Pajamas Media

66 Comments

Andrew:

Lets be honest here. If we look at the associates of the democratic candidates we can round up many more unsavory characters on the Clinton side of things. In fact the Clintons have met with Wright and Hillary has history working for a pro-black panther law firm. When people bring up Trinity Church what they are really doing is using that as a code-word for black radicals to scare white voters. And I really think the anti-Obama pundits know that and personally don’t think its that big of a deal. But they are against Obama and are generally smarter than the people that these opinions are directed to. The pundits are using these minor issues as scare tactics to discourage less intelligent white voters to not vote for Obama. If PJ readers were really concerned about associations than why no uproar about the Bush’s associations with the Bin Ladens and the Saudi Royal family? Oh yeah I forgot, it was because Bush is a white republican.

Apr 23, 2008 - 6:06 am GM Roper:

This is interesting: Ignore the bad guys on my side because “she” has more bad guys on “her” side.

Yeah, well my dad can beat up your dad!

Apr 23, 2008 - 6:33 am steve:

I could go to the board of a major company and tell them that if they make me CEO, I will double profits and create a long term insurmountable competitive advantage. They would probably ask me to provide some proof of my ability to execute these things.
Obama is asking us to believe he can almost walk on water - and the public is asking for proof that he can do so before electing him to the most powerfull position in the world. Not unreasonable. As there is virtually nothing in his past that serves as potential verification, people naturally look at other aspects of his life in order to evaluate his credibility. not doing this would be irresponsible.
Hillary is under much less need for this as, like her or detest her, we all know her. Bush isn’t running in this cycle by the way.

Apr 23, 2008 - 6:40 am J.J. Sefton:

Every president since (and quite possibly before) FDR has had “ties” to the Saudis - they rule a country where we get most of our petroleum from. As for “associations” with the Bin Ladens, that family is also a massive corporate entity. It’s not like the President was UBL’s golf buddy. Politics indeed does make strange bedfellows. To believe that he somehow shares the same ideology or knew what was going to happen on 9/11 I think borders on conspiracy theories. As a staunch supporter of the State of Israel, believe me, I would love nothing more than to dispense with any relationship with Saudi Arabia. But, sadly, for the present time, we must have shall we say a strategic if not exactly friendly relationship with them until they are ready, willing and able to make the great leap out of the 7th century (and leave the Wahhabism behind).

As for Mr. Obama, he actively sought out support from a domestic terrorist and sat in the pews of a filth spewing America and Jew-hater. That is direct contact and therefore a very legitimate concern

Apr 23, 2008 - 6:52 am A. N. Pierson:

Andrew, I abhor the Bush connection with the Bin Ladens and Saudis. But as far as I know Bush chose no Bin Laden as his spiritual mentor, was not married by one, was not baptized by one, did not use a quote from on of their sermons for the title of his book and so forth.

As for Obama’s connection with Ayers, it is clearly not as direct, but still disturbing. It shows very little judge of character, Since Obama is quite young and will have the most powerful job in the world, I wonder why you are not concerned.

Apr 23, 2008 - 6:58 am Bob Miller:

We can also take a second look at the kind of academia that gladly takes in the likes of Ayers and Dohrn.

Apr 23, 2008 - 7:44 am Ciscokid:

Obama is allied with the democratic party radical left. There’s no denying it. Radical left divides & concurs by “whatever” means possible (Saul Alinsky book- rules for radicals, followed by Obama & Clinton) Radical, anti-Vietnam war activist like Ayers should go to Indochina & visit the killing fields (Cambodia) to beg forgiveness from the survivors families. Ayers should take a trip on the south China sea & lay a wreath for the Laotian & Vietnamese boat people. Ayers & his radical left, terrorist weathermen helped that genocide happen. Millions died after the radical left’s actions succeeded in helping to get an amendment passed, (also a democrat controlled congress) withdrawing U.S. air support from Indochina. Here we are again under the same set of circumstances. Propaganda & most of the media’s reporting is the same on Iraq as with Nam & the left is desperately trying to get another Jimmy Carter elected in Obama. Economically by Obama or Clinton’s plan well be heading closer to socialism. Change to “whatever”? Please – not this time.

Apr 23, 2008 - 7:55 am BMoon:

Roger,
Pusiste el dedo en la llaga, as we say in Mexico (you put your finger right on the sore.) The great danger our nation faces is a pervasive childish narcissism, illustrated by the Child Crusader Obama “movement” (no pun intended) and the Clinton’s infantile self-aborption and ambition. Radcial leftism and Black Liberation Theology comes from the same source - spoiled upper middle class beneficiaries, like Ayers, Wright, and the Obamas, of the greatest wealth and privilege ever emancipating so large a number of people over so large a time, acting like adolescents and not only stealing from daddy’s wallet, but wanting to blow up his nice house.

Apr 23, 2008 - 8:44 am D. J.:

I first met the Weatherunderground at a program on the Lower East side where they praised Charlie Manson and gave the Manson pitchfork salute. I was disgusted and thought they were lunatics or police agents or both. I spent many years as a member of the radical left before I woke up. Bill Ayers and his associates are the worst sort of spoiled rich white kids who are still in rebellion against their parents and will never grow up. He is still a marxist of the stupidist sort. Of course Obama is going to have friends on the left and that is understandable and fine but to be associated with this unrepentant terrorist stupidity is well stupid.No one in Hyde Park or the University of Illinois is going to mind because Marxist and terrorist, excuse me freedom fighters like Bill Ayuers are celebrated in that world but not when you’re running for President and need the support of the bitter people.

Apr 23, 2008 - 9:02 am AST:

At best, Obama is a “useful idiot.” At worst, he’s a Trojan Horse, seeking power in the guise of an inspiring young liberal leader. Either way, he’s dangerous.

The Democratic Party was split by these people in the 1960s and early 1970s and probably would have destroyed it had Nixon not given them a new lease on life. The 2000 election gave them a chance to rebound into prominence in the party with MoveOn.Org and they have now become the face of the Democrats by reason of their ability to buy candidates. The party no long can even raise enough money to be relevant. It’s all coming through the 527s.

I hope I’m just being an alarmist, but I think this bears watching.

Apr 23, 2008 - 9:22 am cfbleachers:

Roger, my apologies for the brief religious response…but Amen, Amen, Amen.

My concerns with Sen. Obama are not centered around some fleeting, accidental, sporadic and distant contacts with protest groups of a distant past. My concerns are centered around a consistent and undeniable pattern of seeking, finding and attaching himself to the most virulent, hostile, and rabid anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-white persons and groups that he can locate.

His involvement with Ayers and Dorhn would bother me less, as a stand-alone proposition. His tutelage by “Frank” the CPUSA member could be brushed away, if it did not seem to blaze a trail ahead of it. His quest for attachment to his most radical professors could have been the mere inquisitiveness of a youthful mind and spirit. His passion for curing the torment of needing to make a connection with his socialist and very absent father beyond the grave would be sad, yet understandable.

