Where is the ACLU on this event?
Where is Barry Lynn fighting and 'united' against this type of 'spearation of church and state' issue?
Does this church, The First AME in Los Angeles, still have its 'non-profit tax exempt' status with the state and the nation? Maybe it should be removed. Oops, I'm sorry, Bill Lockyer was present Sunday, endorsing this event as a 'political/spiritual' gathering!
According to Gray Davis..."Jesus is against the recall" and Republican's are immoral and evil. Has anyone asked the Democrats about 'tolerance' lately?
Yo, Gray, did Jesus happen to say anything about sucking the brains out of babies moments before they are born? Anything about teaching 5 year olds what a spiritually fulfilling lifestyle homosexuality is?
You've taken "excerpted" to a new low.
I'd like to hear what these women have to tell us about Clintoon's Power Grabs.
Yeah, great, Bubba. Where was all this concern for California when you were selling InterContinental Ballistic Missile guidance technology to the Chinese government in exchange for campaign contributions?
Los Angeles -- Former President Bill Clinton, speaking at an African American church where Democrats have found comfort in the past, made his most forceful public indictment of the California recall Sunday, calling it a Republican power grab that goes beyond just the career of Gov. Gray Davis.
With his familiar raspy voice and a Southern twang made a little more prominent as he addressed parishioners, Clinton said the recall election is threatening to turn California into a laughingstock and a carnival.
Later, he told reporters the campaign to oust Davis isn't a right-wing "conspiracy" but an out-in-the-open attempt to "shred the Constitution."
"Yeah, Gray Davis and I have been friends for a long time and I don't want this to happen to him, but this is way bigger than him," Clinton said. "He's been elected governor twice. He's had a wonderful life. He's going to be just fine. It's you I'm worried about. It's California I'm worried about. I don't want you to become a laughingstock, a carnival or the beginning of a circus in America where we just throw people out as soon as they make a tough decision."
Clinton then paused and said: "Don't do this. Don't do this."
Later, Clinton and Davis emerged from the La Golondrina restaurant into a closed-off street full of vendors selling sombreros and trinkets, and the crowd pressed in under the intense sun. As Clinton sweated and answered questions from reporters, a Latino man yelled, "Thanks, Mr. Davis, for the driver's license!" (Davis only days ago signed a measure allowing illegal immigrants to obtain licenses.)
Throughout the day, from the raucous pews at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church to the mob scene on Olvera Street, the embattled Democratic governor tagged along and said little in Clinton's shadow. But Davis didn't need to say much to get across the point of Clinton's two-day visit: The two politicians are linked by Republican attempts to oust them, one unsuccessful in 1999 and one pending before the voters on Oct. 7.
Today, starting a week in which Davis will appear statewide with prominent Democrats, Clinton and the governor will appear in Compton (Los Angeles County) to dedicate the new William Jefferson Clinton Elementary School. Davis has separate events with presidential candidates U.S. Sens. John Kerry and Bob Graham. He has two rallies with Rev. Jesse Jackson and ends the week with former Vice President Al Gore in San Francisco.
The First AME church, located in a once-wealthy Los Angeles neighborhood now dotted with decrepit mansions and worn stucco apartments, is a favorite spot for politicians to come and embrace the African American community and seek their votes. Clinton and Davis have campaigned there several times. A stained-glass window in the church features images of Robert and John F. Kennedy.
When Clinton and Davis entered the church, the audience broke into wild cheers that drowned out the choir. Attorney General Bill Lockyer carried his infant baby on stage for Clinton to cradle, as a church camera focused on them. The audience included several prominent elected officials, including Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn and Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi.
Davis made brief remarks, telling the audience that "powerful forces" are behind the recall but that he carries around a phrase in his pocket that reads, "Nothing can happen to me today that the Lord and I cannot handle." Davis then pulled out a small card with a picture of Jesus on it, wrapped in plastic, and showed it to the crowd.
The governor got a wild cheer when he referred to Clinton as "president" instead of "former president" and then corrected himself. "Some days I wake up and wish he were still president," he said.
Clinton then took the podium and in a folksy and avuncular 40-minute speech told the crowd that Davis has improved the state's schools, balanced the state budget this year and managed to keep the lights on in California even though the East lost power recently in a blackout. And he warned the parishioners that the recall threatens to embarrass the state and prompt recalls of other governors.
"I listen to all these kinda funny candidates and all their funny slogans," Clinton said, laughing. "It beats watching 'Friends' or reading or watching TV. I just watch California. But after a couple of days, it's not funny anymore."
