Hillary talks about how Obama won Louisiana because of the pride of African-Americans, Ferraro goes on Fox News and says that he is in his position because he is black. That will get that blue-collar vote!

I am done with the Clinton’s. I am through.

I guess the one good thing about that is that the Democratic Primary Voters have spoken: And they are done with her too.