His need for street credibility in the black community and his desire for a strong male “mentoring” figure in his life could have explained his attraction to Marxist/Farrakhan disciple Jeremiah Wright. And the spin-off associations with Rev. Meeks, Rev. Moss, Father Pfleger and the Nation of Islam members themselves.

The concern arises not from Sen. Obama dabbling in any of these relationships, fleeting and inquisitive. It arises from his unwillingness and inability to separate from them. Moreover, the signs and signals that they have taken root are subtle and often shrouded behind pretty words and lofty speeches. The flag pin is a discomfort to him, because it signals an attachment to America, Americana, a “type” of patriotism which would disappoint the very long string of hostile, angry, anti-America mentors, father-figures real and imagined and brethren whose approval is mother’s milk to Sen. Obama.

Sen. Obama has practiced duplicity when dealing with his discomfort with “typical white people” since he was a boy…or so he says. They respond to polite and articulate demeanor and flowery words. But he finds it hard to put his hand over his heart for our Pledge of Allegiance. This is simply not “on message” in the coded world of Wright, Farrakhan, Dohrn, Ayers, Meeks, Moss, and “Frank”. It would be the ultimate “sellout”.

The other thing that Wright, Farrakhan, Meeks, Moss etc. have in common, is the strong antagonism toward Israel, Zionism…Jewish people in general.

Sen. Obama has tipped his hand early on his pathway toward Israel with his half-hearted “denouncing” of the words of Rev. Wright and the lionizing of Farrakhan. But even moreso with his team-building of Carter Castoffs Brzezinski, Malley, Lake and the whole Israel is to blame cast members, Power, McPeak etc. He, like Carter…wants to “engage” enemies of Israel and the US by way of loving embrace to them and a cold slap in the face to Israel.

Amen, Amen, Amen…Roger. It is not who we meet along the pathway of our lives that makes us who we are. It’s who we keep with us as we make our way forward and who we choose to leave behind.

Apr 23, 2008 - 9:29 am David Thomson:

“This is nothing more than black separatism dressed up in fancy religious clothes.”

It is also explicitly anti-white. That is why a non-racist white person, especially if they are male, would be foolish to vote for “Barry” Obama. He and his yuppie white buddies are out to stick it to non-Ivy league whites. It is foolish to downplay the importance of Obama’s adult decision to join a “get whitey” church. Nobody put a gun to his head. Obama freely made this decision.

Apr 23, 2008 - 9:51 am Charlie (Colorado):

Andrew, this is one of those topics that’s getting buried in euphonious, eloquent, misdirection, so let’s do a Hemingway here and put it in blunt words: Ayers is an admitted accessory before the fact to murder and attempted murder, and an admitted felony murderer. He escaped jail through the FBI’s incompetence only.

I bow to no one in my distaste for the Clinton’s ethics, but this is something else.

Apr 23, 2008 - 10:04 am cv:

BHO is still amember of that church!!

Apr 23, 2008 - 10:23 am Mike K:

All the above is true but there may be an affirmative action urge at work here that will overcome all doubts. There seems to be a lot of people, not all Democrats, who want to see a black president no matter the consequences. We had better think about how we will save the civilization we have until this urge passes. Then, of course, is the coming ice age.

Apr 23, 2008 - 10:24 am David Thomson:

Bill Ayers indeed cold cold bloodily planned to murder American citizens. This fact is beyond dispute. It’s amazing how its been downplayed by the MSM. And yet, the social circle that “Barry” Obama frequents could seemingly care less. It is therefore very fair to speculate that these people are self hating Americans. They are still stuck in the radical 1960s. Also, a sizable number of Democrats embrace this mindset. It would be very fair for John McCain to turn this into a major issue.

Apr 23, 2008 - 10:40 am Brad:

Re: Andrew’s reference to the Bushes and the Saudi bin Laden family–if Obama were friendly with Ayers’ father, then your comparison might hold some water, though not score your intended cynical and stupid point. The bin Laden family, I believe, had long since renownced their terrorist son. I’m willing to bet Ayers’ father likely split from his son as well. In other words, if the Bushes had relations with Osama bin Laden himself, then you may have some kind of point. As it is, you’re another clueless liberal defending another loser candidate from the loser left.

Apr 23, 2008 - 10:44 am Paul From Hamburg:

When I see college students praising Obama, or talking about “going green”, or protesting anything, I want to tell them “You are still a child. You have no idea how little you know. If you are lucky, by the time you turn 25 you will start to recognize your own mental limitations. If you are not lucky, you will walk through life as an adult who sounds like a foolish child.” I also like to cite the parable of the Chinese people: No matter how great you think you are, there are one billion people in China who don’t care one bit.

Apr 23, 2008 - 10:48 am Patrick S Lasswell:

I’m just glad we all get another pass at disavowing the radicals. My father worked with these tools at times when he was organizing the “Movement” back in the sixties, but he died before he took the time to denounce them publicly.
This is the chance we needed to purge that sewer of the blockage that is keeping it full of stink.

Apr 23, 2008 - 10:50 am James Felix:

“When people bring up Trinity Church what they are really doing is using that as a code-word for black radicals to scare white voters.”

There are no “code words” needed. People have said outright that the Trinity Church is a haven for black radicalism because IT IS. And for a Presidential candidate to attend for 20 years and not see anything wrong with it should scare voters of every color.

Apr 23, 2008 - 10:51 am matt:

I was willing to give Sen. Obama the benefit of the doubt some months ago. But a pattern is becoming clear. His voting record is troubling. His gyrations to appeal to different audiences is troubling. His associations are very troubling. His own comments and those of his wife are troubling.

The condescending liberalism of fashionable leftist circles a la’ “Mau Mauing the Flak Catchers” is on the rise again. Visiting Caracas and Havana; blithely disassociating oneself from the facts; and blindly trusting in an unproven unknown all seem to be hallmarks of what passes for the democratic “intelligentisia” herd. At least one knew where Gene McCarthy, George McGovern, and Humphrey really stood. They were honest in their convictions and their actions matched their words.

Apr 23, 2008 - 10:55 am Jill:

Obama did not get an AMERICAN education during his grade school years. The key to many of Obama’s missteps is the fact that he got his early education in Indonesia where he did not learn the patriotic American culture. Grade shcool is where we learn to say the Pledge of Allegiance and put our hand over our heart during the National Anthem. We learn thru association with other citizens what it means to be an American and what traditions and symbols are second nature to our way of expressing love of country. Obama not only missed this by getting his early education overseas, he also had a mother who apparently was much more of the world than of America. Top this off with both a father and a step father who were not American citizens and one can begin to understand why he doesn’t put his hand over his heart during the National Anthem, has a ridiculous excuse for taking off the flag pin and goes to a church that believes Africa is where ones allegience belongs. Obama dismissed the criticism of his association with Ayers and Dohrn because their terrorist destruction took place when he was 8 years old. I surmise that Obama’s foreign education and lack of early American home life during a critical time in his life has limited his sense of what is to be an American first.

