Why Vetting is Good: Would You Have Wanted Obama to Deal with the Wright Issue in OCT?

[JCMach1]

Would have wanted that McCain attack add in October?

Regardless of where this ends-up, it's a good thing it is out now.

[Drunken Irishman]

1. It looks like the only issue is here on DU.

I mean, FOX discussed it last night, GMA this morning, but nothing on any news stations today.

Seems to me the issue has blown over.

[wndycty]

2. But like Josh Marshall said HRC actions have legitimized attacks like that. . .

. . .that might have been easier to dismiss.

[cottonseed]

40. I'm pretty torn on this one.

To some degree it's nice to take a look at these attacks early (they'll come along later too), but on the other, I agree that HRC legitimizing it is a bad thing. We could have made a case against the Republicans being scum of the earth and willing to bow to anything to win, but now that it is the central campaign theme of the Clinton's that's out the window.

[angie_love]

3. I'm glad its out now. I wouldn't want this out in October.

[wileedog]

4. Its been out since January

It has no legs except here.

[Drunken Irishman]

8. EXACTLY!

These comments have been out there since January and they're not getting any play outside of a few minutes here and there. This story is NOT dominating the news like it is DU.

People need to get offline and into the real world.

[JCMach1]

13. It will be viral in 24hrs...

It's headed there now...

[andym]

17. A very interesting sequence of similar attacks

One attack opens the door for the next.

Interesting how this series of attacks with a racial flavor occurred just after the MS primary (and before the PA).
If the attacks are successful they would blunt momentum from MS, and appeal to elements of a historically racially polarized PA electorate.

Chance or planned?

[Drunken Irishman]

22. It's been out there for almost 24 hours.

Even FOX, who originally broke the story, isn't discussing Wright.

It's headed nowhere.

[scheming daemons]

12. It only jumped up in rhetoric in the past 24 hours because the Clinton folks need to change the ....

...subject.

Everything in this story I heard on Hannity weeks ago.

[Iceburg]

30. Out since Jan on Fox perhaps. Maybe we ALL should be watching FOXTV

since the rest of the MSM has failed to do any vetting.

You know the MSM has failed when you know more about Britney Spears then one of the presidential candidates.

[Drachasor]

5. Clinton making the attacks divides the party

If McCain made the attacks, the party would unite around Barack Obama. There's a huge difference with how this plays out. An insider making attacks is going to be more effective as sowing discord.

[lapfog_1]

6. That seems to be the excuse for acting like a republican now - n/t

[scheming daemons]

7. I don't disagree with the OP....

Always better to have the RW talking points out early.... so we can address them.


Where I disagree is.... I think Obama handled it... and will continue handling it... just fine.

[JCMach1]

11. Too early in the news-cycle to know that...

We shall see.

[Cha]

9. Yeah, it's so much worse than hilary endorsing mccain.

[scheming daemons]

10. Actually... maybe OBAMA wants this out now... with 5+ weeks until the next round of voting....

... there is plenty of time to diffuse it and make it a very NON issue by the time the next voting takes place.



It wouldn't surprise me at all if this is pre-emptive by the Obama campaign.... they know this is going to be used... and what better time than when you have almost 6 weeks to deal with it before anybody votes?

[DJ13]

14. I agree, so wheres Clinton's tax records?

Huh?

[BigDDem]

19. They ran off with BO's state senate records

havent you heard?

[Drachasor]

26. What do you mean by that? his Senate voting record is out there

[BigDDem]

38. Great! Please provide link

[Drachasor]

42. Seems to be here (and how could you think it was unavailable when Hillary attacked him on it?)

http://obama.senate.gov/votes/

I am sure there are other places to get it too, I just picked the first promising hit in my search.

[BigDDem]

44. Did you read my post...

state senate records. He doesnt know where they are.

[Drachasor]

46. There was no content to your post, and I asked about voting records

Looking up State Senate record info, seems to indicate he didn't keep records (he didn't have the finances to do it). That's far different from not knowing where they are. This is a non-issue.

[BigDDem]

50. "he didnt keep records"

oh, ok then

:rofl:

[Drachasor]

51. You know that you are talking about things like correspondances to the thousands of letters he got?

I don't think it is unlikely he didn't keep records. He wasn't making much money at the time, afaik, and keeping records on those sorts of thing is undoubtedly expensive and time consuming. To me there is nothing suspicious about it. Given that you have to go back to his State Senate career, it seems likely he has released records from his current term.

Now if you could come back and show me that most or almost all state senators of Illinois do keep records, then you'd have something. Lacking that, there's really not much reason to thing there is anything strange going on. This is in stark contrast to Clinton's tax records (and the large amounts of money they've gained since Bill Clinton left the White House). Those records are easily obtained and were definitely kept.

[TwilightGardener]

15. I honestly don't think most Americans, even white Americans, are

concerned with Obama's firebrand pastor. All it does is counteract the Muslim smear. He can't belong to a black Christian church and secretly be a Muslim at the same time.

[movonne]

32. That's a good one...

[Iceburg]

45. LOL ... "firebrand" ...now there's an understatement /nt

[enki23]

16. that's not "vetting." it's hobbling.

mccain would arguably had a much harder time attacking black churches in the MSM, had Hillary not started that ball rolling now, by another democrat. racism is a touchy topic for republicans, somewhat like "patriotism" is for democrats. a democratic 527 would have a much harder time attacking mccain by a swift-boat style hit than a republican group would. but mccain can now attack on the racial front with almost total abandon, as hillary is the one who started it.

hillary may yet end up succeeding in her scorched-earth bullshit, damaging the democratic frontrunner so badly that sufficient numbers superdelegates will feel they need to overturn even a substantial delegate advantage. of course, no matter what happens now, we will have a badly damaged candidate to run against mccain in the general. thanks for that should be addressed to hillary. whether her fans fucking like that or not. cognitive dissonance, however, is a powerful determinant of human behavior. i don't imagine she or most of her fans will feel the well-earned shame over her actions anytime soon.

