Thanks For Nothing Jeremiah Wright and NAACP!

The Q&A has been much more illuminating than the speech...however, Wright is revealing himself to be entirely ego driven. He is making some great points but he is so self-satisfied that it's almost disturbing. He seems to be partaking in a virtual orgy of speaking his mind.

The moderator has asked some skewering and divisive questions, all pertaining to race, religion and politics. This country is so screwed. We are totally obsessed with drama and tire fires and completely ignore issues of substance such as the economy, education, health care, etc.

Originally posted by dbates
Obama is finished. Now will the Democratic party tie itself to Obama while he sinks? That's the question.

I'm worried you might be right. It's effing unbelievable that Wright, as a black man and a 'pastor', can be so astoundingly selfish and unethical as to completely swift-boat the candidacy of not only a fellow black man, but such a credible intelligent individual such as Obama.

This stinks to high heaven. Wright could not have done more to help Billary even if he donated $10 million to her campaign.

Not a supporter of Obama...or McCain or Hillary, but the topic here is the Rev. Wright.

Just wondering if the situation was different, say like, David Duke had a church and McCain has attended for years?

Yea, sure the treatment would have been different.

Bad company corrupts good character.

Obama is a clown who is about as qualified to be POTUS as I am. This guy will be torn to shreds by the media and the GOP if he becomes the nominee. He is, to coin a phrase, unelectable.

You want a qualified black POTUS? How about Colin Powell or Alan Keyes or Bill Cosby for that matter? I would vote for any of them in a split second. Obama on the other hand is a dufus looking waif who has skipped about every vote in the Senate that he could so as not to be nailed down to any one side. I liken him to the pied piper with all the rats following behind him. I am a smarter rat than the rest and thankfully many others are too.

[edit on 4/28/2008 by Escrotumus]

OK, I've read through this whole thread. I saw Wright on Bill Moyer's show the other night and I have to say, I don't see how he's not supporting Obama. His answers were indicative to me of someone who didn't want to have their message hijacked by politics; in short, he didn't even go into the area of much discussion about Obama. I agree with alot of what he says, as well - yes, race is still an issue, maybe not with the youth, but with the older generation. And I do believe our govt was complicit in 9/11. He is dissatisfied with the way that America is going - as are 81% of Americans disatisfied, according to a poll by ABC. (Pretty sure it's ABC, it's ne of the MSM anyway).

Wright has a message he wants to get out, so he's accepting his 15 min. of fame in the limelight to get that message out, as would anyone in his shoes. He's not anti-white, he's pro-black empowerment. There's a big difference.

wright is out for the money and his fame. it all comes down to greed.

Has there ever been an American generation whose preachers go on satellite television and teach other leaders in 'Revival' countries how to "milk" the sheep for money, and grow rich at the expense of the poor? No, I tell you, America has NEVER done this before. Our TV preachers are now actually being used by the devil to corrupt true moves of God all over the globe. (Go to Nigeria, Ghana, Brazil and see what I mean. American "Prosperity" is everywhere - and still spreading).

www.revivalschool.com...

wright is no different.

Firstly, Wright is not a televangelist - being a pastor who is on one TV interview does not a televangelist make, he needs to have a regular show.

Secondly, Martin Luther King, Jr. was also a pastor and was on TV. By your reasoning, he was also out for the money, which, BTW, he had no money when he died.

So, can you tell us please why you think Mr. Wright is only in it for the money? If he was paid anything at all for his interview, I'm sure it wasn't very much, but even so, one payment does not a rich person make.

I just watched the video where he makes fun of Pres. John F. Kennedy's accent. Boy howdy! This guy knows how to insult everyone. This has got to be one of the most offensive things I've ever heard. Making fun of Kennedy is not only turning off the Democratic fan base, it will probably tick off half the Republicans too.

Run away Obama, this guy is the kiss of death to your political career.



By the way, here's the great speech that Pres. Kennedy made. It's not as bad as Rev. Wright made it sound.



[edit on 28-4-2008 by dbates]

This is my favourite part so far...

"If Sen. Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected. Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls," Wright said.


Although many of the clips of Wright that have been dogging Obama's campaign were from sermons that were several years old, the pastor repeated some of the same ideas for television cameras Monday. He criticized the U.S. government as imperialist and stood by his suggestion that the United States invented the HIV virus as a means of genocide against minorities.

news.yahoo.com...;_ylt=Asmej2DtUxOGhqc1qxJ_ubVh24cA


www.politico.com...

Wright said, “He did not denounce me. He distanced himself from some of my remarks...
“He didn't distance himself. He had to distance himself, because he's a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was [portrayed as] anti-American. … He did, as I said, what politicians do.*”

*emphasis mine

Uhm, that's real reassuring, reverend. Small wonder Obama is trying to distance himself. Reverend Wright instead of taking the hint for the good of the campaign jumps out in front of a camera and basically accuses Obama of selling out. It's comical, really.



