A journalistic reality about Obama's campaign going forward

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

Listening to the top creepy republicans (Tony Blankley, Ari Fleischer) doing live reaction to Obama's FOX interview about Pastor Wright.

Blankley said, "Senator Obama put his candidacy on the line in that interview by denying that he ever heard or knew about these controversial comments. It's a factual claim."

What Blankley said isn't literally true... it would not be disqualifying to prove Obama knew about some comment or another he hasn't specifically referred to. That's the sort of petty inaccuracy all politicians are caught in every day.

But something implied in Blankley's comment is very bad.

Implicit in "I never heard anything controversial in any sermon I heard" is, "every word I heard was uncontroversial."

Logical next step for the media is to match up sermons with Obama church attendance, and then confront Obama with one line or another from sermons he heard with, "So to you this is not controversial." Not a probing of truthfulness so much as a constant probing of the meaning of "controversial"

Wright is a colorful speaker. There's no way he NEVER said anything controversial when Barack was in church. Not "God Damn America" controversial, but bad enough for "gotcha journalism" controversial.

That is how the game is played.

Tim Russert stuff.

[Catch22Dem]

1. "Logical next step for the media is to match up sermons with Obama church attendance"

jesus h christ

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

2. That's what they do! Petty gotcha stuff... lists of names and dates.

TV journalists don't do big picture stories. They do tiny-fact cheap private detective type stories.

[anigbrowl]

16. You should send them your resume

This sort of stuff seems to be your forte already. If you're as concerned about the Democratic part and the country as you claim, it's your duty to volunteer.

[ruggerson]

24. Kurt is a great contributor here

both financially and otherwise.

You owe him an apology, but from what I've seen of your posts, I don't expect one to be forthcoming.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

33. No skin off my nose... my iggie sense is excellent and I miss all the good vitriol now

Sometimes the whole board is "ignored", with replies to ignored like "Are you fucking nuts?" I've gotten over wondering what I'm missing.

Every time someone calls out a monstrous post, I click on it and can't see it.

And I have plenty of Hill Shills on ignore too, so some threads are raging battles between the iggie set.

[laugle]

36. Kudos to you!

I'm glad you mentioned "contributes finacially," I've never noticed so many people with no stars after there name! Hey pony-up 10 bucks.........I suspect they are just here temporarily to cause trouble!

[ruggerson]

38. they're also

chronically the most divisive

[KoKo]

49. ...

[laugle]

50. You've got that

right....this place is turning into a sewer..........

[kerry-is-my-prez]

31. I guess we'll find out soon enough....

n/t

[K Gardner]

3. I hate to see what has happened to you. Very sad.

[Nitrogenica]

4. I agree, however, I think those who buy into their crap has shrunk considerably.

ANd everyone is sick to death of negative bullshit.

It's the economy, stupid.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Occam Bandage]

8. "That was VERY revealing about what transpires in black churches."

I hope you enjoyed your stay.

[uponit7771]

10. The preacher had been preaching for 30 years!!! You think he heard EVERY word!?!? He even confronted

...Wright before his announcement!!!

[cbayer]

14. That is a pretty apalling thing for your to say.

And VERY revealing about you.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

19. Agreed. As the OP, I feel guilty by mere association!

[Pirate Smile]

22. You must denounce, reject and disavow but I still think you are responsible just because.

;-)

[cbayer]

26. Doesn't reflect on you at all.

Your piece is really good and I think you are one of the most thoughtful posters around here. Both of you.

[theboss]

30. I think you must immediately renounce this poster and fire him from your campaign committees

Thank you.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[theboss]

29. Whatever are we to do about these Negroes?

Why...it's almost like they have resentment towards white people.

And after all we did to - I mean - for them?

[JoFerret]

48. I personally have done nothing

to "them:.

That said - I do realize I am the recipient of unearned privilege.

As a result, I work toward social justice not for continued inequity and bigotry. It's why I am a democrat.

[Occam Bandage]

6. About *these* comments. If they find something crazy that he said when Barack was in church,

Barack says, "yes, I'm aware of that, and I disagree with that. He and I have had our disagreements, and I've never suggested otherwise."

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

12. I'm only posting about the media tonight.

I was touched by Obama's FOX interview. He is obviously not comfortable lying or throwing a man he loves under the bus. When he said things that were not literally true he was visibly conflicted.

Those are both wonderful traits I would value highly in a friend.

I hope they are not too much of a handicap in a candidate.

(I have always conceded that Barack Obama is a better human being than Hillary Clinton.)

[greyghost]

20. Really? Know them personally? Please elaborate.

[Frances]

7. Better now than later that this comes out

I hope Obama can come out on top of this.

If it sticks, it hurts both him and Hillary because the general public just sees Democrat, not Obama. Plus, until Obama came along all the racists hated Bill and Hillary more than any other public figures.

[greyghost]

23. Right! How the fuck does it hurt Hillary? Obama's church, Obama's

pastor, case closed.

[Frances]

46. Obama-Dem; Hillary-Dem

Plus "everyone" knows that Bill and Hillary supported Civil Rights when supporting Civil Rights was the kiss of death in the South

Scandals that touch Hillary also tar Obama

The majority of voters are thinking Dem vs Repub not Hillary vs Obama

I keep telling you folks that McCain is the enemy, not Hillary, not Obama

[blm]

9. OOOH....and I'll bet if we had REAL journalists they would have noted some tme ago

that Clintons protect Bushes.

That Clintons received MILLIONS from Jackson Stephens as their careers were bankrolled by the man who BROUGHT the BCCI bank to this country for GHWBush.

