The ever continuing Story of Obama Wright Gate

Now it has gone to a new level of silly

The Story: Jeremiah Wright was White House guest (Via Ben Smith’s Blog @ Politico.com)

The recent coverage of Rev. Jeremiah Wright has often cast him as a marginal, almost fringe figure, but Trinity Church is a major Chicago institution, and Wright has long been a prominent pastor on the American scene.
And an anonymous blog set up to defend his church offers some compelling photographic evidence of this: A photograph of Wright and President Clinton, which it says was taken on Sept. 11, 1998 — the date of a White House gathering for religious leaders.
[UPDATE: The blog seems to have taken that item down; here’s the full image that was posted.]
Hillary Clinton, according to her recently released schedule for the day, was present at the gathering. Al Gore also appears in the picture.
"In the course of his two terms in office, Bill Clinton met with, corresponded with and took pictures with literally tens of thousands of people," Clinton spokesman Jay Carson told Politico.
That’s where Clinton reportedly told the assembled clerics, at the depth of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, that he had "repented."

The only reason I can see that this was even picked up by the MSM and the Bigger Blogs, is because of an effort by the Conservative Bloggers to make ALL Democrats look like hatemongers.

Nice try guys, anyone with a half a brain is going to know that Presidents often meet and are photographed with many people. This picture, as it says above, was snapped during the Clinton Monica scandal.

Of course, we are dealing with Desperate Conservatives aren’t we? Could it be that they are totally scared out of their minds, that a LIBERAL might take the white house back and they will lose those tax breaks, that they received from the alcoholic, coke headed, village idiot, in the White House? ~~Who’s having extra-martial sex with Coni Rice!~~

Horrors! Rolling Eyes

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Obama's church published Hamas terror manifesto

Now, I wonder if this here will make the headlines?

The Story: Obama church published Hamas terror manifesto (Via WorldNetDaily.com)

Sen. Barack Obama’s Chicago church reprinted a manifesto by Hamas that defended terrorism as legitimate resistance, refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist and compared the terror group’s official charter – which calls for the murder of Jews – to America’s Declaration of Independence.
The Hamas piece was published on the "Pastor’s Page" of the Trinity United Church of Christ newsletter reserved for Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose anti-American, anti-Israel remarks landed Obama in hot water, prompting the presidential candidate to deliver a major race speech earlier this week.
Hamas, responsible for scores of shootings, suicide bombings and rocket launchings against civilian population centers, is listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.
The revelation follows a recent WND article quoting Israeli security officials who expressed "concern" about Robert Malley, an adviser to Obama who has advocated negotiations with Hamas and providing international assistance to the terrorist group.
In his July 22, 2007, church bulletin, Wright reprinted an article by Mousa Abu Marzook, identified in the newsletter as a "deputy of the political bureau of Hamas." A photo image of the newsletter was captured and posted today by the business blog BizzyBlog. The Hamas piece was first published by the Los Angeles Times, garnering the newspaper much criticism.

This is an interesting story, it says much about Obama’s Pastor. I have noted that Obama’s Church is a member of the very liberal United Church of Christ.

The information on Obama’s Pastor continues to flow, like an open tap. I will stay on top of this.

Hopefully someone else in the Blogging World will start bringing this up as well.

If Obama is a terrorist sympathizer, what does that say about the man?

I also wonder, was he there, when this was published?

I think the Democratic Party really needs to revaluate whether or not they want this man in there or not. I mean, this could be seriously disastrous for this party.

Others: The Strata-Sphere, Sadly, No!, Gateway Pundit and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS(via Memeorandum)

McCain Aide suspended for promoting Anti-Obama Video

This is interesting…..

The Story: McCain Aide Suspended for promoting Anti-Obama video on Twitter (via Politico.com)

An aide to John McCain was suspended from the campaign today for blasting out an inflammatory video that raises questions about Barack Obama’s patriotism.
Soren Dayton, who works in McCain’s political department, sent out the YouTube link of "Is Obama Wright?" on twitter at 12:31 today with the tag, "Good video on Obama and Wright." It has since been taken down.
Twitter is an online device that allows users to send out short messages and links en masse through computers or PDAs.

As this article goes on to say, The Video was produced by none other than Lee Habeeb, a former producer of, none other than one of the worst Conservative talk show hosts, ~~and suspected closet lesbian and One boobed freak,~~ Laura Ingraham.

