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Nadler Criticizes Obama’s 'Courage'

November 02, 2008 11:10 PM

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, was down in Florida over the weekend, and one supposes that he thought he was helping Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., but it will ultimately be hard to make that case.

Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugged has posted some video of Nadler at a synagogue in Boca Raton trying to explain why Obama was able to stay in Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church for 20 years.

He starts off my saying he has no idea of what he's talking about. And then he proceeds to open mouth, insert foot.

Says Nadler: “I have no personal knowledge of what I'm about to say. What I'm about to say is my guess...”

Hoo boy.

“My guess,” Nadler said, “knowing how politics works, what I'm about to say is not particularly...”

He searches for the word. Rejects a couple suggestions.

“...not particularly complimentary towards Sen. Obama,” he says.

“Think of the history here,” says the six-term New York congressman. “You have a guy who's half-white, half-black. He goes to an Ivy League school, comes to Chicago ... to start a political career. Doesn't know anybody.

“Gets involved with community organizing -- why? Because that's how your form a base.  OK. Joins the largest church in the neighborhood. About 8,000 members. ... Why did he join the church? ... Because that's how you get to know people.

“Now maybe it takes a couple years,” Nadler says, suggesting that soon Obama starts to think of Wright, “'Jesus, the guy's a nut, the guy's a lunatic.' But you don’t walk out of a church with 8,000 members in your district.”

Suggests a woman: “You don’t walk in though.”

“He didn't know it when he walked in, presumably,” said Nadler.

And then, the line that may haunt Nadler for four years or longer: “He didn't have the political courage to make the statement of walking out.

“Now, what does it tell me?” Nadler asked. “It tells me that he wasn't terribly political courageous. Does it tell me that he agreed with the reverend in any way? No. It tells me he didn't want to walk out of a church in his district.”

What’s even funnier about this is that the previous time I can recall Nadler talking about Obama was in December 2006, when Jason Horowitz of the New York Observer chatted with him at the Israeli Policy Forum.

Nadler told the Observer that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., “had called him earlier yesterday to tell him that she was leaning towards running for president, and that he said he would support her. His choice, he explained, was a pragmatic one.

"'I don't see a lot of other good possibilities in our party,' said Nadler… 'Someone like Barack Obama, who is suddenly a real candidate, always worries me, because he is a novice candidate. He hasn't done it before. Novice candidates, not always, but 95 percent of the time make a mistake. I made some terrible mistakes in office, when I was district leader, no one remembers what they are. I wasn't in front of all the news cameras.'”

Yes, Congressman Nadler. Heaven forbid that you make a mistake in front of a camera! Only a novice would make such a mistake!

Oy!

- jpt

November 2, 2008 in 2008: Democrats | Permalink | Share | User Comments (243)

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Black LIberation Theology has very little to do with the bible . . .

The great Martin Luther King preceeded Black Libertion Theology. Matin Luther King took his principles for nonviolence and activism from the teachings of Jesus.
But then to dredge up Wright, dredges up old arguments which have nothing to do with the economic and foreign policies which impact our lives. Wright is nothing more than a deliberate distraction.

Posted by: kat | Nov 3, 2008 3:30:30 PM

The old 'socialist bolly hoo just doesn't work anymore. Like doctor phil says, that dog don't hunt.

Posted by: shirley | Nov 3, 2008 3:28:00 PM

WELCOME TO THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH IF MCCAIN WINS !!!!

WELCOME TO THE "UNITED STATES SOCIALISM" IF OBAMA WINS (GOD FORBID)

Posted by: johnjack | Nov 3, 2008 3:12:33 PM

So, some think Obama just spouts off that bible gobbledygook so that he could make it in politics. He does not really believe in any of it. Just for clarity, Black Liberation Theology has very little to do with the Bible.

Posted by: Patricia | Nov 3, 2008 3:12:15 PM

No news here.

Everyone knows Obama is a wimp.

He's only brave when mocking women, and plumbers.
Our enemies are waiting to celebrate if he wins.

Posted by: sam | Nov 3, 2008 3:04:30 PM

Personally I wish Obama wasn't a Bible thumper, but to make it into politics they all have to be.