[edit on 28-4-2008 by _Del_]

I love this election. While white men, ( you know us horrid sexist racist bigots ) are pretty evenly split between obama and clinton, Blacks and women, are voting for "thier" candidate at a rate of over 90%. Even though minorities cant ever be racist.

There are some upsides to being a conservative.



[edit on 28-4-2008 by Shazam The Unbowed]

The Rev. Wright is proof that God loves the Republicans.
The Democrats had the perfect opportunity to run away with this election and then managed to shoot themselves in their collective foot!

Hopup

The Repugs couldn't find a better point man for their cause if they tried..lol...I mean this guy is going to single handedly hand John Mccain the election. I think it is hilarious that the two Deocratic candidates are beating each other to a pulp and Mccain is sitting back drinking a martini and rubbing his lucky rabbits foot. I mean wow. Even when Wright attempts to apologize he sticks his foot deeper into his mouth.


And for all of the Obama supporters, if this guy is getting his butt chewed by Hillary and the gang then just wait until the real election begins and the conservatives pull out their nasty cards. Obama will get eaten alive. If he cant handly Hillary then he definately doesn't want to see what sort of dirt Rove and his crew of pitbulls will dig up, those guys show no mercy. Better step down now.


Edit to add: There is NO better way to ruin a political career than to come on national television and mock John F. Kennedy...lol....Obama had better find somebody to shut this clown up and fast.

[edit on 4/29/08 by BlackOps719]

Do you suppose that Rev. Wright wants Obama to lose? If Obama were to win he would lose half of his sermon notes and couldn't rant about white men controlling everything. This is his bread and butter and Obama being elected might ruin this for him. Look at how Rev. Wright lives. Despite preaching about "rich white folks" and talking about how the white man is bring them down, it appears he's about to move in to a 10,340-square-foot, $1.6 million house.

Money and Politics folks. That's all this is.

It's likely that the reason Obama has not taken a more decisive stand against Wright is precisely because he knows how volatile and crazy Wright has a tendency to be. This will change. Obama will definitely b-slap him, denounce him, whatever.

Once more, I challenge anyone to say Obama should have left the church long ago. The fact is, many people do not attend church regularly. The fact is, Wright's church was THE church for fashionable (for lack of a better term) African-Americans to attend in Chicago. The fact is, if it was easy to stand up to your pastor, priest, whatever, the Catholic church would not be as damaged as it is. The Pastor's role in African American culture cannot be understated - it's powerful. So powerful that Wright felt fully comfortable and insulated from criticism, that he got up before the cameras, flamed out in front of the world and doesn't even see what the big deal is.

What I find truly fascinating is that it is often said - to much criticism and derision- by Bill Cosby, Colin Powell and other prominent African American leaders that they are their own worst enemy. Their premise is, generally speaking, that they do not value intellectual people or successful people in their own culture unless it coincides with sports, rap or locally powerful people. Additionally, many African Americans are quick to judge and condemn the successful among them as "sell outs". I see this spectacle as a clear example of this. Obama is within a breathe away from being POTUS and one of his own associates damages him, possibly permanently, and definitely on purpose. It's really shocking and sickening to see.

Furthermore, the phrase "Lead, follow or get out of the way" comes to mind. A generation of Civil Rights leaders paved the way for people like Barack Obama. Yet, they seem incapable of allowing him to achieve the success they fought so hard to make a possibility. The fact is, that the world is mostly post-Racial but many African Americans, mostly the older generation, are not. It's tragic really.

I suspect that the African American community will have a lot of soul-searching to do.



[edit on 29/4/08 by kosmicjack]

As good little, tin-foil hat wearing ATS members, you had to suspect SOMETHING more to the story...an interesting twist:


www.nydailynews.com...

Shortly before he rose to deliver his rambling, angry, sarcastic remarks at the National Press Club Monday, Wright sat next to, and chatted with, Barbara Reynolds.

A former editorial board member at USA Today, she runs something called Reynolds News Services and teaches ministry at the Howard University School of Divinity. (She is an ordained minister).
It also turns out that Reynolds - introduced Monday as a member of the National Press Club "who organized" the event - is an enthusiastic Hillary Clinton supporter.

On a blog linked to her Web site- www.reynoldsnews.com- Reynolds said in a February post: "My vote for Hillary in the Maryland primary was my way of saying thank you" to Clinton and her husband for the successes of Bill Clinton's presidency.

The same post criticized Obama's "Audacity of Hope" theme: "Hope by definition is not based on facts," wrote Reynolds. It is an emotional expectation. Things hoped for may or may not come. But help based on experience trumps hope every time."