I mean, I am no fan of Obama, really, but to try and paint him as a Marxist? That is a stretch. A big one, if I do say so myself.

I am glad that McCain is, at least, trying to keep his campaign above the noise and nonsense of the "Michael Savage" crowd in the Conservative Party.

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Obama Passport-Gate

This new Obama story that will bury the Rev. Wright Scandal.

The Story: 2 fired over Obama passport breach (msnbc.com)

Quote:

Two contract employees of the State Department were fired and a third person was disciplined for inappropriately looking at Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s passport file.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the department itself detected the instances of "imprudent curiosity," which occurred separately on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14. He would not release the names of those who were fired and disciplined.
"We believe this was out of imprudent curiosity, so we are taking steps to reassure ourselves that that is, in fact, the case," McCormack said.

This was Keith Olbermann’s Lead story tonight and I believe he dedicated the rest of his show to it. As did Dan Abrams.

I have been reading around and listening to the coverage. People are comparing this to the 1992 breeching of President Clinton’s passport records, of which, I must confess, I knew nothing of.

There has also been, already, comparisons to Watergate. Which I think is a bit of a stretch, if you ask me. Although, I believe before it is over, someone will be charged over this or at least will be publicly shamed.

This will be an interesting story to follow.

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Obama: Wright controversy has ’shaken me up’

Hmmmm….

The Story: Obama: Wright controversy has ’shaken me up’ (via CNN.com)

Barack Obama told CNN Wednesday the recent uproar over his former pastor’s sermons has reminded him of the odds he faces in winning the White House.
"In some ways this, this controversy has actually shaken me up a little bit and gotten me back into remembering that the odds of me getting elected have always been lower than than some of the other conventional candidates," the Illinois senator told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an exclusive one-on-one interview.

There’s a song there… I was thinking:

Seriously? I would guess so, the magic or varnish has finally been wiped off and people are seeing the real Obama. Anyhow, Maybe it will wise Obama up and he’ll run things a bit more careful and get into more specifics of just how he intends to change this Nation, and how he’s going to be any different than Clinton.

Others: : TPM Election Central, The Page and The Fact Hub (via Memeornadum)

Obama's lead shrinks, McCain Does quite nicely….

Believe it or not, this is not a big surprise

Story: Obama’s lead over Clinton narrows: Reuters poll (Via Reuters)

Quote:

Democrat Barack Obama’s big national lead over Hillary Clinton has all but evaporated in the U.S. presidential race, and both Democrats trail Republican John McCain, according a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
The poll showed Obama had only a statistically insignificant lead of 47 percent to 44 percent over Clinton, down sharply from a 14 point edge he held over her in February when he was riding the tide of 10 straight victories.
Illinois Sen. Obama, who would be America’s first black president, has been buffeted by attacks in recent weeks from New York Sen. Clinton over his fitness to serve as commander-in-chief and by a tempest over racially charged sermons given by his Chicago preacher.
The poll showed Arizona Sen. McCain, who has clinched the Republican presidential nomination, is benefiting from the lengthy campaign battle between Obama and Clinton, who are now battling to win Pennsylvania on April 22.
McCain leads 46 percent to 40 percent in a hypothetical matchup against Obama in the November presidential election, according to the poll.

One thing to note here, this is a short term loss, I highly doubt that this little flare up is going to cost Obama the Nomination, the next Primary vote is like 5 weeks away in PA. So, I highly doubt that Obama will sustain any lasting damage. Once this Rev. Wright story finally leaves the News cycle, his numbers will return to normal.

McCain on the other seems to be benefiting from this dust up, the cameras and the attention is off of him for the time being. I can imagine he is quite happy about this. Many people are predicting that many independents will flock to McCain because they see Obama is too extremist.

Well, Sorry, I disagree, Any person who has looked at how Bush has totally screwed this country up, over the last 6 years. How Bush turned the 9/11 attacks as a excuse to invade a country that had NOTHING to do with the attacks at all. How much Bush and his Administration totally mangled the handling of the war, I highly doubt that these people are going to flock to McCain. Because too many people see McCain as a continuation of Bush.

Quite frankly, and I address this to MSM, I do not think that the Independents, like me, are quite that stupid. I know that I, and many others that I know, are not.

