Posted on 05/31/2008 6:01:05 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, who helped reignite Barack Obama's pastor problems by mocking Hillary Clinton, said this evening he's received "thousands of hate threats" since his videotaped pulpit rant.
"They want to kill me," Pfleger told parishioners during a service in a St. Sabina Church chapel on Chicago's South Side this evening. "It's been very ugly."
The firebrand Catholic Priest made his controversial Clinton comments last Sunday at Trinity United Church of Christ, home church of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor.
Pfleger mocked Clinton for crying on the campaign trail, and suggested it was "white entitlement" leading Clinton to believe the Democratic nomination should go to her -- not Obama.
His speech was videotaped, and quickly made the rounds on the Internet and on television, leading Obama to express his ÒdisappointmentÓ in the activist priest, whom he has known for years.
Pfleger's boss, Cardinal Francis George, on Friday also rebuked Pfleger for his "personal attack" on Clinton, and said he had received assurances from Pfleger that he would no longer campaign for or even mention the names of political candidates.
In his brief comments this evening, Pfleger did not name any candidates, and said he would address the controversy at a Sunday mass at St. Sabina.
"I'm not going to make a statement," Pfleger told the crowded chapel. "My real statement will be tomorrow."
But he did say it's been a difficult week filled with an unspecified surgery on Tuesday and a deluge of threats.
"It's a very difficult situation," he said. "I've received thousands of hate threats."
He did not offer any specifics from the pulpit, and declined through an aide to comment further. That included declining a specific request by the Sun-Times for a comment on Obama's decision to leave Trinity church.
That bombshell revelation came out Saturday. It followed weeks of Trinity-related headaches for the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Obama was a longtime member of the church. Wright married Obama and his wife, Michelle, and baptized their two daughters. But Obama had to publicly distance himself from Wright after videotaped sermons hit the Internet showing Wright criticizing the U.S. government — including exclaiming "God damn America!"
Pfleger has already apologized for his searing sermonizing, saying in a statement, "I regret the words I chose on Sunday. These words are inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message, and I am deeply sorry if they offended Sen. Clinton or anyone else who saw them."
In his address at Trinity last Sunday, Pfleger began by talking about the need to expose "white entitlement and supremacy wherever it raises its head," according to a video clip on YouTube. Pfleger speaks of Clinton's tearing up just before the New Hampshire primary.
"I really don't believe it was put on," Pfleger said. "I really believe that she just always thought, "This is mine! I'm Bill's wife, I'm white, and this is mine! I just gotta get up and step into the plate." And then out of nowhere came, "Hey, I'm Barack Obama," and she said, "Oh, damn! Where did you come from? I'm white! I'm entitled! There's a black man stealing my show!'"
Mimicking Clinton mopping tears, Pfleger added, "She wasn't the only one crying, there was a whole lot of white people crying."
" Can a Catholic explain this guy to me?
He's an attention whore of the variety that you can find in almost any walk of life. He has found a way to make himself the center of discussion and at the same time paint himself as a martyr. Unfortunately, although he is a priest, I see very little piety or priestly decorum in anything that he does. He seems to be out for himself and not the glory of God. I don't think that he does anything without first thinking about what kind of press coverage it will bring him. I get the same vibe from him that I get from Sharpton and Jackson.
And this is only the tip of the iceberg: There is the communist who was Obama’s mentor and Obama’s involvement
with ACORN.
In fact, those in the cloth are more dangerous because they are sacrosanct to the unwashed masses and the naive intelligentia because of their cloth.
A cross held by an evil, seditious "priest" helps him keep patriots from his neck just as surely as a cross held by a movie actress keeps a vampire away from her throat.
Leni
We're going to snuff out John Riggio [gun store owner]
We're going to snuff out legislators that are voting against our gun laws.
Fr. Michael Pfleger
Fortunately no one took him up on it. He later explained he didn't know that snuff out was slang for kill. I believe that, the Father wouldn't lie. And Barry never heard a word of what was going on in Church, he was deep in thought while his co-religionists were whooping it up in support of Rev Wright, and Fr. Pfleger.
ISRA: Chicago Priest Calls for Murder of Gun Shop OwnerSPRINGFIELD, Ill., May 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):
Nobody expected Saturday's Operation PUSH protest at Chuck's Gun Shop & Range to be anything other than a circus of the bizarre. However, nobody anticipated that an address by a Chicago priest would include a call for the murder of a suburban gun shop owner and legislators who oppose gun control.
During an address at an anti-gun rally in front of Chuck's, Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina's Church, exhorted the crowd to "drag" shop owner, John Riggio, from his shop "like a rat" and "snuff" him.
Rev. Pfleger went on to tell the crowd that legislators that vote against gun control legislation should be "snuffed" as well. As many know, "snuff" is slang for especially violent murder.
The ISRA has a recording of Pfleger's remarks in MP3 format.
"Certainly Fr. Pfleger has offered Absolution to a murderer or two during his tenure as a priest," commented ISRA Executive Director, Richard Pearson. "That's why it's shocking to hear him actually advocate the murder of a gun shop owner who has never committed a crime in his life. He then compounds the problem by calling for the murder of legislators who disagree with his personal political views -- something I suspect is a felony in this state. Pfleger's comments were disgusting and dangerous. And, I seem to remember that the Fifth Commandment frowns on murdering one's neighbor."
"This week, I'll be penning a letter to the Archbishop, expressing my concerns over Rev. Pfleger's comments," continued Pearson. "I would hope that the Archbishop would reply with words of comfort for Mr. Riggio, his family, state legislators, and all others who were injured by Rev. Pfleger's thoughtless, inflammatory remarks."
The ISRA is the state's leading advocate of safe, lawful, and responsible firearms ownership. Since 1903, the ISRA has represented the interests of over 1.5 million law-abiding firearm Illinois firearm owners.
Yeah, the Bishop slapped his handand oedered three hail Mary’s. That’ll keep him under control until next Sunday.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/05/father_pflegers_support_for_fa.html
When the Illinois Hate Commission was found to have on its board. a Nation of Islam member- Sister Claudette Marie Muhammed who proudly stood up for Louis Farrakhan, the notoriously anti-white and anti-Semitic Minister (or as Barack Obama refers to him using the honorific "Minister Farrkhan," a controversy erupted. She refused to denounce his racist and anti-Semitic remarks,and refused to resign.
The Board's three Jewish members resigned in protest. Father Michael Pfleger not only supported the Sister's refusal to condemn Farrakhan's racism, he said this of the resignation of the Jewish members of the board, "Good Riddance."
With his latest, belittling rant against Hillary Clinton, Pfleger may also be a misogynist , as well. Obama's has identified Father Pfleger as on of his three spiritual mentors. The other two, Pastor Jeremaih Wright-much commented upon- and the Reverend James Meeks, who has his own trail of controversy (among which includes a dislike of gays) , Meeks has also been a beneficiary of campaign contributions from indicted Obama pal, Anthony Rezko.
No wonder Barack Obam has not problem with the prospect of going on a "Great Haters of America" tour of the world. He appears to have no problem empathizing with their views of America-or Israel for that matter. Much more about Pfleger by David Kopel at Volokh Conspiracy and our own Rosslyn Smith.
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