In another blog entry, Reynolds gives an ever-sharper critique of Obama: "It is a sad testimony that to protect his credentials as a unifier above the fray, the senator is fueling the media characterization that Rev. Dr. Wright is some retiring old uncle in the church basement."
I don't know if Reynolds' eagerness to help Wright stage a disastrous news conference with the national media was a way of trying to help Clinton - my queries to Reynolds by phone and e-mail weren't returned yesterday - but it's safe to say she didn't see any conflict between promoting Wright and supporting Clinton.

reply to post by kosmicjack

Well there you go. I knew someone was behind this, but was hoping it wasn't someone in the Clinton camp. This guy was lead up on stage and they simply let him run his mouth. I wonder if Wright really knew what he was doing. He was acting pretty loony. Maybe he was drunk or he was drugged before the conference.

One thing is for sure. If it hadn't happened now, it would have been done in the general election. People are going to blame Hillary for this and could be a real problem within the party.

Originally posted by Hal9000
Well there you go. I knew someone was behind this, but was hoping it wasn't someone in the Clinton camp. This guy was lead up on stage and they simply let him run his mouth. I wonder if Wright really knew what he was doing. He was acting pretty loony. Maybe he was drunk or he was drugged before the conference.

Reverend Wright has two Masters degrees and a Doctorate, so it's not like they took advantage of some mentally challenged person. He was just being his true self and mugging for the audience.

One thing is for sure. If it hadn't happened now, it would have been done in the general election. People are going to blame Hillary for this and could be a real problem within the party. Why would Hillary be blamed? He's a grown man, educated, and no one forced him at gunpoint to go onstage. He should be accountable for his own words and deeds, not Clinton.

reply to post by dbates


This is one of the better explanations I seen on this issue:

Obama is Screwed

So Wright suddenly re-emerges this week and again brings up the we had 9/11 because we Americans are the terrorists and we get what we deserve screed. But this time he does it at the National Press Club (to applause it seems). Of course he blames the Bible for the idea. Yeah, this is helping Obama to the max.

So you have to ask the bigger question: why is he saying anything? He is single handedly sinking the Obama campaign and nobody can do anything about it. The pundits say he is grabbing for attention to maybe do a book deal. Perhaps, but has anyone thought of the obvious reason for all this?

Obama insulted him (disrespected, if you will) in that major Philadelphia speech about race by associating him with an old white woman who he implied was a little off her rocker. I personally do not like Wright from what I’ve seen, but I can understand his deciding to now screw over Obama to teach him a lesson about respect. And you can be sure that Wright didn’t appreciate essentially being called a woman. You become Jeremiah Wright for that moment watching that speech. What would you think as your blood pressure hit the roof? Most people didn’t catch the insult. Wright sure did.

...

[edit on 29-4-2008 by loam]

Originally posted by kosmicjack

Once more, I challenge anyone to say Obama should have left the church long ago. The fact is, many people do not attend church regularly. The fact is, Wright's church was THE church for fashionable (for lack of a better term) African-Americans to attend in Chicago. The fact is, if it was easy to stand up to your pastor, priest, whatever, the Catholic church would not be as damaged as it is. The Pastor's role in African American culture cannot be understated - it's powerful. So powerful that Wright felt fully comfortable and insulated from criticism, that he got up before the cameras, flamed out in front of the world and doesn't even see what the big deal is.

I'll take your challenge. If Obama was truly offended by the reverend's comments he would have found another place of worship a long time ago. Instead he was a member for over 20 years subjecting not only himself, but his family to Wright's paranoid, divisive comments.

You say he stayed because it was the fashionable church for African-Americans. Well, I don't know about you or Obama, but I go to church to hear the word of God, not be fashionable. Vanity is a sin. What does that say for Obama's character if he uses a church as a stepping stone for his political ambitions?

Maybe the role of the pastor is too powerful in the black church. If a purported man of God feels free enough to make racially offensive comments, denounce his own country as purveyors of genocide, and take the Lord's name in vain during his sermons, then something is indeed worng.

I'm amazed that God-fearing Christians would sit through this narcissistic sideshow without voicing some objection..

Originally posted by LLoyd45
Reverend Wright has two Masters degrees and a Doctorate, so it's not like they took advantage of some mentally challenged person. He was just being his true self and mugging for the audience.

Your right, and I shouldn't be saying that about someone that I haven't listened to more of. I have only heard the sound bites, but what I saw that CNN was showing was his impersonations and singing and dancing. Even if he has some credibility and some may even agree with what he says, the media is making him look ridiculous, and it will cost Obama the election.

Why would Hillary be blamed? He's a grown man, educated, and no one forced him at gunpoint to go onstage. He should be accountable for his own words and deeds, not Clinton.

Yes he is an adult, but could have also been manipulated to do this. Did you see the connection in kosmicjack's post?

It also turns out that Reynolds - introduced Monday as a member of the National Press Club "who organized" the event - is an enthusiastic Hillary Clinton supporter.

www.nydailynews.com...

Obama supporters will see this as a connection to the Clinton campaign and will cry fowl. Everything bad that has come out has been blamed on her or someone in the campaign.


reply to post by loam

That explanation does make sense, but if it is true, he is also ruining the best chance that any black man has had to be POTUS. To me he is not aware of whats going on or something. I don't know.