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Obama struggles to limit damage in pastor row as white voters slip away
The Guardian ^ | Saturday March 22 2008 | Daniel Nasaw, Ewen MacAskill

Posted on 03/21/2008 7:53:03 PM PDT by Red Steel

Listen for a few minutes to Joey Vento, owner of a south Philadelphia institution that serves gut-busting sandwiches through a takeaway hatch, and the scale of Barack Obama's problems become apparent. Obama is having the worst week of his campaign. It is, some believe, a week that threatens his chances of becoming president.

"That minister, that was terrible, all his sayings. He's preaching hatred," Vento said. "The thing I didn't like about Obama; you're telling me for 20 years you been going to that church and you never heard that?"

Vento, 68, was speaking about Obama's former pastor and spiritual adviser, Jeremiah Wright, whose sermons have been aired repeatedly on US television denouncing the US as racist.

The clips have alienated the white voters, such as Vento, that Obama needs in his next contest with Hillary Clinton, to be held in Philadephia and the other towns and cities of Pennsylvania on April 22. But it goes further than that. The danger for Obama is not just that he could lose badly in Pennsylvania but that senior Democrats will wonder whether the loss of white votes could cost him the November general election.

Phil Singer, spokesman for Clinton, told reporters: "It's no secret that the Obama campaign is in political hot water."

Obama attempted to defuse the escalating row with a speech on Tuesday in Philadelphia in which he spoke in detail about his relationship with Wright and race in the US. It was widely acknowledged as one of his best. He wrote it on Monday night after his wife, Michelle, and their children had gone to bed. Although acclaimed by the media and political activists, his speech has failed to win over voters such as Vento.

Obama has since redoubled his efforts. Usually reluctant to offer himself up for interview,

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: barackthebigot; hatewhiteycampaign; jeremiahwright; nobama; obama; pa2008; whitevote; wright
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To: Army Air Corps

Possibly he is watching a rerun of, “How To Kick A Cracker To Sleep.” Filmed in Fayetteville, N.C. at the (International House of Pancakes) 1995.

A Cracker was kicked to sleep(murdered) by 7 to 8 Black thugs(domestic terrorists, at that restaurant. The FPD, said it was not a “hate crime.”

I think the deceased violated the (BWATWPAT-Hood Law) ie; “Being White At The Wrong Place and Time.”

I think this one is an “Oldie, but Goodie” of Obuma.

Respectfully,
NSNR


101 posted on 03/22/2008 6:05:00 AM PDT by No Surrender No Retreat (Xin Loi My Boy!!!!)
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To: Eva

Morning Eva,
Wright served in the US Marine Corps and obtained the rank of PFC/E-2. He entered the service as a Pvt-E-1 and later transferred over to the US Navy. Wright’s total combined service was six years.

Wright was discharged from the Navy as a Corpsman, third class/E-4.

I have no other info as to the type of dischage Wright received. My opinion, Pvt/E-1 to Pfc/E-2 while a Marine for three years a total “F’ Up/Dud with an attitude.”

Hope this tidbit of info helped.

Respectfully,
NSNR


102 posted on 03/22/2008 6:18:47 AM PDT by No Surrender No Retreat (Xin Loi My Boy!!!!)
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To: Fred Nerks

I call this demonstration, “Black Blimpos Down For The Obuma Struggle.” Africa is only a one-way ticket away, “Do The Wright Thing.”

Respectfully,
NSNR


103 posted on 03/22/2008 6:26:00 AM PDT by No Surrender No Retreat (Xin Loi My Boy!!!!)
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To: The Forgotten Man

104 posted on 03/22/2008 6:30:05 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: Fred Nerks; YoungBlackRepublican; Beckwith

Beckwith has much of that information up on his site, though that particular cultural commentary is new to me, and rings true. He has the best compilation of Obama background information on the web, in my book. You can find it here:

http://www.freedomsenemies.com/_more/obama.htm


105 posted on 03/22/2008 6:40:01 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (<===Typical White American)
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To: Red Steel
Photobucket
106 posted on 03/22/2008 9:24:46 AM PDT by GVnana ("They're still analyzing the first guy. What do I have to worry about?" - GWB)
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To: Fred Nerks

I just had to change my tag line.


107 posted on 03/22/2008 9:25:36 AM PDT by Beckwith (Just another 'Typical White Person')
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To: Beckwith

Looks better this way!


108 posted on 03/22/2008 9:26:54 AM PDT by Beckwith ('Typical White Person')
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To: Caipirabob

This would look good on a T-shirt....


109 posted on 03/22/2008 12:58:27 PM PDT by The Forgotten Man (He works, he votes, generally he prays--but he always pays....)
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To: Biblebelter

Obama related in his first book that Wright used the politics to unite the disparate groups of Blacks into one community, and to stir them to activism, rather than prayerful passivism.

They advocate passivism as a US foreign policy, but not as a Black domestic policy.

That’s why some have questioned Obama’s fitness to be the Commander in Chief. Is Obama a Black Liberationist, or not?


