Political Punch

Hey, Lighten up everyone. This was innocent and just a joke. It had nothing to do with an assination attempt. This is a funny guy who keeps us laughing and keeps politics in perspective. Mike Huckabee is a first class guy and the only people make a "To do" over his remark are the "kook left" attempting to hang something on him. Huck is clean. Too clean for even Mc Cain. No, this will not affect his chances at VEEP.
Huck would carry the SOUTH like a big wind picking up people on both sides. He would help anyones ticket. You know it too! I like Mike! everyone who ever met him does. The guy is a great guy. If we had more Mike Huckabees in Washington, we would have a better country and a better goverment!

Frank Rich's best point is here: "The Clintons and Mr. Obama are always held accountable for their racial stands, as they should be, but the elephant in the room of our politics is rarely acknowledged: In the 21st century, the so-called party of Lincoln does not have a single African-American among its collective 247 senators and representatives in Washington."

As we talk about racial progress and the press looks for all the good that has been done by the left, this question about the right is a good one. Who did J.C. Watts have to caucus with when it came to any racial tinged policies by the right? He turned to himself 4 to 8 years ago and asked him if he had the numbers to defeat some of those policies. Self said NO.

Barack can't say typical or bitter without getting a full scale media assault. Howard Fineman said Barack needed to stick to playing basketball. But you have McCain trying to figure out where to even begin addressing race, maybe it is in Memphis at the Lorraine Motel, maybe he should go to Appalachia, or perhaps New Orleans divorced from most of its residents is the place to start.

Progress is slow.

Yes.

When you guys have a chance to think about after your self righteous indignation waivers in 2009, you might find that your attention was focused on the wrong indicator. How many times does someone have to say New Orleans to the federal government before reporters say maybe there is a hard news story out there? How many milestones do deceased soldiers need to hit before reporters think maybe we have not spent our resources adequately? How many people have to lose their home before an objective news editor says our focus has been in the wrong place while we contemplate Rev. Wright and his boogie man status?

The Fourth Estate will continue to get low marks when you don't cover stories that expose a bureaucratic nightmare our government has become. If we wanted sensationalism we could go to the National Enquirer, I doubt older journalist think much of the younger crowd sense of balance or proportion.

No Point - See McCain did not go to Hagees parish for 20 years, nor did ne write a book repeating the nasty stuff, nor did McCain throw his grandma under the bus for him! (figuratively)

This is just the libs way of trying to take the spotlight off Obama's anti-Americanism racism!!

If Wright was just some one that says he supported Obama, and no major connections then Wright would not even fit in to anything.

A Candidate can not be responsible for who supports them , but they can be held responsible for who they hang with, take on as mentors

More Libs twisting of the truth!!

Let those without sin cast the first stone. Church is separate from state, so that's all I'll say about that. Unfortunately, after several years, I had a pastor who did not represent our church proudly in my opinion. I didn't denounce the church. I was moving anyway, so I can't say that was the only reason I cut ties. I have been to different denominations with friends. There are parts of every church which I don't agree with, including the one I'm a member of. Life is not perfect. It does seem that if I made up a pro and con list of associations, Obama would still come out better.

Rich, Moyers, and Stewart need to come up with a better defense as they're making it worse by implying that there's a double standard. Most folks aren't concerned with John Hagee or Pat Robertson and their relationship with McCain because neither of them have a 20 year relationship with McCain and McCain hasn't called them spiritual mentors, family, and alluded to them as father figures.

Obama is being asked to explain a relationship that he put into the public's view when he wrote about Wright in his books. When Obama cites Rev. Wright as a mentor and formative influence on him, voters have a right to question Obama about that influence.

When defenders invoke a racial double standard as a mode of defense, they dismiss voter's concerns and tacitly call them racists for having the nerve to want these questions answered. Since some of what Wright has said is inflammatory and along racial lines, these defenders unwittingly stoke the fires by insulting the intelligence of voters who have legitimate questions about what Wright teaches and what Obama does and does not agree with. If Obama doesn't answer the questions and his defenders smack voters for simply wanting to know, Obama loses these voters.