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Memo to the G.O.P.: Step Lightly Folks….

The question is…. Will it work?

The Story: GOP sees Rev. Wright as pathway to victory (Via Politico.com)

Quote:

For months, Republican party officials have watched with increasing trepidation as Barack Obama has shattered fundraising records, packed arena after arena with shrieking fans and pulled in significant Republican and independent votes.
Now, with the emergence of the notorious video showing the Rev. Jeremiah Wright damning the country, criticizing Israel, faulting U.S. policy for the Sept. 11 attacks and generally lashing out against white America, GOP strategists believe they’ve finally found an antidote to Obamamania.

In their view, the inflammatory sermons by Obama’s pastor offer the party a pathway to victory if Obama emerges as the Democratic nominee. Not only will the video clips enable some elements of the party to define him as unpatriotic, they will also serve as a powerful motivating force for the conservative base.

The G.O.P. has indeed been looking for some ammo to use against Obama.

The real question is, will it work? At first blush, one would say "yes, absolutely!” However, thinking about it more, it could come back to haunt the G.O.P, some Liberal 527 group could come along and attempt to paint an attack of that sort as a racial attack against Obama and try to paint the G.O.P. as utterly racist.

If I were the G.O.P., I would be very, very, very, careful in how I approached this, because handled the wrong way, could and possibly would, come back to haunt the G.O.P, in November and would only serve to strengthen the Democrats and Obama’s Campaign.

So, as the title of this entry says… Step Lightly folks, or it could backfire on you.

Just a thought.

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Playbook TV from Politico

Here’s today’s edition of Playbook TV from Politico.com, while I attempt to wake up, read my e-mails, and generally figure out what the heck I want to Blog about…

Obama's Speech

Here is the Video, a link to the transcript and my personal reaction.

Here it is:

Transcript is available at TPM Election Central

Okay here is my official reaction. I watched the entire speech. At first, I thought, "Oh Boy, here he goes into his regular talking points." However, as I continued to watch, he began to discuss the current situation, and I feel he addressed them as best he could, given the situation that he is in.

I am however, quite dismayed of the reaction among the conservatives within the Blogging community. They are just downright dismissive, and that, frankly bothers me, how is it, that the party that was, during it's formative years, the party of Anti-Slavery, is dismissive of a man, who is in one of the most unique of circumstances? How can they be so vile and hateful towards a man, that is doing his utter damnedest to calm down a situation, that was not of his own doing, you know who you are, You are Bastards! All of you! You should hang your God-forsaken heads in shame! You are doing absolutely nothing to further the discourse of the discussion of this election, instead, you are retreating to the cowardly corners of your Political Ideologies. May the Almighty God be your Judge! Again, I say, you ALL know who you are!

Anyhow, that's my reaction, I like it, I did feel, however, that he could have went a bit further, however, one must realize, that he is walking a tightrope, between not alienating himself from the black community, all elements of it, and not alienating the rest of America as well. It is not an easy thing to do.

Hopefully, this speech will quell the nonsense within the media. At least it is a start on Obama's part.

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Too Little….Too Late….

Sorry say it. But………………..

The Story: Obama plans major race speech tomorrow (Via Politico.com)

Barack Obama will give a major speech on "the larger issue of race in this campaign," he told reporters in Monaca, PA just now.
He was pressed there, as he has been at recent appearances, on statements by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright.
"I am going to be talking about not just Reverend Wright, but the larger issue of race in this campaign," he said.
He added that he would "talk about how some of these issues are perceived from within the black church issue for example," he said.
He also briefly defended Wright from the image that has come through in a handful of repeatedly televised clips from recent Wright sermons.
"The caricature that’s being painted of him is not accurate," he said.
The speech could offer Obama an opportunity to move past the controversy over his pastor, and to turn the conversation to a topic he’d rather focus on: his Christian faith. But the speech also guarantees that the Wright story will continue to dominate political headlines.
Mitt Romney’s attempt directly to address his Mormonism last year never decisively put the issue to rest for some voters.

Obama’s schedule puts him in Philadelphia tomorrow.

Sorry to say it, But I think that it is basically too little, too late. The damage is done. He may try and distance himself from his Pastor, But the fact remains, But Jeremiah Wright is his Pastor.

Judging from the polls, his popularity is gone.

Should have thought about that preacher thing before running, Barry.

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