110 posted on 03/22/2008 1:09:24 PM PDT by Eva (Benedict Arnold was a war hero, too.)
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To: Eva
That’s why some have questioned Obama’s fitness to be the Commander in Chief. Is Obama a Black Liberationist, or not?

He maybe worse than that, in that he is simply a rather hollow shell, that believes in little other than it is his destiny to become President of these United States. It is my nature to embrace ANY conspiracy theory when it first surfaces. I believe Jeremiah Wright believes that Obama is that hollow shell of a man. Jeremiah Wright is the real deal, in that he is a real demagogue and a real hate monger. These are sociopathic traits. I believe if he is sociopathic enough to preach his message of hate, he is sociopathic enough to be jealous of Barry on one level, and angry at him on another level for not publicly embracing him totally and therefore sociopathic enough to sabotage his candidacy which is not an original thought by me, but written by Michael Barone.

Fox News and ABC News did not break into Wright's church in the dead of night to steal the DVD"S that were broadcast. The DVD's were sold to them by the church and came to light at a rather curious time. I believe Barry's Uncle Jeremiah told his church minions, sell Whitey the damn tapes and let the GD America see what black liberation theology is all about. The subtext to that is Wright's wants the attention centered on him not Obama and if that was the purpose of the tapes he succeeded. I do not feel Wright feels bad the tapes have and may keep Barry from being President, on the other hand he is very happy that the unity of the races associated with Barry's candidacy is now no more. You asked me a fair question and I used the long form, but no, I doubt if Barry is a black liberationist and those doubts are shared by his pastor. But that does not mean that a man that believes in nothing greater than himself is less dangerous than a man who believes the hate that Wright is preaching.

111 posted on 03/22/2008 1:34:53 PM PDT by Biblebelter (If whites spew hate, Obama calls it hate speech, when his pastor says it, he calls it anger speech.)
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To: Biblebelter

The problem with your theory is that Wright’s church always sold tapes of his sermons. Wright said in an interview, last March with the International Herald Tribune, that Obama took tapes of Wright’s sermons back to Harvard with him to study his style. Wright also told the reporter that he taught Obama crowd control techniques.

Anyway, I’ve been wondering why O’Reilly has been taking credit for something that Hannity had been talking about for a year and who sent the tapes to ABC. I always suspected the Hillary campaign. But, you’re right, Obama thought that he was using Wright, and Wright knew that he was using Obama, but that is what Wright did at his church, he used the upwardly mobile Blacks, instilling in them a sense of responsibility for the poorer elements of the Black community and spurring them to activism.

Did you know that Wright’s area of concentration in divinity school was Islam?


112 posted on 03/22/2008 1:58:46 PM PDT by Eva (Benedict Arnold was a war hero, too.)
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To: Eva
The problem with your theory is that Wright’s church always sold tapes of his sermons. Wright said in an interview, last March with the International Herald Tribune, that Obama took tapes of Wright’s sermons back to Harvard with him to study his style. Wright also told the reporter that he taught Obama crowd control techniques.

This is not like the church has a full time store and selling hundreds and hundreds of audio tapes and DVD's a week. I know a little bit of how this type of thing works and there was little if ANY demand for the material from anyone who was not a church member or possibly someone who was a regular customer. The sale was handled by a church employee or volunteer of which would be a very very small number. Jeremiah would crucify anyone selling DVD's to anyone not a church member or a past regular customer. I suspect that Hannity, Fox and other news out lets have been trying to get their hands on the DVD which has the VIDEO for a long time. The audio tapes do not have the value of the video and it would be my guess demand for the DVD"s and probably the price would mean they rarely sell any DVD's and those DVD's might even have to made to order from a digital master, particularly the ones as old as ABC and Fox played. Both outlets got all the DVD's that were available to them.

Obama's campaigin knows the truth here. Obama campaign has put itself up for blackmail by Wright when Obama said that he was never there when anything of the controversial things on the tapes were said. I suspect that Jeremiah could prove or disprove that theory immediately by making copies of all the sermons that they have on videotape available to the MSM. They could raise some revenue to, although there are few in the MSM hungry for the video that would prove Obama lied and provide the smoking gun end to Obama's candidacy. Whether it is video or other records Wright has Obama's future much in his hands.

There is a story to be told of how the DVD's got in Fox's and ABC's hand. It is a story that most in the MSM do not want to pursue. It is a story that Fox and ABC do not want to tell at this time BECAUSE they have a request for as much video as Wright is willing to provide, and this kind of story now, means they would not be getting any more video. And face it they get a lot of mileage from the video of a ranting hating Jeremiah Wright.

To answer your question, I have no idea of Wright's formal theological studies. My intuition is that is not likely because when Wright went to divinity school the concentrated and comparative study of Islam would have been rare.

113 posted on 03/22/2008 2:29:03 PM PDT by Biblebelter (If whites spew hate, Obama calls it hate speech, when his pastor says it, he calls it anger speech.)
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To: Biblebelter
The study of Islam may have been rare in the early seventies, but that was the time of Black power and Black Muslims, and that is what I have read on several web sites. Jeremiah Wright received a second Masters degree, the first was from Howard (I think) in English with a concentration in Black spirituals, and the second (which according Obama took six years in the seventies) was from the University of Chicago.