Obama needs to answer the deeper questions regarding Wright and his relationship with him. Defenders who call it a double-standard or poo-poo the voters are keeping Obama from allaying people's doubts and moving on. The overprotectiveness is what's killing him.

Putting it all out there, and no Obama still hasn't done that, is the only way to put it to rest.

When John McCain was a guest at the
Hanoi Hilton......Frank Rich was dreaming of a part in "Swan Lake"

Frank Rich's moral guru wears black
leather and carries a riding crop.

So Oscar Meyer, you didn't actually see the show yourself, right? "The way I heard it reported ..." Here's what really happened. George was actually being tough in questioning (unlike the softball Russert interview of Obama) and Clinton handled each question with intelligence, sound reasoning, strength and confidence. She has the knowledge and superb grasp of the issues to be President.

Here is my two sense about Obama and Revered Wright:

1. There was not much change in what Wright said at the National Press Club from the so called "sound bytes" played over and over on You Tube. Yet, Obama didn't denounce Wright, but choose to defend Wright and make it a racial issue. It wasn't a racial issue it was a patriotic issue.

2. Obama chose to stay in Wright's church for over 20years. Does anybody really believe on the days Obama didn't attend service, Reverend Wright did not speak this way? Obviously Wright breaths, speaks and eats the litany he spews out. It is ridiculous for the media to compare Obama's 2o years of attendance in Wright church to what, a month of an endorsement for McCain?

I don't think many in the media go to church or have a home church or they would not be asking stupid questions to think any one who sits under a Pastor for twenty years all of the people supporting Obama who go to church you don't go to church for that long plus fellowship and not know how your pastor thinks the first remarks Mrs Obama made when she said she believe's America is a mean place came right from the Pastor's mouth.

Hey Steve:

Did McCain's pastor Dan Yeary go with Louis Farakkhan on a trip to Libya to meet Gadaffi when we had hostile relations with them like what Wright did.
_______________________________

Did Obama go on these trips, did he even know about them, Did he agree it was a good thing? Or is this just another attempt to implicate Obama through guilt by association?

The media has gone overboard with this coverage and I'm sick of it. Enough already!

The Rev. Wright/Pastor Hagee issues should not be at the forefront. When did Billy Graham become an issue in the past when he spoke in defamatory terms about Jews? I still love Billy Graham in spite of those remarks, but what ministers say should have nothing to do with the political and economic issues at hand. The media is obsessed with this pastor/minister coverage because they're looking for ratings boosters.

Our country is in trouble on economic, domestic and foreign policy issues. America, let's get our next President elected and move forward. Enough with the ex-pastor coverage. Enough!

The media has gone overboard with this coverage and I'm sick of it. Enough already!

The Rev. Wright/Pastor Hagee issues should not be at the forefront. When did Billy Graham become an issue in the past when he spoke in defamatory terms about Jews? I still love Billy Graham in spite of those remarks, but what ministers say should have nothing to do with the political and economic issues at hand. The media is obsessed with this pastor/minister coverage because they're looking for ratings boosters.

Our country is in trouble on economic, domestic and foreign policy issues. America, let's get our next President elected and move forward. Enough with the ex-pastor coverage. Enough!

frankiestage:

Your statements on the Wright situation are correct, but they fail to mention other actions by the US government which lend credibility to the fears fanned by Wright:

1935
The Pellagra Incident. After millions of individuals die from Pellagra over a span of two decades, the U.S. Public Health Service finally acts to stem the disease. The director of the agency admits it had known for at least 20 years that Pellagra is caused by a niacin deficiency but failed to act since most of the deaths occurred within poverty-stricken black populations.

1940
Four hundred prisoners in Chicago are infected with Malaria in order to study the effects of new and experimental drugs to combat the disease. Nazi doctors later on trial at Nuremberg cite this American study to defend their own actions during the Holocaust.

In light of these facts and mumerous other incidents in which blacks as well as other minorities were used as guinea pigs, it is easy to believe anything of the US government.