Apr 23, 2008 - 11:01 am David P. Smith, of Sandusky, OH:

To David Thompson, and others like him, who write, ” It would be very fair for John McCain to turn this into a major issue” . . .

Of course it’s fair, but nobody says you have to be fair in the first place! Was it fair to make an issue of a stupid “Mcacca” garbage? Of course not, but the democrats play to win, and so should we. As in love and war, “fairness” does not enter the picture, especially since be definition there is no impartial judge in politics to decide exactly what would be “fair”. Republicans spend too much time worrying about this, and defending themselves from silly democrat catcalls, and not enough time going on the offensive, and FOR SURE not enough time calling for some actual repeals of democrat-legislation.

Apr 23, 2008 - 11:02 am Jess:

The Bible is a book of wisdom, and your choice of quotes is spot-on. You pinpoint the Obama’s achilles heel. He does have intelligence, but he’s entirely lacking in wisdom.

Apr 23, 2008 - 11:25 am Shannon Love:

The problem is that Avers isn’t really that radical a person on the far left of America today. A lot of people think that Avers just got a little carried away but his heart was in the right place.

After all, John Kerry’s group Veterns Against the Vietnam War held a formal vote on whether to launch a campaign of assassination against U.S senators. Kerry left the group either a week or two before or after the vote but even so one would think that being a member of group that seriously contemplated such action would disqualify a person from ever holding high office. Yet, few leftist see any wrong with anything Kerry did back then.

I think it has to do with fascistic conception of leadership that the left holds. They believe that by virtue of holding leftist ideas, leftist are morally superior people who always intend the best. Therefore, any past errors cannot be held against them. They’re still the best people to lead.

Ayers won’t make of dent in Obama’s support either.

Apr 23, 2008 - 11:27 am mds:

senator obama didn’t repudiate wright; he compared him to his grandmother
senator obama didn’t repudiate bill ayers; he compared him to senator coburn

these aren’t accidental choices or misspeaks; this is how the man chooses to defend himself and people he knows…

to me, this rhetoric is slippery to the point of sleazy…

let me go one step further: how hard can it be - how much integrity does it require - to say that you’ve talked with reverend wright about some of his more inflammatory comments and you’re working hard to persuade the good pastor that his language is excessive and his thinking is flawed?

how hard can it be to say, bill ayers did horrible, horrible things as a young man and the person i know today is nothing like the person caught up in excesses of the times?

the simple truth is: the senator can’t say any of those things because they aren’t true…his non-denial obfuscations are not honorable…there is a very good chance that he isn’t either

Apr 23, 2008 - 11:29 am Diane:

“We are supposed to wink at this because, after all, Obama, of mixed race, was trying to make it in black Chicago politics and wanted street cred (twenty years’ worth).”

I have heard it said that the reason Obama won’t fully repudiate Rev. Wright or Trinity Church now is because, should he fail to become president, he’ll need these folks in his re-election bid for the senate.

There’s leadership for you.

And we’re supposed to think that once he’s POTUS, Obama will cut these unsavory ties… why should he? This is a man who has some disturbing similarities with our current president — chiefly, a pious confidence in his own infallibility.

Also on the list:

- inexperience
- irrationality
- stubbornness
- dogmatism
- vanity

Apr 23, 2008 - 11:33 am Tom Paine:

My objections to Barack Obama:

(1) His legislative record labels him (mostly accurately) as a philosophically-naïve, far-left ’60s ideologue –

(2) He has not bothered to develop ANY executive, economic, foreign policy, military, or even business capabilities –

(3) He is “embedded” in a church-full of racist, anti-American bigots –

(4) He associates with corrupt Chicago “machine” politicians and other unsavory characters – and

(5) He shows a very typical lefty-elitist sense of “superiority” over most other Americans.

But what I find most insulting as an American is that he assumes the American presidency is an entry-level, management-trainee position, suitable for a half-term junior senator with very bad judgment on both his ideas and his “associates”; and NO personal accomplishments beyond a highly-developed “speechifying” ability.

This is the typical arrogance of an “educated ignoramus” resolutely ignoring the fact that he is utterly UNqualified to actually DO the American President’s job.

Apr 23, 2008 - 11:40 am David Thomson:

“As in love and war, “fairness” does not enter the picture, especially since be definition there is no impartial judge in politics to decide exactly what would be “fair”.”

I categorically reject your nihilism. Politics should never about squeezing and bending the truth to achieve victory. In many respects, you unwittingly sound like another Jacques Derrida or Paul DeMan. You may also not realize it—but you are truly an enemy of civilization.

Apr 23, 2008 - 11:51 am submandave:

Andrew, lets be honest here. When the Obama campaign first floated that “but Bill Clinton met Rev. Wright and even took a picture with him” baloon it was insulting. To try to equate what has been self-described as a formative relationship that spanned decades with a meet-and-greet and photo-op including several other ministers either displays a contempt for the intelligence of the public or is indicative of a complete lack of understanding of what a true personal relationship is. Which is your excuse for trying to sell this lemon?

And trying to defend what you perceive as “guilt by association” involving Sen. Obama and Ayers by dragging out the Bush-Bin Ladin dead horse is laughably hypocritical. “Don’t judge Obama simply because he is on social terms with an un-repentant terrorist wannabe but by all means judge Bush because he and his family had business dealings with members of the Bin Ladin family, one of which just happens to be the notorious UBL.” If I had to make a judgement call, I’d say the Obama-Ayers one degree of separation beats the Bush-UBL minimum of two degrees.

Apr 23, 2008 - 11:52 am Montjoie:

“Cleaves?” Can you even say that on the Internet in primetime?

Apr 23, 2008 - 11:53 am S.M.:

All I can say is typical. Oh wait that makes me racist. Black power! Oh wait that means I’m anti-white. I worked hard to do well in school and went to an Ivy League university. Oh wait that makes me arrogant. See how absolutely ridiculous this sounds. Its truly amazing how people make statements with partial information. YouTube come on give me a break. Half of the stuff on there is as real as Pam Anderson’s boobs. How many of you who posted comments actually listened to an entire sermon of Rev. Wright? I bet ZERO. How many of you actually know about all the community based organizations set up and run by Trinity? Again zero. KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT BEFORE YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH. If holding this country accountable for its many indiscretions is anti-American well you can add me to the list as well.

Apr 23, 2008 - 11:55 am r.guber:

Set aside the type of people Obama chooses to associate with.

What does it say about Obama’s politics that Ayers and Dorn would choose to host a fundraiser for him?

