Political Punch

Okay, I'm seeing the same 'talking point' posted all over the place that Obama's a 'liar' because he said he heard 'controversial' comments by Dr Wright. Somehow that's become 'he heard the specific sermons that the ABC News clips were taken from'. NOT TRUE.

Are you people actually confused, didn't listen to the speech, or just repeating talking points that were given to you? Because I honestly can't believe so many of you don't understand simple English.

Exactly what part of this do you not understand?
"But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country...."

Bill Clinton was an anti-war protester.

Does anyone remember the comments that were made by the Vietnam War protesters?

Does anyone remember that flags were burned?

What do you think Bill Clinton said?

What did Hillary say when MLK was killed?

They come from a radical background.

They did not praise America.

Well, the media is propping up Obama this morning after his speech. It’s not as historical as many would have us believe. Good but not great. Why? It’s a political speech to cover his political rear end! If he really missed what was happening in his own church what does that say about his perception, his awareness and his judgment!

Many have screamed to the media to take a close look at him, ask tough questions, ask the first question but the male media is so caught up in the concept of his apparent charisma and presence that they have forgotten to be reporters. Now they will be real reporters as they start to dig and tear away at … Hillary Clinton’s papers regarding her experience in the White House.

Please America elect someone who is not biased, who has the resilence to stand for what is happening in America today,not a LIAR who has chosen to distance himself from what he was a part of for 20 years. It is indeed a sad day that He continues to lie whenever he is caught up !! He should have come clear. Do Not let the like of him DAMN America further.

Well...I heard what he said....he admitted he lied again. So he did hear the sermons. Go back to the senate or your slum lord buddies and take your white hating preacher with you.

Nice reporting, Mr. Tapper. I think you managed to excerpt and summarize the speech well.

It was a good speach,but Obama sat in the pews for 20 years.He could have changed his church,and by change I mean change the message in that church,change the God Da*m America and the jumping up and down and slapping the back.Obama has a rare gift he can use words to open peoples minds.He chose not to do that.He has the same gift MLK had and like MLK he could have started in his church.He did not...

I am sure that if I am not swayed by Obama's speech into believing he is our new Messiah, I will be called a racist. But I am not gullible enough to be moved bya a presidential candidate who says he has never heard Rev. Wright utter a racist statement. Every sentence in Wright's screaming diatribes says "WHITE"! Are white people not entitled to be an offended racial group? He now admits that Wrights opinions were out of justified anger from a racist past in which he was brought up. So, why did Obama make him an official on his campaign staff? He never touched that issue.

Obama then goes on to represent Wright as a patriotic Marine, virtually an American hero! No, Barack, I will remember your hero's words, "God damn America" and, as a veteran myself, think what a pitifully lowlife Marine he must have been.

New political Messiah? We may need one but it surely is not Barack Obama. Nice try but no cigar! It is no surprise that you didn't close your speech with "God bless America". That might have meant something.

I pray that voters will not be taken in by this attempt to gloss over your lies and deceptions. I pray that Reverend Wright will denounce his American citizenship and move to his place of choice in Africa.

I grew up in Senator Obamas district in Chicago. My grandfather took citizenship classes at the same grade school my father and I attended,the grade school the Senators children would have gone to if they attended public school. The neighborhood was safe, prosperous, clean, multi ethnic and presentable. As a child I would walk to the park or schoolyard without concern. I could run up to the "busy street" and shop or catch the bus or train to anywhere in the city.

Two years ago, while visiting Chicago (I have been away for 40+ years) the cab driver and I discovered he lived less than a block away from my old house and his kids went to the same grade school. "Take me by the house" I requested.

He said "no". "It's a war zone there, we would not get out without trouble, I don't even bring my cab home because it would get all broken up if I did"

Later that week I took a rental car by the house. It was a war zone. High fence around the school and the gate locked, no one sitting out on the stoop, Houses in disrepair, every, I mean every single shop on the "busy street" closed. Cars abandoned along the street. I thought it was the bizzaro land.