Of course there is bias. How many people have seen Rev. Hagee's greatest hits? There is probably not one person in America who has not be exposed to the medias Rev. Wright lovefest. Nor has anyone heard a peeop about Clinton's ties to Coe and The Family, or her ex-pastor who was sentenced to jail this year for molesting a 7 year old girl. Why is no one asking the questions to the other two candidates? BTW, Sen. McCain ASKED for Rev. Hagee's support. What does that tell you about his judgement?

If all you Obama basher's know something about real Christianity, then even if Wright is as bad as you say, baptism of Obama's kids can't be held against the Obamas. The blessing is given by the Lord and the pastor is just the vehicle for that by saying the words. If Charles Manson with a true sense of Christ baptized John McCain's second family, that baptism should be recognized as valid and no discussion of it should be heard because the Holy Spirit governed the ceremony. Whoever does the baptism is irrelevant.

To think otherwise is condemning those in the Catholic church who had molestor priests, those evangelicals who had fallen ministers and any other Christian who attended a service by these guys/people. Christ is the reason in the church not the preacher.

Learn what you are talking about.

It appears ignorance has run amuck.
Most people and even MSM don't have a clue!

Why has religious scholars remained silent and allowed misinformation to persist?

How can you criticize if you don't understand?

Some education on the black church is in order.

Historically, the church in the African American community has been the initiator for activities that benefit the African American community. Many scholars, including Lincoln (The Black Experience in Religion, 1974), Mays (The Negro's Church, 1933), Washington (Black Religion: The Negro and Christianity in the United States, 1964), and DuBois (The Souls of Black Folk, 1907) have affirmed this idea. In the church, educational opportunities were presented and encouraged; in the African American Church educational institutions for African Americans were born. The church was the cradle where voter registration was nurtured and matured. In the church, economic opportunities were conceived for African Americans.

The church was the site of the civil rights movement, based on a theology of liberation. Liberation Theology addresses the concern of freedom of oppression, as do African American Theology and Black Theology.

The Black Church, as an institution, came into being following separation from white churches, because the majority church did not confer full status to black people. In the formation of the Black Church, full status to all was conferred. This is significant, especially at a time when other oppressions are keeping people from experiencing the fullness of belonging to the body of Christ. It is incumbent upon the Black Church to remember its own history and, from it, to assure that no group be made to suffer such inhumanities. The function of Liberation Theology is to call people to this remembrance.

Liberation Theology in the African American community was born as a result of the inhumanities black people suffered and are still suffering at the hands of the majority population. It will continue as long as there is real or perceived injustice.

From the beginning, Black Theology was understood as Christian theology which reflected upon the struggle for justice and liberation. In that light, Liberation Theology was and is not limited to any ethnic group.

There are 4 interpretive schemes or models of the black church.
1. Assimilation Model
2. Isolation Model
3. Compensatory Model
4. "Ethnic-community-Prophetic Model

Obama's church followed the "ethnic community-prophetic model. This model accentuates the potential of the black church or its ministers as "prophets to a corrupt white christian nation" mainly in terms of racism and historical racial injustice.

This church has priestly and prophetic functions.

Priestly functions involve only those activities concerned with worship and maintaining the spiritual life of its members.

Prophetic functions refer to involvement in political concerns and activities in greater society. Classically, this activity has meant pronouncing a radical word of God's judgement on real or perceived social injustice.

Obama started as a community organizer in one of the poorest areas of Chicago. Iam sure he saw the results of a lot of social injustice and suffering from bad govt. policies. It is not surprising that he would join or maintain membership at his church.

Obama seeks to bring us beyond all the old divisions and injustices of the past and have us all work for the good of a one and better america. He has seen the best and worst of both sides.

His distractors believe that hate and group division will "carry the day". They might be right!

PS
A lot of the information above was extracted from the book, The Black Church in the African American Experience.
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They do because McCain sought these endorsements with the clear and open acknowledgment of what Rev. John Hagee and Pastor Rod Parsley and Pastor Tim LaHaye have said and done. If the standard is now that anything that person said is fair game, well then, let the games begin.

John McCain also called Rod Parsley his 'spiritual advisor'. If you know anything about Rod Parsley, that's pretty scary!