Apr 23, 2008 - 12:03 pm Bob Miller:

Old and new audios of Ayers and Dohrn posted now at Power Line:

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/04/020362.php

Apr 23, 2008 - 12:06 pm Neocon Don:

Who invited Ayers and Obama onto those boards and panels? I’ve heard it was Michelle Obama who got Ayers and Barack onto the panels at least. And what was the point? To have two opposing views debate? Or Did Barry and Bill just backslap each other and agree on the same points? The MSM has failed to vet Obama.

Apr 23, 2008 - 12:14 pm jfm:

A person is known by the company they keep. Wright, Ayers, Rezko…Michelle…who will turn up next?

Apr 23, 2008 - 12:19 pm Andrew:

Does anyone besides middle age conservative white guys have an opinion on this? Because take out the few dissenting views you all just create an echo chamber which accelerates a your false absolute view points. Its clear you are all conservatives because you are afraid of change. You try and mask your fears behind attacks on false associations and trivial matters. If you care more about flag pins and church sermons than 100 years in Iraq and the economy be my guest, but when the rest of the world passes us by remember you made your own bed.

Apr 23, 2008 - 12:33 pm johnbrown:

I don’t intend to vote for Obama in the general election (I might not vote at all), and I am disturbed by the company he keeps, but it’s unfair (and probably useless) to condemn him for the actions of his supporters. Don’t get me wrong: People like Wright and Ayers are blots on the human race, and Obama should ideally repudiate them outright. The trouble is that they are simply not that uncommon nowadays, and they reflect a belief system too widespread for any presidential candidate to ignore.
Political discourse in the U.S. has never been all that polite; in fact, it is more civil and generous today than it was, say, during the Civil War (or the presidencies of Adams, Jefferson, or Jackson). Unfortunately, it has definitely taken a turn for the worse since the days of Eisenhower and Kennedy. I lived in New York city in the nineties. I voted for Rudy Giuliani twice. It is impossible to convey the depth of the hatred that large numbers of people felt for Rudy (or the members of the NYPD, for that matter). As I recall, even the normally levelheaded Charles Rangel compared Giuliani to Hitler, and his policies to the Holocaust, and Rangel was a moderate compared to the real gasbags like Calvin Butts, Al Sharpton, and Jimmy Breslin.
The beliefs that the United States is an evil country, that it was founded by slaveholders and capitalists to oppress and rob Africans and native-Americans and women, that white Americans are inherently racist, etc.: These ideas have become commonplace. During the last several weeks I have seen numerous talking heads on the TV who insisted that the Rev. Wright was not a hatemonger but was simply speaking in the Christian “prophetic tradition”. On the “Slate” website, I estimate that a majority of those who commented on Obama’s “clinging to God and guns” statement either agreed with him or thought he didn’t go far enough in denouncing the rubes of Pennsylvania. I think this belief system is bullshit, but a lot of people go for it. I therefore find it difficult to demand that Obama denounce people who are now in the mainstream of his own party.
May I suggest that we change the dialogue a bit? Obama, being a senator from Illinois, has been a staunch supporter of subsidies for ethanol and other biofuel programs. Even before the recent increase in worldwide food prices, such disparate magazines as Consumer Reports, National Geographic, and Popular Mechanics questioned the wisdom of our ethanol policies, and there seems to be a consensus now that the developed world’s moves toward biofuels are causing a big part of the current food crisis in the developing world. Obama’s food and energy policies should therefore be given some serious discussion (Clinton’s and McCain’s policies should obviously be given a second look too). Discussion of tangible things like food prices and fuel efficiencies would, at the least, rescue our national dialog from the hatemongers.

Apr 23, 2008 - 12:39 pm Louise Cate:

Do you think Bill Ayers’ book (Fugitive Days) will “bomb” Obama’s credibility?

It seems to me that Bill Ayers’ book reveals that Obama should have been more careful when he used Ayers’ home to launch his campaign for a state senate seat. Since many people believe that “the company someone keeps reveals their character”, I believe Obama made a serious mistake when he started his political career in Ayers’ home. Ayers is even worse than Rev Wright as a non-unifier.

Did Obama know about Ayers’ terrorist background? Probably. In Obama’s book, “Dreams From My Father”, Obama described how he chose his friends while he was in college: “…I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students…The Marxist Professors and the structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets…we were resisting bourgeois society’s stifling constraints.” I wonder if Obama carefully chose to associate with Ayers and Wright in the same way he chose his college friends.

Ayers admits to being an unrepentant domestic terrorist. If the American people vote for a government that doesn’t do what Ayers wants, he thinks it is OK for him to use bombs to try and force the government to do what he wants. Ayers doesn’t express any regret for the people killed by Ayers’ gang of communist connected terrorists, the “Weathermen”.

Almost anywhere else in the world, Ayers’ domestic terrorism activities would have quickly brought him death, but in the USA he is a tenured professor at a university. As part of their policy of getting rid of people who opposed their regimes, the Soviet communists executed about 62 million people and the Chinese communists executed about 35 million, yet Ayer is only critical of the USA, a country so admired that millions sneak in as illegal immigrants.

Besides being a narcissistic personality and a sociopath, what is wrong with Ayers? Here is a clue. Ayers once wrote, “Bring the revolution home. Kill your parents, that’s where it’s really at.” Apparently Bill Ayers and his father now live in the same house. Scary. I wonder what Ayers’ children think of their father’s advice. Perhaps some of the orphans of those killed by Ayers’ group hope that Ayers’ children follow Ayers’ advice to “Kill your parents”. Wouldn’t that be interesting?

Apr 23, 2008 - 12:42 pm dirigible:

Speaking as a white Ivy League type American, I’d say … right on the nose, Roger.

Apr 23, 2008 - 12:46 pm franglo:

Hey, let me save you the next six months of bloviating:

Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam

Apr 23, 2008 - 1:07 pm Chester White:

“No one in Hyde Park or the University of Illinois is going to mind because Marxist and terrorist, excuse me freedom fighters like Bill Ayuers are celebrated in that world…”

Well, not “no one” in Hyde Park. At least not always.

I lived in Hyde Park for 7 years (5600 block, South Maryland); of course, my wife and I were about the only Republicans in the neighborhood with the exception of some physicians and hard-headed guys from the B-School we knew, but you can’t say “no one.” Well, I also knew some emigrants from the USSR who weren’t too fond of the left.

Lotta scattered brains in that community, people who are tops in the world in their fields but who couldn’t manage a hot dog stand without starving to death.

And what a depressing place along about February every year. Gray, cold, snowy, with nothing to do but academics.

Apr 23, 2008 - 1:50 pm Believer:

The immaturity of Obama was never more obvious to me than when he addressed a crowd of young people following his disastrous (last) debate performance.

I didn’t want to believe he meant to give the “finger” to Clinton - I’d thought it a stretch to think that; but he did use other physical gestures to send messages in that speech as well. And the crowd roared its approval with each one. This was the first step in his attempt to bind his wounds.