[JCMach1]

18. Don't jump to the conclusion this is Hillary...

please note, I don't discount that possibility at present either.


However, the Church of Christ stuff was put out by FOX, Hannity and the righ-wing cabal et al initially. ABC seems to have just picked-up where they left off by examining Wright's DVD's and TAPES which you can buy over the net.

IT's the video that's the big problem. If people had only 'read' about what an idiot Wright is, the might discount it as hearsay. However, this is coming straight from the source.

First Spitzer and now this... sometimes the information age can bite you in the rear!

[enki23]

25. i don't mean to imply hillary is forcing the MSM to cover this particular story

i mean, rather, that hillary's campaign has repeatedly brought up the issue of race. by now, the odds of it all being accidental are pretty remote. she has done more than push a single news story. she has used the issue to, as mark penn might put it, draw a "contrast" between herself and the black man she's running against. they have pushed the racial story from nearly the beginning, and now we are seeing the fruits of their labor.

[JCMach1]

29. Race has been a subtext played by both campaigns unfortunately

I posted my displeasure about both of them recently...

In that sense it is true. The atmosphere was primed for this to go viral on Obama.

I don't take any pleasure in saying that... and, would even imagine most Obama's supporters are scratching their heads and thinking 20 years of this idiot...???

The one tiny silver lining is that this will have run its course by Fall. However, it may do very serious damage to Obama's candidacy.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

20. I just don't get this logic.

How is it better for your Democratic rival to tar you with the same brush the GOP will, thus giving it more credibility in the minds of the voters?

[JCMach1]

21. See #16, there is no evidence this was Hillary

I won't rule it out completely, but the current evidence doesn't support your view.

[cali]

23. This story has been out there for months

I wrote a thread 2 months ago here, saying that it would be a problem for Obama. I think it is, and will be. That doesn't mean that it's insurmountable.

[JCMach1]

24. Exactly, the only new element here are the videos ABC bought from

the Church...

But, it is a huge difference having the video over just a transcript of something.

[cali]

28. Yep. And there's a reason why this is potentially so bad:

It's just the sort of thing that both scares white America shitless, and reminds them uncomfortably of things they'd rather no face. It's the antithesis of how Obama has presented himself.

[JCMach1]

33. Wright is a scary combination of Cynthia McKinney and Farakhan

Scary stuff for white America.

We all know why he uses inflammatory speech, but the tone and content is not meant for a general audience.

[cali]

35. How do you know that?

Seriously. I don't know what his general body of oratory consists of, but I have seen some conciliatory comments he's made. I think saying he's a combination of Farrakhan and Mckinny is a tad overblown.

[JCMach1]

37. Check the ABC Video and then drop by YOUTUBE

I am actually fond of Ms. McKinney... However, she scares the hell out of people...

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4443788&page=1

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jeremiah+wright&search_type=

[ProSense]

27. This isn't vetting, it's rehashing a controvery that has already been put to bed. Think about this:

Is the RW going to attack Obama for being a Muslim while trying to link him to a pastor of a Christian church?

The flawed logic being put forth by some that the RW will jump all over this is just what Republicans try to do: go on fishing expeditions to see what will stick!

It's despicable, but here, today, it's just another distraction from Ferraro's racist comments!

[JCMach1]

31. Ferraro is another idiot... but Obama needs to cut Wright dead NOW

if he wants to salvage this.

I suspect he will try to deflect this by bringing up Ferraro instead and perhaps joke about it again.

[ProSense]

36. You are demanding he denounce him again, but just to give you an idea of how stupid this is

Why does anyone give a shit what Obama’s minister thinks? Seriously? Why does anyone care what Hagee (McCain’s gay-bashing BFF) thinks? They are religious leaders. Who cares what they think- they are paid to peddle mythology to the masses, so who cares what sort of nonsense they spout? Is singing “god hates America” any crazier than telling people if they refuse to follow the wishes of an unknowable, invisible, unverifiable yet presumably omnipotent deity (as documented a couple thousand years ago by people who saw things in the desert after days without water) they will be damned to a fiery eternity in hell. That hell, of course, is conveniently located AFTER you die, so we can’t prove anything about that fiction, either.

So really. Who gives a shit what Obama’s minister thinks? He is just another bullshit artist.

And I know, I know, I am going to go to hell for writing this. Whatever.

link

This is a former Bush supporter.

[JCMach1]

41. It does matter, last time I checked Hagee wasn't officially part of the McCain campaign

...But Wright also has a formal role on the campaign.

Wright is a member of Obama's African American Religious Leadership Committee — the sort of largely honorary, advisory body that in recent days has recently been used mostly to throw people off who say controversial things.

The Obama campaign couldn't immediately say whether he'd remain on the committee... http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Wrights_committee.html

[ProSense]

43. Why are you ignoring the facts? McCain praised Hagee in the middle of the controversy. n/t

[SeaLyons]

34. I support Hillary

but it pains me to see Obama getting a free pass on issues that could harm our party.

[NastyRiffraff]

39. Hey, no problem!! Obama can overcome ANYTHING!

He's Superman, Jesus Christ, and Houdini all in one slick, good-looking package!

Oh yeah: :sarcasm:

[jackson_dem]

47. He apparently has no real defense

Obama will likely be a general election disaster. Can you imagine any other presidential candidate being reckless and arrogant enough to have a racist pastor? What happened to the vaunted Obama judgment?

[sueragingroz]

48. agreed

[B2G]

49. It's only a good thing

if he renounces Wright's views.

I support him, but I can't abide the association.