Yes, we can.

[innerSpaceman]

His flip-flopping on the Wright issue makes me , but to the extent he might have been mentored and influenced by Rev. Wright, I like him more and more.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

Interestingly enough, I was just reading a debate on another board and a cite was asked for a few days ago that contained a direct quote from Obama saying that Wright was a mentor. So far, none has been offered. Would you happen to have one?

I admit, I have searched, and cannot find a direct quote of Obama calling him his mentor. However, I can find articles in the Chicago Tribune about Obama always consulting Wright before making a political move, found out that his book The Audacity of Hope was inspired by a sermon made by Wright, that the man married Obama and his wife and baptized his children, have found hundred s of references to a letter penned by Obama in which he referred to Wright as a "friend, mentor, and pastor".....such things are endless. sso while the word mentor may not have specifically come from his mouth, the shoe would indeed seem to fit.

[Alex]

Other than the AIDS stupidity (and, frankly, we've had actual elected officials who believed stupider things and it isn't like there's absolutely no precedent for the government intentionally inflicting diseases on black populations) I still haven't heard much of anything from Wright that I find all that upsetting.

Other than Obama having heard the things Wright has said, has Obama ever actually done anything to make you believe the same thing? Do you think that Obama is a Manchurian Candidate unleashed upon America by the Black Liberation Theology Illuminati?

So, I honestly still don't care. Just as I honestly don't care if the Republican candidates sit at the feel of the equally obnoxious Jerry Falwell types except insofar as I perceive the candidates will attempt to govern like the Jerry Falwell and/or Wright types.

I'm more concerned that all three candidates took pretty stupid positions on the mercury-vaccination issue when they obviously haven't a clue what they're talking about than that any of them know people who say stupid stuff.

[Strangler Lewis]

I agree with Alex. What has disappointed me about Obama's recent responses is that in the recent clips I've seen he's saying typical politician things like "Anyone who examines my prior pronouncements will know that this is not what I am bout." This is the cousin to "I am confident that after a full investigation I will be exonerated."

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Alex

Do you think that Obama is a Manchurian Candidate unleashed upon America by the Black Liberation Theology Illuminati?

No, I don't think there is any conspiracy. I just think that Obama is very, very far left and may actually agree with what Wright believes. He only chose to distance himself from the man when it became an issue that started hurting his numbers.

[innerSpaceman]

Far left compared to who?


I'm afraid you're not leaving much room on the left if you consider Obama to be at the far end. Pfft.

[scaeagles]

Obama is consistently ranked as the most liberal member of the Senate.

I suppose you and I might have a vastly definition of center, therefore skewing our perspective of what is far left and far right.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

No, I don't think there is any conspiracy. I just think that Obama is very, very far left and may actually agree with what Wright believes. He only chose to distance himself from the man when it became an issue that started hurting his numbers.

I'm sure he does or did believe some of it to an extent, which is why he has not gone chapter and verse through everything Rev. Wright said. The question would be what he would to do to address the real problems that concern Rev. Wright.

And, really. If we're going to disqualify presidential candidates based on the cruelty, idiocy and hate perpetrated, espoused and ignored by their religious leaders or the larger bodies, then only atheists will get to be president.

[3894]

Re: Rev. Wright

Ever since this first appeared on the radar, I have thought the choice of this pastor has a lot more to do with Mrs. Obama than Mr. First, that's often the way things work. Second, remember what Michele Obama said after Barak's Iowa victory - for the first time in her adult life she was proud of this country.
That's someone who would be sympathetic to Rev. Wright's rhetoric.

[SacTown Chronic]

Still waiting for evidence that Wright is racist or un-American. Sure he's a crackpot (and race-obsessed, I'll grant you that), but no more so than most nationally known religious leaders. Certainly his claims can be proven* a lot easier than your run-of-the-mill blame the faggots and hedonists rhetoric that comes from the religious right whenever tragedy occurs. I suspect most of the sound and fury over Wright might be due to the fact that he is a black man who preaches like a black man.



*Except for that AIDS sh*t.

Originally Posted by scaeagles

No, I don't think there is any conspiracy. I just think that Obama is very, very far left and may actually agree with what Wright believes. He only chose to distance himself from the man when it became an issue that started hurting his numbers.

Why does agreeing with Wright and acknowledging that our government has a history of racism, atrocities committed in foreign lands, and mistreatment (and execution) of its own people have to be a right or left thing? It seems to me that holding one's country up to the light and learning from its history is what a true patriot does.