You’re probably aware Obama is no longer making himself available to answer the uncomfortable questions: he’s refusing to debate. And avoiding reporters. It’s almost unbelievable that this man wouldn’t have considered he might have to explain his radical associations. Unless he doesn’t find them troubling.

A shocking video has surfaced of a very young child repeatedly voicing his hatred of - and desire to kill - President Bush. At the end he says he supports Obama. We cannot know all that might have influenced this young one. But, from those who would presume to lead us, can we not require a certain amount of care in making choices that affect themselves and others? Obviously, the maker of this video thought his expressions, at the very least, wouldn’t harm the image of the candidate he supports.

Obama’s words and actions carry power, affecting vulnerable young people looking for someone to, well, idolize. Those gestures in his speech might have made him the far “cooler” candidate. But they made him look petty and small - hardly presidential - and, if the gesture can be believed, shockingly disrespectful.

We can ill afford to place our nation in the hands of one so weak in character and judgment. Our children deserve better.

Apr 23, 2008 - 1:51 pm ajmalkov:

S.M.:

“How many of you actually know about all the community based organizations set up and run by Trinity?”

Hamas and Hizbullah have lots of fabulous “community based organizations” too. The people paying for and running these programs are killing Americans and Israelis daily. Are they absolved because they distributed some baby formula?

I note that Obama’s defenders, as usual, have nothing relevant to say about the atrociously bad judgment of their messiah. Instead, they attack the messenger.

I’ll make it simple for you: to choose to kick off your first political campaign in the home of a man who is unapologetically responsible for the violent deaths of other people is just plain stupid. And I don’t want someone that stupid as President. And neither does a vast majority of the American people.

Fine, call Bush stupid if you must. It’s one of your favorite ploys and you never seem to tire of it. But I was contemplating something this morning — Bush campaigned for his office for more than two years, in 2000 and 2004. And he managed to go that whole time without ONCE sticking his foot in it. Too bad your messiah can’t say the same.

Apr 23, 2008 - 2:09 pm Paul From Hamburg:

Andrew,
I am sorry that most of us are not as smart as you are. Thank you for explaining that I am a conservative because I fear change. I thought I wanted change. I thought I wanted judges to start obeying the Constitution. I thought I wanted the federal government to stop sticking its nose into matters that should be left to the states. I thought I wanted parents to have real choices about how they educate their children.

I am going out on a limb here, but I am willing to bet that my prior post didn’t mean to much to you.

By the way, who is going to tell Jill & Diane that they are middle aged men?

Apr 23, 2008 - 2:35 pm diogenes:

Question: What do Obama and Osama have in common?

Answer: They both have friends who bombed the Pentagon

Apr 23, 2008 - 3:24 pm cfbleachers:

“But they are against Obama and are generally smarter than the people that these opinions are directed to. The pundits are using these minor issues as scare tactics to discourage less intelligent white voters to not vote for Obama.”

“All I can say is typical…..How many of you who posted comments actually listened to an entire sermon of Rev. Wright? I bet ZERO. How many of you actually know about all the community based organizations set up and run by Trinity? Again zero. KNOW WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT BEFORE YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH.”

“Does anyone besides middle age conservative white guys have an opinion on this? Because take out the few dissenting views you all just create an echo chamber which accelerates a your false absolute view points. Its clear you are all conservatives because you are afraid of change. You try and mask your fears behind attacks on false associations and trivial matters. If you care more about flag pins and church sermons than 100 years in Iraq and the economy be my guest, but when the rest of the world passes us by remember you made your own bed.”

“Hey, let me save you the next six months of bloviating:

Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam Black radical terrorism marxism Obama Islam”

Allow me to sum up the opposing viewpoint. “You” are typical white people. In an “us vs. them” mentality…sown by the Wrights and Farrakhans of the world, this is “original sin”.

“You” are “afraid”…this makes you cling to things like…um…patriotism. It makes you take echo chamber stands against things like…um…premeditated murder by urban terrorists.

“You” hold opinions based upon little things like, the spiritual leader of 8,000 people saying that America created the AIDS virus to kill people of color…and you didn’t pay to hear the remaining brilliance that came from the mind of such a genius.

“You” don’t seem terribly interested in converting this country from a free market meritocracy into a socialist state, “you” tend to think that Marxism is fertile ground for banana republic dictators to build a fiefdom on a pretense of populism, and “you” have even less interest in Communism, socialism’s ugly big brother.

“You” get called stupid, …statistically speaking, “you” are more likely to be a captain of industry, an executive, a business owner or a professional than the person who is slandering you…(additionally, “you” aren’t in academia, the deadwood media, Hollywood, or in the alphabet newsrooms…because if “you” were…you would stand out like a beacon in the darkness.

“You” are less likely to be taken in by the cult of personality, less likely to have remained mired in 60’s revolutionary ether, not likely to organize, march, protest, or make a spectacle of yourself at a political hearing.

“You” will not carry signs saying that our troops should be shot. “You” would wear a flag lapel pin and not think it was something to be ashamed of, nor would “you” be ashamed to hold your hand over your heart for our Pledge of Allegiance or our National Anthem.

“You” believe in loyalty to our allies and wouldn’t think of turning your back on them…to curry favor with terrorists or murderers.

“You” don’t care about the color of a person’s skin, you believe they shouldn’t care about yours…and certainly you don’t believe that someone should be granted favor or disfavor based upon being given nothing more to decide than a picture of your elbow, showing white, black, brown, yellow or red skin.

“You” believe fair is fair, right is right, wrong is wrong. And…you believe that when it comes down to what a politician says vs. what he does…”you” will examine what he does, how he lives his life, what he stands for and against…not pretty words and lofty speeches.

“You” are not typical…no matter what anyone tells you. “You” are good and decent, honorable and loyal, fair and just…and we wish there were more of you to stand with in this, the crossroads of American history.

Apr 23, 2008 - 3:55 pm william:

It’s not so much Obama’s modified, limited, hedged, nuanced support of loons like Ayers and the Rev Wright that disturbs me. What is really bothersome is that they offer him the unconditional love a mother offers a sick baby. John McCain was disowned by Ann Coulter. But name any on the annoying left from Jane Fonda to Jesse Jackson who voices any second thoughts or reservations about Obama. I’d feel better about Obama if someone, anyone on the left was mad about him for being a sell-out.

Apr 23, 2008 - 4:15 pm Tex Taylor:

What bothers me most about the eloquent Mr. Obama and his association with black liberation theology is that it seems to run contrary to his message that we move beyond racial division and cynicism.

If his own personal association the “Reverend” Wright doesn’t bother you, his introducing his own children to the black liberation theology should.

Does this not help but guarantee the next generation of racial strife? I thought Obama was supposed to be an agent of change?