What the hell happened?

My husband and I are totally outraged that someone of Barak Obama's character judgement could even still be running for president in the United States of America. His speech did not change our opinion of him at all. This whole racial situation and seeing the destructive clips of his pastor all week have made us furious! We did note that even though Obama was encircled with American flags, he still wore no flag pin on his lapel.
If the American people are still so unpatriotic and senseless to nominate and vote for this man for president then God help us as a nation. It surely must be God's judgements for our sins.
No, his speech did not change our mind at all. It only enraged us more to hear him finally admit he did "hear" the things his pastor said which he had "denied doing" when asked about earlier in the week.
Karen and Ron ,
Texas

If only Obama had made the same speech to Wright.....we wouldnt be in this situation...aint it Obama?

So he is about 20 yrs late on this speech and he should have spoken to Wright about acceptance of America...

USVet,

"OBAMA LIED!"

...and so do the Clintons! Where do you want me to start?

Do you want to address the issues of the country or do you want to have a mud-slinging competition? I guaruntee you'll end up with more mud on you than I.

I was happy that we'd have a great opportunity to elect a Democrat but now it looks like we'll have to suffer through at least another 4 years under republican rule.

A clever speech.

It's a shame that so many people don't recognize brilliance, and others, who do, can't stand it.

This is a brilliant speech, unheard of before in our political lifetime, by a passionate and brilliant man deeply in love with the many faceted society and country that is America.

No other politician in Washington would have had the courage and the presidential statesmanship to address such a complex core issue in our society in such direct, intelligent, nuanced and heartfelt manner. The New Statesman newspaper in 2005 clearly was right when it put Obama as the only politician on a top 10 list of "people who will change the world."

He has already changed America, even if he wouldn't win the nomination, and as President he will revive the American spirit in a way many of thought to have lost forever. In doing so, he will restore America's leading role as an agent of democracy, freedom and civility in the world, which is the greatest threat to any extremist and fundamentalist movement or country out there.

What an impressive guy. He wrote history already.

I meant let's the blame rest on his minister.

Speech can be great or whatever some may call it the fact of the matter is he lied, and in his speech he admitted he lied to the American people.

That takes away from all that he said or tried to say. When he accuses others of trying to "bamboozle" or "hoodwink" people he end up doing the same.

So exactly where is the change in all this??

Obama let's the blame rest on his President. It is Obama's choices that concerns us, not his ministers. Nice move blaming grandma too! What the heck?

it really tells alot if some people on here are so proud of a liar,now you can't say anymore that wasn't there, at least now we know who the real rasists are

He should drop out

I have read his speech. The racial issue in this country is clear to a lot of people. Obama, in his speech (which is a good one), only elaborated it in a more eloquent manner.

The bottom line is not who can see or understand this issue, it is who can really make a change. Obama said he knew what Wright was saying is wrong, claiming he knew what a lot of black people in his community have "distorted view" of (white) America. Every one who is intelligent can see that.
But, Has Mr. Obama done anything to change it?
Not what he promises he WILL do, but what evidence is availbe showing that he was willing to and capable to do things that unify this country. Listening to those words for 20 years and now says " I disagree or reject" doesn't sound enough for me.
After all, even the speech and the denounciation were forced after those shocking clips are all over the place.

Obama LIED repeatedly in the weeks before today’s confession. Today, he said, “Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely …”

Obama told the Chicago Sun-Times on March 15, 2008, “But the sermons I’ve always hear were no different than the sermons you hear in many African-American churches. I had not heard him make such, what I consider to be objectionable remarks from the pulpit. Had I heard them while I was in church, I would have objected. Had that been the tenor of the church generally, I probably wouldn’t be a member of the church.”

On March 14, when CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Obama if he ever heard from others about Rev. Wright’s controverisal remarks, Obama replied with a flat “No.”

Great speech, so sorry he had to 'jump through loops'.