Indeed, the Chicago Tribune reported that Mr. Wright’s bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Howard University were in English with a focus on African spirituals. The Tribune also reports that his master degree (rather than doctorate) from the University of Chicago Divinity School was in the history of religions — with a focus on Islam.

114 posted on 03/22/2008 2:40:37 PM PDT by Eva (Benedict Arnold was a war hero, too.)
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To: Eva
and Black Muslims,

Elijah Muhammed would never let anyone preach in a church associated with him who was not trained and certified in house. Muhammed Ali claimed to be a minister but whatever training to make such a claim came from inside the church of Elijah Muhammed.

115 posted on 03/22/2008 2:46:46 PM PDT by Biblebelter (If whites spew hate, Obama calls it hate speech, when his pastor says it, he calls it anger speech.)
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To: Red Steel

I predict that, while Philly is heavily Democrat, it is only 49% black and the vote will be very divided as a result. The country was healing up until now, and Obama has poured gasoline on the fire. I see Italian and Irish Democrats as the first to bolt. Obama’s speech was patronizing and insulting, and savvy people will see right through it. Vento’s opinion is illustrative of that.


116 posted on 03/22/2008 2:54:47 PM PDT by Windcatcher
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To: Biblebelter
Wright wasn't preaching as a Muslim, he was preaching as a Christian. Obama describes Wrights theological studies as having read Tillich and Niebuhr. I'm familiar with Tillich, but I had to review Niebuhr. It seems that there were two opposing periods in Niebuhr's thinking. The first was described as this:

During the 1930s Niebuhr was a prominent leader of the militant faction of the Socialist Party of America. He promoted adoption of the United front agenda of the Communist Party USA, a position in sharp contrast to that which would distinguish him later in his career. According to the autobiography of his factional opponent Louis Waldman, Niebuhr even led military drill exercises among the young members

The second was the opposite, but I'm not sure which Wright studied.

117 posted on 03/22/2008 3:16:58 PM PDT by Eva (Benedict Arnold was a war hero, too.)
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To: Biblebelter
I don't know if you ever read that article from the International Herald Tribune that followed Obama's canceling of the Wright invocation at his campaign announcement, but Wright did say somethings that could be construed as a warning to Obama, not to disavow him or his movement. I think that Wright could be angry with Obama for not running as an angry Black Man, for trying to transcend race. To Wright , the attempt to transcend race would be selling out. Read this article about how Obama came to join the Trinity congregation. Barack Obama on Meeting Mr. Wright
118 posted on 03/22/2008 3:31:42 PM PDT by Eva (Benedict Arnold was a war hero, too.)
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To: Eva
Thanks, that is my first initiation into Barry's prose.

The assumption here is that Barry and Uncle Jeremiah are on the same page. The MSM wants to show Barry in the most positive light possible which would be to accept Barry's public pronouncements of good will toward Wright. The right wing want to destroy Barry painting him with the same brush that they have Wright. But we have heard nothing from Wright and more importantly what we have not from Wright since the firestorm speaks volumes. Wright has Barry in a box. But what the media has not focused on is Oprah Winfrey. Oprah is a very very successful individual and that success came through some very very good judgement. Oprah left this church without a chirp. She was much smarter than Barry and saw the end game. She knew that only bad would come if she stayed. Oprah is a capitalist and a successful one, and maybe it was the Marxism rather than the hatred that sent her packing. But for whatever reason, Oprah has tefloned herself on this story.

She can have it either way she wants when the question finally comes to her. She can say, I left the church for whatever reason she wants to say, or she can give the answer that his swing supporters expected him to say. Oprah can say I heard some hateful things and it was very difficult but I had to leave the church. Oprah will never provide the last answer until such time that Barry is no longer a candidate for the nomination.

That is the way I see it. Wright by blackmailing Barry is even a more despicable individual that just the obvious sociopathic hater that he has shown himself to be. And Barry is NOT the hater that Wright is. He is in some ways even worse, he does not understand what Oprah does, and that is there is time to act, and if you do not, all will be lost. It is that Shakespeare thingy, there is tide in the affairs of men when taken leads on to fortune but omitted leads to complete failure. Sorry, I cannot quote Shakespeare from memory as I was once able to but it goes something like that.

119 posted on 03/22/2008 4:23:00 PM PDT by Biblebelter (If whites spew hate, Obama calls it hate speech, when his pastor says it, he calls it anger speech.)
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To: Biblebelter
Here's another link that you should read, if you haven't already. Note the date. Barack Obama's search for faith

And here is one on Liberation Theology from the Catholic Library in 1984, when they were struggling with the Marxist doctrine in South and Central America. Liberation Theology

120 posted on 03/22/2008 4:32:27 PM PDT by Eva (Benedict Arnold was a war hero, too.)
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