Apr 23, 2008 - 5:37 pm david levavi:

I entirely missed a left wing childhood. My father spent his early life under Communism and inspired a healthy contempt of the left in his children. A European rabbi, the old man was especially contemptuous of secular, left leaning American Jews whom he thought willfully blind and determinedly ignorant. Absent loyalty to their religious traditions no less than the democratic nation that gave them refuge.

I am Roger’s age and I don’t recall SDS or the Weathermen ever being popular on campus or off. I knew at least three or four SDS “leaders” and they were all jerks. And not only in my opinion.

Late for a ride to a to an anti-war rally in Washington,my brother and I once found ourselves on an SDS chartered bus. On board and rolling south on the Jersey turnpike, we realized that the other passengers were ordinary latecomers like us. The only SDS people on the bus were the couple who collected our ten or fifteen dollar fare.

After a short while, the male half of the SDS couple stood up and launched into an anti-Nixon, anti-Kissinger anti-war tirade. His harangue lasted about three minutes before the first request to sit down and give it a rest. He kept at it resolutely but the protests from the passengers–none of us over twenty-two or twenty-three– continued and grew more aggressive.

“Sitdown and shaddap” someone finally hollered and the SDS rep did as he was told. The silence hung for a moment after he sat down before relieved laughter and applause broke out up and down the bus.

Sitting on the mall enjoying the sunshine along with thousands of others I watched a provocative troublemaker raise a folding metal chair over his head and heave it into the well containing the floodlights surrounding a monument. His action was met with shouts of annoyance and anger by everyone within earshot. Even at an anti-war rally, Americans have no taste for radicalism and crude political manipulation.

If Ayers and Dohrn hobnob with State Senators and host presidential candidates, its fair to assume that life in what Ayers calls “the belly of the beast” aint too shabby. Like Obama’s carping wife,these prominent radicals are living far better than most Americans.

Likewise the fat and sleek African American political and religious parasites feeding on the misery of their poorer African American bretheren. These whores are part and parcel of a long tradition of Black on Black exploitation.

The Revs. Wright, Sharpton, Jackson and their like are a modern incarnation of the Africans who were raiding neighboring tribes and selling captives to Muslim slave-traders on the coast long before cotton became king in the American South. Today’s version of the pre-Civil War mullatoes who owned slaves and treated them no less cruelly than did white planters. A contemporary manifestation of the Black overseers who were essential to the slave economy.

If Obama and his pastor want an honest national discussion about race, let it begin with the fact that the Old Testament account of the Exodus that kept hope alive during slavery is Jewish, not African history. The African American Moses was a White man named Abe Lincoln. The Lord’s Host consisted of young white men in blue uniforms who suffered and died by the thousands in the cause of setting Black men, women and children free. The African American Song of the Sea is the Emancipation Proclamation.

As long as African Americans continue to fantasize about a glorious African past and superior African culture and imagine their freedom was accomplished without debt to noble European Americans willing to take up arms in support of the Constitution and its guarantees to all Americans, they will remain children. And in their vast majority, not comfortable and spoiled children like their religious and political leaders and their chic white friends on the radical left.

Apr 23, 2008 - 7:40 pm marine 43:

Andrew, Grow up please, when your in your 40’s and have real responsibilities and kids, you’ll be singin a different tune. dork.

Apr 23, 2008 - 8:10 pm RIch Rostrom:

There are leftists who think Obama is a sellout and and corporate whore etc. Bear in mind that Al-Qaeda just denounced Hamas for being insufficiently jihadist.

I’ve seen comments from anti-Israel fanatics that Obama has stopped being a good guy, that he’s started groveling to the Zionists. (Translation: he’s appeared before Jewish organizations and pledged his support for the survival of Israel.)

However, if he is nominated, I expect a conspiracy of silence on the Left. Nearly all of the Left recognize that he’s their guy, and will shut up and smile. They don’t want to risk another 2000-style debacle with a key state lost because of Green or whatever votes.

Apr 23, 2008 - 8:32 pm steve:

Andrew & S.M.
I freely admit to being a conservative, middle age (57) white guy.
i have spent most of my life living outside the USA, living in 12 countries on 5 continents. I have lived the good and bad impacts of US foreign policies over the years. I have also survived a number of national health care programs & understand first hand their good and bad points. Color to meis meaningless - I have a Filipina bride & in our family reunions i am the only white person there.
rather than fearing change, I make my living turning troubled companies around, which requires creating an environment receptive to change and managing it.
With all our (at times many) faults and mistakes, the USA is head and shoulders above the pack as the greatest country in the world. It is only the only country besides Australia and GB that has any eliment of altruism in its foreign policies.
As S.M. rightly states, one shouldknow what he or she is talking about before opening ones mouth. My scepticism regarding Obama’s credentials and probable abilities is based on long and hard won experience. While I embrace change, it needs to be the right change if it is to succeed.
My opinion is that the changes he is proposing will be ruinous for the country and that change for change’s sake is idiocy.

Apr 24, 2008 - 1:30 am tanstaafl:

It is the sleazy and dissembling characteristics of Barack Obama’s character that irk me.

It irked me when he used the (white) grandmother who raised him to make a dumb point about “typical white people” while never finding enough criticism for the completely absent and disinterested (black) father and the egomaniacal and self-serving (black) Chicago preacher.

It irks me that we never see pictures of Barack’s grandmother although she is alive and (not so) well in Hawaii. Is she the part of his heritage that hasn’t been useful to self-promotion in Chicago southside politics ?

It irked me when Barack Obama said our Constitution was “stained” as a function of the history of slavery.

It irked me when BO gave a convoluted explanation about why there is no flag pin in his lapel. Then, it irked me when he was (recently) given a flag pin by a disabled veteran and he stuck it in his lapel for the remainder of his speech to that group.

It really irked me when he yukked it up with his fellow élitists in San Francisco about the frustrated and angry rubes in Pennsylvania and when he purported to speak from on high as to the nature of their character.

It irks me when Michelle Obama says how she and Barack are shining examples of the fruits of public education and Michelle does not even use the English language particularly well. Some education.

All the uh’s and y’knows when Barack is speechifying irk me as well.

Thomas Sowell recently wrote words to the effect…”Watch out if someone tells you that we need to have a dialogue about race”

Good advice.

Apr 24, 2008 - 6:16 am Roark:

Obama bin Laden’s “soothing” voice is like a siren song for all the empty headed suckers who would trample over each other just to touch the hem of his suit. This man is very dangerous, because he is a master of disguise.

Apr 24, 2008 - 8:32 am Mortimer:

I definitely feel Obama would be bad for everyone cept his circle of cronies. While a little elitism doen’t bother me, it’s on the level of the cracker chic of Bush, making a crack about guns and religion opens up a can of worms that can’t help him one iota.