Posted by: shirley | Nov 3, 2008 3:03:41 PM

Nadler was cornered and blurted out some truth. Unless Obama also subscribes to Black Liberation Theology and that is why he stayed in that despicable church. Did you catch the so-called priest, Pfleger, making fun of Hillary from the pulpit of Trinity UCC? He acted like a total a$$. Wright often acted like a total a$$ in the pulpit, too. Making fun of white people and people who do not think like they do. Guess Obama was projecting when he talked about the bitter bible and gun clingers with antipathy toward those who do not look like them.

Posted by: Patricia | Nov 3, 2008 3:00:59 PM

Schadenfreude:
.. is the gleeful joy you experience when someone else gets his just desserts or has his comeuppance.

I believe I am experiencing this, lil bit guilty about it....... but I am enjoying seeing republicans SQUIRMING and flailing about like chickenhawks without heads........

Posted by: Blue | Nov 3, 2008 2:53:36 PM

The media has been too kind to Senator McCain and Sarah Palin, they've only reported half of what they should have been reporting.

Posted by: shirley | Nov 3, 2008 2:52:34 PM

Wright embraces Black Liberation Theology. Obama knows what that is or he is the dumbest Harvard grad ever. It teaches that white people are the cause of all evil in the world and should be eliminated, among other things. Twenty years in a racist church makes me sick. If you don't care about his lack of character, fine. Socialism bothers me also and the sexism toward Hillary bothers me. I though all you progressives cared about these "isms" too. Where is your backbone to stand against these things that Obama stands for and the dems apparently stand for as well?

Posted by: Patricia | Nov 3, 2008 2:51:32 PM

Zeuser89,I do respect your right to free speech, and I want to apologize if I seemed not to.

Posted by: shirley | Nov 3, 2008 2:50:09 PM

Journalism died this election cycle. SFChronicle actively, professionally 'hides' Sen Obama's coal caps comments, LATimes 'sits' on a controversial Israel hating dinner fest, illegal immigrant Aunt fighting deportation in Boston, as public a record as there is which Sen Obama does not know about & media ignores totally, Joe the Plumber gets governmentally checked out in Ohio immediately & all out derided by our 1st Amendment protected media guardians, the sub-prime crisis is totally misreported to protect Sen Dodd (#1 FNMA/FreddieMc recipient; Sen Obama #4), Cong Barney Frank, Sec'ys Cisneros & Cuomo, Countrywide, etc., this event in Florida where-a non-media person has to relay this to the world. Never in my lifetime have I seen such an actively almost propagandistic effort by 95% of media to see one person & one party get elected. I never realized the power of Keith Olberman, to sway so many of his peers. Jokes on me I guess Thank heavens we have universities & graduate schools to instill critical & objective thinking. CNN & MSNBC/CNBC (I don't know who is more in the tank) make Fox seem like the impartiality of Solomon's wisdom. I am forced to watch Fox because there is no other alternative to any news portrayal & asssociated analysis. Even C-Span,, which used to be reasonably objective is now infected with standard main stream media bias. Last, liberal bias is one thing, it has been there ever since I started voting (very liberal to boot not waking up until Reagan terms) in the 1970s. But this election has crossed over to active partisan support, propaganda promulgation, adulation, uncritical examination, blatant slanting and outright drop of any pretense of professionalim.

Posted by: Reaction To Closed Minds | Nov 3, 2008 2:47:23 PM

U.S. soldiers have donated more presidential campaign money to Democrat Barack Obama than to Republican John McCain, a reversal of previous campaigns in which military donations tended to favor GOP White House hopefuls, a nonpartisan group reported Thursday.

Troops serving abroad have given nearly six times as much money to Obama's presidential campaign as they have to McCain's, the Center for Responsive Politics said.

Posted by: T | Nov 3, 2008 2:37:27 PM

Good grief -- without commenting on Nadler, what the hell are you doing looking at Pam Geller's site? She thinks Obama's father is Malcom X. And that's not the nuttiest thing she believes.

You've fallen far in my esteem, Mr. Tapper ...