That BCCI matters were NOTICEABLY DROPPED throughout the 90s and ended up blowing back on this country on Sept 11, 2001.

Democrats should all follow the Clintons lead and only get involved with BushInc's illegal operations or sell your services for the longterm protection of BushInc. You cam always guarantee THOSE will never be a focus of the media.

[laugle]

37. Hey BLM, time to

change the narrative: Why not ask the current candidates what they would do to the current administration, and their criminal acts, if they take the WH?

Please don't bury me in paper, I'm leaving soon..........tired.......

[Enrique]

11. I think people will see Obama as being very different from Wright

Obama has never spoken as radically as those excerpts from Wright. Wright is just a figure in the community that Obama was involved in politically. Obama is associated with Wright, but he's very different from him.

[Usrename]

13. The problem is, what Blankley said isn't what I heard Obama say.

I distinctly heard on KO where Obama said Wright has always been conroversial and yet well-respected.

Sounds to me like Blankley is trying to spin what Obama said. He said he wasn't there when the clips were taped.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

17. Sounded like a fact denial in the FOX interview. I didn't see the MSNBC version.

But I was watching it live, so I'm relying on short-term memory.

Major Garrett conducted the FOX interview like a deposition (which was weird!), and forced factual "where and when" type statements more than the usual interviewer.

But, again, the fact part isn't the problem so much as an examination of what Obama considers controversial.

That's not an Obama thing... no politician would welcome that line of questioning. It's like, "Go through the bible and underline everything you disagree with"

[Frank Booth]

44. Conducted like a deposition: that was my thought too.

It looked like Obama caught on as well. After about the fourth question when Obama tried to answer and Garrett essentially moved to strike as non-responsive, Obama laughed like he recognized the game. Which he would, of course. Fox seemed to purposely be going for very pointed, specific answers which they could use against him in the future.

[Bake]

47. God I hate to say this, but isn't that what journalists are SUPPOSED to do?

Unlike KO, who lobbed up softballs?

Bake

[femrap]

15. I can't look at Russert...

even reading his name in print makes me ill. I really, really, really want him to have major collagen injections in his non-existent lips. I think I'll send Zucker an email about Timmy as a concerned 'female' viewer. "He's ageing and needs to lose a few pounds. I find my family turning off his show on Sunday morning...even joking about him." LOL.

[KittyWampus]

21. so they have video tape of Obama sitting in the pew listening to any given sermon?

[EFerrari]

25. How can you use Faux to illustrate journalism?

lol

[MojoMojoMojo]

27. How will they know what sermons Obama attended?

But you know its easier just to stop lying.And more admirable.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

34. He's something of a celebrity... I'm sure people notice when he's at services

Even as a state senator he was a known and respected guy in his district.

[oasis]

28. Obama claims that he would've confronted the pastor if he had heard anything distasteful.

Yeah right. He's gonna tell the preacherman what not to say.:eyes:

[HughMoran]

32. It was kind of a "Hillary" moment

I weep for our candidates at this point. They need to get on top of things and stop blaming others and denying obviousness.

[Armstead]

35. Obama said it better and more honestly earlier

It might have been on Countdown or another interview earlier than that.

In any event, Obama acknowledged that Wright was active in Chicago and had always had a tendency to be controversial. He didn't deny that, but he did condemn the specific instances of his over-the-top rhetoric that has been floating around.

That gave Obama wiggle room.

Unfortunately he did not put in that qualifier in his later interviews, so it did come off looking a little bit weasly, and opened himself up to further "investigation" of what did he know and when did he know it?

[McCamy Taylor]

39. All Obama has to do is say "I fall asleep in church a lot."

[Umbram]

40. I'm not sure.

1. Obama said he wasn't there when anything controversial was said.
2. Y was a controversial statement said on date X
3. Obama was in attendance on date X
4. Obama doesn't think that Y is controversial.

I don't think the average couch potato has the attention span to make it all the way to the conclusion.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

42. The average couch potato doesn't know what Tim Russet's talking about half the time either

The Russert types think their job is to get candidates to stumble, blush, trip over their words, etc.

He thinks that is journalism.

But from your lips to God's ears... I am happy to be wrong on this one.

[elixir]

41. This is right on point. Bookmarked. It will not take much effort to turn this into a shitstorm.

[Umbram]

43. The lifetime of this story.

My ponderings on this...

Alright, this is the initial phase of this story. This phase will mostly be a trickling of videos, etc. How long this phase lasts will be dictated by how slow the news cycle is for the next couple days/week.

The bigger problem will be the next phase, should it come to pass, where we are exposed to the "Obama was there when such and such was said." If this happens before phase one dies down, I think Obama will be in deep, deep trouble. He will have been caught in a lie very proximate in time.

If enough time passes between those to phases, I think there will be much more of a "Oh, this stuff again? *change the channel*" effect. Unless there's video of Obama nodding his head to something damning, I don't think this story will have the legs to get BACK UP after gathering some dust.

No - I don't have any clue what I'm talking about!

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

45. I agree that people get tired of stories and zone out

On the other hand, this is Republican "define the candidate" season.

Part of me says better now than October, but then I go back to the definition thing... by October, maybe swing-vote people would have seen enough of Obama that they would have a personal sense that Wright's comments are not what Obama is about. So maybe this definition phase is the worst time.

They started in on Kerry in the Spring, because the swiftboats were not bombshell revelations of fact, they were more just painting Kerry as somehow shady and unpatriotic before most Americans had a sense of him.

May the Republicans realize that with this endless primary season, Obama will be too well known to be defined at will, so they need to do it now.