Clinton said that if California recalls Davis it will send a message across the nation that elected officials should watch their backs. "Why would anyone make a hard decision again? What if we had immediate recall of every teacher, every preacher? What if kids could recall their parents?"
"Don't you think they would have recalled me after a couple years as president?" Clinton said. "I had to raise taxes on upper-income people and cut spending to balance the budget. What if they had recalled me after I had helped Mexico when polls showed 80 percent of people didn't want me to help Mexico?"
The Davis recall movement and Clinton's loss of the Arkansas governorship in 1980, after only a single term, have striking parallels. Although Clinton came back two years later to win again, he failed to win re-election in 1980 after his Republican opponent ran on a platform linking Clinton to an influx of Cuban immigrants and deriding him for raising the state's car tax. The California car tax and immigration are dominating the recall debate.
In his speech, Clinton said that after he was ousted, then-California Gov. Jerry Brown called him up and offered him a job as chief of staff, the same job Davis had just left.
"He said, 'You ought to come out here and be my chief of staff. I can't believe they beat you over that silly little tax increase at home. I'll just let you run the governor's office. You'll have a great time, you'll love California.' I've often wondered what would have happened to me if I'd taken the governor up on his offer."
Over the past few weeks, with the help of Clinton and other advisers, Davis has focused his anti-recall campaign more intensely on bashing Republicans, in order to energize a Democratic base that so far has not responded enthusiastically. Recent polls show his strategy may be working, as negative opinion of Davis has declined somewhat and the recall itself is getting only slightly better than 50 percent support.
Clinton's visit is part of a larger picture Davis wants to paint connecting the impeachment, the Florida vote recount in 2000 and the current skirmish in Texas over congressional districts to his own problems in California.
"All of this taken together is an attempt to subvert democracy," said Julian Bond, the national chairman of the NAACP, who attended the AME event. "Governor Davis was elected, and within months wealthy interests come forward and say we don't like it, let's throw him out."
First of all, what is a Satanic Clinton doing in a church? You'd think he'd burst into flames.
Second, what ever happened to the liberals U.S.S.R. constitution? It says separation of church and state! Why does this "church" still retain their tax exempt status?
Did he say anything about the Deathocrats attempt to recall Reagan in 1968? I didn't think so.
Was Barry Lynn originally a Jew, before he became this phone mail-order "reverend"?
Preparing their defense of NAMBLA. After all, the "right" of grown men to promote the rape of children is more important to them than the right of a Judge to promote the 10 commandments.
"Yeah, Gray Davis and I have been friends for a long time and I don't want this to happen to him, but this is way bigger than him," Clinton said. "He's been elected governor twice. He's had a wonderful life. He's going to be just fine. It's you I'm worried about. It's California I'm worried about. I don't want you to become a laughingstock, a carnival or the beginning of a circus in America where we just throw people out as soon as they make a tough decision."
"It's you I'm worried about". Ohhhh boy, is that a classic sociopathic remark. What old Bill is really saying is that he's worried that it will reflect poorly on him, should the sheep think with their heads.
When Clinton and Davis entered the church, cheers drowned out the choir. Attorney General Bill Lockyer carried his infant baby on stage for Clinton to cradle as a church camera focused on them.
I'm going to trade my beer for Maalox in a minute.
Davis made brief remarks, telling the audience that "powerful forces" are behind the recall but that he carries around a phrase in his pocket that reads, "Nothing can happen to me today that the Lord and I cannot handle." Davis then pulled out a small card with a picture of Jesus on it, wrapped in plastic, and showed it to the crowd.
Powerful forces meaning California voters who have had enough of your lies and incompetence. Religion is the last refuge of a scoundrel, you bum. At least you could have removed the shrinkwrap off Jesus' pic before you commited blasphemy...
The governor got a wild cheer when he referred to Clinton as "president" instead of "former president" and then corrected himself. "Some days I wake up and wish he were still president," he said.
Awww looky, the whore misses his pimp : (
"I listen to all these kinda funny candidates and all their funny slogans," Clinton said, laughing. "It beats watching 'Friends' or reading or watching TV. I just watch California. But after a couple of days, it's not funny anymore."
Yeah Bill we feel your pain. After a couple of years in office, you weren't too funny either...
"Don't you think they would have recalled me after a couple years as president?"
Hey sinkmaster, you don't recall Presidents, you IMPEACH THEM. Remember??? Of course you don't remember that. That would be inconvenient.
I think I'll create a new drink: Vodka, Maalox, and ice...whirl in blender. I'll call it the "Yapping Clinton"....