Obama is a gun grabber, someone who helped pass laws in Illinois making it illegal even to have your legal rifle and shotgun at your side, in your house ready to use. Besides he wants to ban all concealed carry permits, apparently DC is his role model, with it’s ultra low crime rate and prosperous, well educated black majority.

Ditto with religion. While there are plenty of Conservative Christian crackpots and hypocrites, when you associate with the likes of Reverend Wright, who preaches racist lies from the pulpit about AIDS and hates America, you lost any credibility on religion. The Reverend’s concept of personal morality is you must go out and badger whitey for more handouts and set asides for your people. Better an honest lapsed Xtian or an agnostic than someone who swallows that black racist drivel.

Spare me the cherry picking accusation, the Rev. put that wonderful sermon on a DVD for sale or his ex-Marine creds, Lee Harvey Oswald never got a pass for that.

Apr 24, 2008 - 2:27 pm Anonymous:

Obama’s rhetoric supports his belief he is a ‘god’ sent to us for our salvation. His religion is ‘hate’ and and ‘hate whitey’.

Same ol’, same ol’. His insistence on ‘racial discourse’ means a monologue against anything he despises!

What is really scary, is that people trust him, believe him, and follow him, blindly. He/they really believe the (we whites) are to blame for all the ills of the blacks…. really believe that I, because I am white, am responsible for their plight and rage.

It is a cliche that liberals need victims to keep them in charge. BHO exploits this craftily. He goes further and shows his contempt for the ‘white blood’ running through his veins, ever forgetting that human blood is red- not black or white (or any other color) He is ashamed of a part of himself. Self hate is a mark of a liberal.

He is as glib as a ‘rapper’ with a voice like honey. For people who are not informed of the truth, or who do not care to know the truth, this is all they want…a god who will lead them to the promised land!

Satan promised Adam and Eve the world, if they would believe him. They did, and they got all the evil in the world they could handle passed on to their children, including slavery.

But the sins were not just passed on to Whitey. They, too, are the sinners, but believe they are exempt from any participation in the sins of the world.

The liberals disdain God, and all the love and purity he exemplifies, and choose for themselves a lesser god, whose attributes are just the opposite of our loving heavenly father.

Apr 24, 2008 - 2:30 pm Mortimer:

Hey Anonymous,
You petty, juvenile sunday school rant about liberals is more than anti-intellectual and contemptible. I’d go to Reverend Wright’s church before yours.

Apr 24, 2008 - 5:21 pm Nana-J:

Wow, all of you guys sound as though you feel so threatened by Obama. Sheesh Have any of you actually read his books? The “Audacity of Hope” is particularly enlightening.

I’m a 57 y.o. white woman, mother, grandmother, professional career woman. I have worked with diverse groups of people. I, also, remember the SDS and the Weathermen. The SDS didn’t bother me as much as the Weathermen did. To me, the Weathermen seemed rather dangerously deluded.

I’m just not very rattled by Obama’s association with either Reverend Wright or Ayers. I believe that Obama’s contact with Ayers has truly been infrequent and of no great significance. I would be worried about his association with Wright if I could find any evidence of Obama having such extreme views himself. It is very tempting to merely listen to the sound bites offered by the media which is always followed by the “talking heads” giving their interpretation of what they think was meant. However, in my experience, a mere few words taken out of context and presented in a sound bite, while generally great for dramatic interest is really not a very useful method to gain true understanding of what someone is saying.

Steve, Obama’s campaign is the only one in great financial shape with few problems in the ranks, unlike the campaigns of McCain and Clinton. Seems like he has pretty good management skills to me.

Perhaps, it is because of my professional career has been as a registered nurse that I’m not too upset about Obama’s minister or his fleeting contact with Ayers. The past 23 yrs. of my 36 yr. career has been as a psychiatric nurse, with the past 11 yrs. as a Board Certified Psychiatric Nurse. My work has brought me into contact with such a richly diverse group of people, both as colleagues and as clients/patients. I am constantly amazed and awed by God’s handiwork as expressed in us humans. Ofcourse, there are times that I am also saddened by the still sometimes devastating effects of some chronic illnesses. Oh, but I stray from my point.

Having read Obama’s books, researched his history, including his education, work as a community organizer and his legislative career, I have found zero evidence that he espouses the more radical views of his previous minister. Infact, every single person who has ever known him has pretty much the same things to say about him. He is kind, he really listens to others, he really does look for the common ground and is very effective at building bridges between disparate points of view amongst others. The other comment that is almost universal is that he is extraordinarily intelligent.

All of you negative posters here should be ashamed of yourselves. I would imagine that most of you were raised with some sort of values about treating your fellow humans with dignity with you agree with them or not. Yet, what a lack of such behavior I see here.

Those of you who claim to speak of the “truth” about Obama, just what is your source for that truth? Your own disappointments in life, resentment that a youngish Black man could be successful enough to be running for president? Have you absorbed the hatefulness of certain personalities in the press and media?

Hey, Mortimer, your info about gun laws in Illinois is bogus. Here is a link to a page that lays them out clearly. You know what folks can have there rifles and shotguns… unless they’re convicted criminals, mentally ill or retarded. Maybe the problem for you is that you fall into one of those categories.

David Levavi, I’m a Jew also, raised in Reform Judaism. Ever hear of The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism? Might want check it out before you go making poorly informed comments about “liberal” Jews. http://rac.org/

ajmalkov, you’d better become better educated before you cast stones.

Believer, yeah, your posting name says it all. You are definitely show you’re a believer of the misinformation campaign by the right wing media loonies when you talk about Obama “giving” the finger during his speech the day after the not-debate.

Okay, you guys, its late so I’ve got to go, but really, you all do sound like a bunch of poorly educated scared white guys. Some of you even sound a bit racist. Are you?

Apr 25, 2008 - 4:02 am Nana-J:

Sorry for the few typos, it really is late here. Oops about the link for gun law info in Illinois, here it is http://crime.about.com/od/gunlawsbystate/p/gunlaws_il.htm
thought I’d pasted it before, oh well….

Apr 25, 2008 - 4:07 am iceman:

This is a great thread of comments on the simon article and clearly articulates a mainstream and repentant former radical left critique of Obama. I can’t say much for the Obama supporter’s responses. They sound childish, petulant, devoid of facts and full of ad hominem attacks that are not swaying many people here and won’t in the general elections. It is sad that the quality of the democratic nominees are so…..thin and it is shaping up to be Obama v. McCain and it won’t be pretty when the 527 groups start tearing into Obama like pit bull on a steak, doing the job the mainstream media should have done.

Obama is an attractive and interesting young man but his past associations are highly suspect and his penchant for hanging onto them is …..weird. Why can’t he say what needs to be said? “I associated with these people because they provided what I thought healthy critique of America but when I found out more about them I realized that their critique of America was not the one I wanted to associated with.” Instead we get, “typical white person” and grandma thrown under a bus in the quintessential smarmy political manner that is the cliché come to life.

