CAMPAIGN 2008
A few weeks ago, Sen John McCain got into some hot water in Cincinnati. A Conservative talk show host was warming up the crowd for McCain, and he was doing so by repeating over and over again, the full name of Barack Obama. McCain came out and apologized for this idiots obvious attempt to disparage Obama by drilling the name Hussein into the minds of everyone watching and listening.
The fact that Senator Obama's name sounds like Osama and that his middle name is Hussein doesn't bother me. Nor should it. I've paid attention to this campaign enough to know that Obama belongs to the United Church of Christ, the same church attended by my dad, aunt, uncle and Grandma Gallagher.
But this reverend Jeremiah Wright and his connections to Obama? That bothers the heck out of me, and gives me pause to wonder about the Senator from Illinois.
Amongst the gems that this creep has bestowed upon his congregation are the following:
1) That blacks should not sing God Bless America, bit God Damn America.
2) That the United States had brought on al Qaeda's attacks because of "its own terrorism."
"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye.
"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost," he told his congregation on September 16, 2001. 5 days after 9/11. Real nice.
And even at that, I would dismiss it as some wacko on the fringe of Obama's campaign. Just like I thought everyone overreacted when Samantha Power called Hillary Clinton a monster and when they overreacted when Geraldine Ferraro said that Obama wouldn't be winning if he weren't black. I think with Power and Ferraro, you had people, passionate about their candidate who had a momentary lapse of self control.
But this guy Wright is a evil hatemonger if he even believes half of what he preaches. And up until the other day, he was an advisor on Obama's campaign. Add that in with the quote by Michelle Obama that this is the first time in her adult life she is proud to be American, and I'm sorry, but that gives me pause.
I still like Obama. I still think he has more to offer than his Democratic opponent. I still want to believe in the change that he says he wants to bring. I still believe that either he or McCain would do more to change things around here that need to be changed after 16 years.
But I really do need to know how Obama feels about this country. If he surrounds himself with folks who feel the way Rev Wright do, then I'm sure I don't want him near the Oval Office.
The fact that Senator Obama's name sounds like Osama and that his middle name is Hussein doesn't bother me. Nor should it. I've paid attention to this campaign enough to know that Obama belongs to the United Church of Christ, the same church attended by my dad, aunt, uncle and Grandma Gallagher.
But this reverend Jeremiah Wright and his connections to Obama? That bothers the heck out of me, and gives me pause to wonder about the Senator from Illinois.
Amongst the gems that this creep has bestowed upon his congregation are the following:
1) That blacks should not sing God Bless America, bit God Damn America.
2) That the United States had brought on al Qaeda's attacks because of "its own terrorism."
"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye.
"We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost," he told his congregation on September 16, 2001. 5 days after 9/11. Real nice.
And even at that, I would dismiss it as some wacko on the fringe of Obama's campaign. Just like I thought everyone overreacted when Samantha Power called Hillary Clinton a monster and when they overreacted when Geraldine Ferraro said that Obama wouldn't be winning if he weren't black. I think with Power and Ferraro, you had people, passionate about their candidate who had a momentary lapse of self control.
But this guy Wright is a evil hatemonger if he even believes half of what he preaches. And up until the other day, he was an advisor on Obama's campaign. Add that in with the quote by Michelle Obama that this is the first time in her adult life she is proud to be American, and I'm sorry, but that gives me pause.
I still like Obama. I still think he has more to offer than his Democratic opponent. I still want to believe in the change that he says he wants to bring. I still believe that either he or McCain would do more to change things around here that need to be changed after 16 years.
But I really do need to know how Obama feels about this country. If he surrounds himself with folks who feel the way Rev Wright do, then I'm sure I don't want him near the Oval Office.
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