Posted by: Chup, Bryan, TX | Nov 3, 2008 2:35:57 PM

Don't you think Sahara looks reel pretty?

I'd love to see her in the White House.

Go McCane (he was a POW, you know).

Posted by: Typikal McCane Supporter | Nov 3, 2008 2:35:50 PM

Actually, I change my mind: Nadler is trying to justify Obama and spin Obama's disgraceful life-long relationship with Wright.

If Obama had come to believe Wright was a lunatic he wouldn’t have invited him to give the benediction at the announcement of his candidacy for President, then hide him in the basement.

Twenty years of your adult life at age 47 is a lifetime. Nah, Obama truly loved Wright.

Posted by: Rod | Nov 3, 2008 2:31:42 PM

For weeks, Republican leaders have warned that widely reported problems with fake voter registrations could result in a flood of phony votes in pivotal states.

But Ronald Michaelson, a veteran election administrator and member of the McCain-Palin Honest and Open Election Committee, said in an interview that he could not name a single instance in which this had occurred.

“Do we have a documented instance of voting fraud that resulted from a phony registration form? No, I can’t cite one, chapter and verse,” he said.

Which makes their accusations a form of fraud in its own right, doesn't it? One that's been falsely used to fuel "Republicans’ invocation of legal power to scrutinize voters, demands for U.S. Justice Department intervention and court orders, and criminal investigations."

Posted by: T | Nov 3, 2008 2:30:36 PM

John Dean: Republican Rule Is Dangerous

Nixon’s former counsel has written a scathing review of conservative Republican politics and says the McCain-Palin ticket, which “scares the hell out of me,” fits the mold. How’s this for an endorsement?:

“If Obama is rejected on November 4th for another authoritarian conservative like McCain, I must ask if Americans are sufficiently intelligent to competently govern themselves.”

Posted by: T | Nov 3, 2008 2:26:16 PM

Shirley: You are wrong, again. I live in Florida and it is a very large community of Cubans, Haitians, Central Americans and the list goes on!!! Everybody is welcome here and everybody is welcome to come back home, I don't care!!! I would love to see America become that strong again, but, our government refuses to be for the people anymore. Sounds good, but, it won't happen. Simply being a good speaker and using a cadence of Yes we can and Change only keeps people from following the truth. BO has been running for President since he was voted into the Senate. It is all about his making history and feeding his large ego. If I really thought he cared I would be a big supporter. So far I have only seen a groundswell of desperate people hoping that he will get them out of the mess they have put themselves in. How can you blame, really blame, the republicans for people who bought houses that they knew they could not afford, they should have understood what they were signing, people living beyond their means and living on credit, buying new cars every year and the list goes on. You can't expect the taxpayers to bail people out of their own messes it is not fair. Once the Democrats gain a larger share of Congress and they get their own agenda passed how do you think that will help anyone? Isn't that the same thing people accused the Repubs of? If in your heart you really are expecting Barack Obama to save the world than so be it, but, just don't be disappointed when he turns out to be another politician with his own agenda and his own large ego. Pretty words get nothing done, but, I have seen the crowds and I have seen the blind adoration of his followers and frankly, it scares me to death. I am entitled to my opinion and I work real hard at not being nasty and vile, but, when you attacked McCain by calling him stodgy, you also insulted me. I am a retired vietnam veteran and I didn't agree with the war, but, I had no choice except to try to save the lives of our people and all I received was getting slapped upside the head for it, really shows someones true color. As Americans we should just agree to disagree. I strongly agree with that, but, I will not aimlessly attack someone simply because they like doing it to someone else. I am not stupid, I am not blind and I have a right to believe what I believe, if you give people that right it is a wonderful thing, but, Obama supporters seem to think that we should be sent to an island for speaking out against your belief. It bothers me to think that this is what Obama has taught his followers. If you get that from BO than I do have a right to worry about where his Presidency is headed. I didn't vote for either Obama or McCain, and that also is my right.

Posted by: zeuser89 | Nov 3, 2008 2:25:10 PM

You have to give it to Nadler: he is at best right on, at worst minimizing the Obama & Wright partnership.

Posted by: Rod | Nov 3, 2008 2:14:14 PM

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