Why can he not verbalize the dissassociation? Because it is not true. And instead we get pure lies and drivel and evasions and half truths and shading from one who I would expect better from. It is amazing that people who have such intelligence, and Obama has that, can be so blind or are getting such bad advice.

What does that say about a commander in chief? Tone deaf and bad advice, hmmm give me more of that.

How can he be so blind to the millstones that are Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers that are hanging around his neck?

The Rev Wright association is unbelievable? A twenty year association with this kind of race baiting, hater who married him, baptized his kids and preached this stuff for twenty years to his children and the happy couple. Then he has the nerve to tell us that he did not hear, he was not aware, he was not in church…..what a load of horseshit. It’s like Clinton in the early years, like yesterday when she would lie and lie, except now her advisors polled some people and told her that people don’t like people who lie to their face over and over again and won’t vote for them for president.

As far as the race angle…..Stanley Crouch has the flip test and you can read a profile here

http://www.robertboynton.com/articleDisplay.php?article_id=30

“Black kids who dress like gangsters complain that they get bad service at restaurants and stores. They say, “Hey, we aren’t thugs, we just dress that way.’ Well, let’s flip it over. Let’s say a white guy comes into a store wearing a K.K.K. outfit, and everybody is horrified. And he says, “I’m not really a Klansman, I just like the look.’ Now, with ninety-nine percent of those black kids it is only style, but we just don’t have time to go around interviewing them. “Excuse me, young man, are you actually carrying a 9-mm pistol or is your outfit just a cultural signifier””

Does the Obama association with Wright and Ayers pass the flip test?

Let’s see….what if McCain had an long twenty year association with a race baiting hater and an admitted bomber of abortion clinics who was making a bomb to kill doctors at a social dance and who only escaped prison due to illegal wiretapping by the FBI and is now a college professor (whoa… how did that happen?)

Ouch….that does not look so good.

Obama cannot disown these people in a clear intellectually honest manner and his current explanation rings totally false, even to the rubes in Peoria.

This election is shaping up to be a 49 state McGovern type blowout unless…….unless……what? He suddenly gets honest now? NOT.

The superdelegates are the 1000 most powerful people in American and this is shaping up to be a very interesting election.

More will come out on both sides but the slow trickle of death with continue for Obama.

The superdelegates will never give the nomination to Hillary against the will of the people and alienate the radical left and the blacks, however this is shaping up to be a massive case of buyers remorse for the dems.

Obama has not and probably will not have a John Kennedy moment where he declares that he does not take orders from the Pope (Rev Wright and Ayers)

And it is probably too late now.

America will stick with McCain, a war hero who they see a his own man, flawed but not fatally so.

Apr 25, 2008 - 5:16 am tanstaafl:

The Iceman Cometh

And Charles the K expands In Today’s WaPo

Apr 25, 2008 - 7:20 am Believer:

Nana-J:

You may have misjudged many of us. I am also a white, middle-aged woman. I, too, know something of diversity.

I live in Honolulu. Just two blocks from Punahou School, the prep school Obama and my own three children attended. It was the excitement we naturally felt that “one of our own” might be president that I began to research Obama’s life. There was much, it seemed, that we had in common.

I couldn’t cast my vote for someone just because I had an emotional attachment to them. I needed to get a real sense of his values - the character and judgment he’s used throughout his life. When I’m comfortable with that, the political positions he might take are usually in keeping with my own.

I remember hearing Obama’s first words — an answer to a question about his admitted drug use. When asked about inhaling, his response was a laughing and flippant, “That was the whole purpose!” Now I’m sure that made him popular with the college crowd - his targeted audience - and it has definitely proved successful.

But this saddened me. I think it’s critically important that our leaders have the highest of standards, and not treat their own youthful indiscretions in a light vein, but soberly. At every opportunity. We as parents - and grandparents, as you are - should try to give our children the best role models.

And that is why I brought up the video. The video that, as I watched it, made me weep for that child. For he could be my own newphew, Nate. But it is only the color of their skin that they share. Our Nate is joyful, loving life - and keeping us all laughing - even as he adjusts his life now to accomodate his lost vision. He’s been taught to live a life of faith, not hate.

You see, I was raised in a family that values all life. This child was given it because his biological mother was told there was a family who wanted him. And we are all so very glad she did.

As I said before, a person’s character and judgment are pretty good indicators of his political views. If you’re not aware of Mr. Obama’s position on Life, it has not been anything close to moderate. He stood - alone - in the state senate to disallow lifesaving aid to those who might survive an unsuccessful abortion.

As a believer in God, I encourage faith at every opportunity. But I understand it’s not shared by all; and my heart goes out to those young women who must make that choice. But choices are what each of us makes every day - every hour - for a variety of reasons. Though seemingly small, they are a reflection of our maturity - and our character.

Mr. Simon was right — there comes an hour when each of us must grow up and put aside childish things and ways.

Mr. Obama has yet to do that.

Apr 25, 2008 - 1:29 pm lane maur:

You have the ability to learn. Use it. Please, your commentary is a pastiche of vague, obtuse statements written as if, given the superficial coverage of the news, you have special insight. Anyone can take quotes out of context, mix and match, interpret without education and condemn; that’s easy. Try doing your homework, reading the entire article from Ayers. Nor can you, from the outside, possibly know the extent or lack thereof of Obama’s supposed “friendship” with a man who acted when Obama was 8 years old and based on a media that isn’t interested in issues but rather ratings. Does being insular, ignoring and denying everyone and everything we disagree with get us closer to mediation? No, it furthers hate, ignorance, denial, and fractures among people. And I have to draw the conclusion that you are abysmally ignorant in regard to the facts of racism and its history in this country. So simple to call others names and descry their words rather than investigate semantics, history, culture and context in order to understand, and then decide. Simplicity is easier, but it is not accurate. And no, I am not an Obama supporter; I am a person interested in facts, evidence, context, and understanding all the components involved in situations.
For example, were you aware that the US government deliberately provoked the Japanese by blowing up their oil supply to get them to bomb Pearl Harbor? Did you know the US government sanctioned giving syphilis to Black workers without their knowledge or consent in order to study the progress of the disease from infection to death? Are you aware of the number of democratically elected presidents in South America that we have been involved in assasinating?
And no, I am not “anti-American.” Like our founding fathers, who I have read carefully, I believe that when you love your country, you fight to make it follow the ethics it should be following, not “my country right or wrong.”
Oh, and I can only assume from your portrayal of the Black Panthers that you do not know that they did not start carrying guns until the FBI fire bombed their homes. Please get an education before you spout more asinine opinions. Oh, yes, I support your right to make them; what I don’t support is that all opinions are equal. Back them with informed understanding and evidence. Or you can keep preaching to the ignorant. NOT stupid, no, ignorant. There is a difference.

Apr 28, 2008 - 12:57 pm

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