Wright: US the same as Al-Qaeda, knew about Pearl Harbor, channels Sister Souljah

[jackson_dem]

Among the highlights from "hundreds of hours of tape" the msm has (and presumably also the RNC has, especially since Fox has it along with ABC) that have not hit the media yet:

--Wright says the US knew about Pearl Harbor and lied.
--Sister Souljah anyone? He talks about black men fighting black men and says they are fighting the wrong enemy with the right enemy being a the "US of KKKA".
--What the US is doing is the same thing Al-Qaeda is doing

Yeah, Obama always "happened" to not be in attendance each time he made such remarks over a two decade period. Moreover Obama's mentor never said anything like this in private to him over two decades. :sarcasm:

This is a long video and much of the footage of Wright includes has stuff that we have already heard. The three things I mentioned are new. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XisU0YXJK-Q

[bluestateguy]

1. Would you like to talk about the economy and health care and Iraq now?

Would anyone? Any takers?

"Hey! How DARE you interrupt this tabloid story with issues"

[GoldieAZ49]

57. I don't know, do you have McCain's plan on those issues?

maybe you can enlighten us so we have a heads up on what is heading our way in January.

[Mooney]

2. "Wright says the US knew about Pearl Harbor and lied"

I've actually heard this a number of times, in a bunch of different places. It's not a popular theory and it's not the prevailing wisdom, but it's not Unabomber Manifesto-level paranoid ravings either.

[democrattotheend]

12. I've heard that too

Don't know if I believe it or not, but it's not completely outside the realm of possibility

[Mooney]

16. That's about how I see it too.

The US government does creepy shit at its citizens' expense all the time.

[spag68]

17. there is a difference between Knew and knew.

[Mooney]

28. Not really. n/t

[rodeodance]

44. good try. you failed.

[jackson_dem]

19. Walk into work and say that and see what reaction you get

[Mooney]

25. I've discussed it with people before.

In fact, that's how I originally heard it. Someone said it to me... in public! Gasp! Horrors!

What reaction do you think I'll get if I say it at work? Will someone break a chair over my back?

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

51. I see that your talking points are posted at Rush Limbaugh's website

spend alot of time over there, or is this a coinkie dink?

But then, Bill did go on Limpballs show on TX and OH election day.

ARE YOU PROUD OF YOURSELF? EH CLINTONISTAS?



THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE BECOME.

[Eric J in MN]

42. Yes, it's a debate among respected historians whether the US govt....

...knew that the Pearl Harbor attack was coming.

It's not radical to say yes or no about that.

[yardwork]

58. There's quite a bit of evidence that FDR expected the attack and encouraged it.

FDR wanted to get the U.S. into WWII. Congress said no. Then Pearl Harbor happened. FDR did a lot of sabre-rattling beforehand - the Japanese, by some accounts, expected the U.S. to attack them and so bombed Pearl Harbor as a preemptive strike (like what we did in Iraq?).

This is nothing new. Military historians have been talking about this for decades.

[anonymous171]

3. Hey guess what, Obama's mom is white.

A lot of these things people here agree with so...

[Kittycat]

7. Shhh - don't spoil the surprise.

[jackson_dem]

8. The blogosphere isn't the real world

Only in the blogosphere would Wright be a hero. In the real world he is toxic.

Few folks know that because Obama isn't running as a biracial candidate. Ever see an article talking about him possibly being the first biracial candidate? Moreover Obama himself in his first book admitted to being angry at his mother's race so the mother argument won't help him much.

[theredpen]

11. Yes, this isn't the real world.

In the real world, someone would have already stuffed a sock in your mouth and wrapped you in duct tape. :P

Everyone knows that Obama is bi-racial. Rush Limbaugh wouldn't stop with his "halfrican" quips for weeks.

[jackson_dem]

13. Says who? Because we political junkies know it?

Does it even matter? Two of the three statements don't have to do with race. They go to the "Obama hates America" campaign the rethugs will run against Obama.

[theredpen]

24. Rev. Wright hates America

They've been trying to "Obama hates America" theme for months now. It's not working.

[jackson_dem]

35. His unfavorable rating has tripled over the past year in the Gallup poll

And this was before pastorgate, NAFTAgate, and long before the general election begins in earnest in September.

[theredpen]

38. Link?

[GoldieAZ49]

63. here are a few

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=398

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/pennsylvania/pennsylvania_2008_presidential_election

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/42_want_mccain_to_answer_3_00_a_m_phone_call

[theredpen]

66. Okaaay.... when you quote a Gallup poll and I ask for a link...

...I'm looking for a link to a Gallup poll.

Also, none of these say anything about Obama's negatives.

[Pharaoh]

4. There is Truth

in all of that.
Especially if you are black living under your former slave owners.

[tabatha]

5. I am sure Obama heard lots of controversial stuff.

but not goddamn the USA.

US is doing worse than Al-Qaeda.
When did Al-Qaeda ruin a country like the US has ruined Iraq?

There are many whites who think the US knew about Pearl Harbor.
Try googling.

[jackson_dem]

9. How out of touch with reality are supporters of Obama?

Are you fucking serious? Go to work tomorrow and say FDR let Pearl Harbor happen and that the US is the same as Al-Qaeda and see the reaction...Our party is being taken down the tubes by folks who don't understand they represent a tiny sliver of the population.

[theredpen]

14. Yes, jackson_dem, we know that the country is viciously racist...

...but we intend to overcome, not cower.

It's called courage.

[jackson_dem]

20. By nominating someone who endorsed a racist nutjob for two decades?

And has run the most racist presidential campaign since Reagan in 1980? :eyes:

[theredpen]

22. Rev. Wright is not a racist

People keep saying he's a racist, but there is no evidence that he is. The quotes floating around are incendiary, but nowhere does he advocate violence against whites or claim that white people are not people or any other racist statement.

He does say that America is run by a white elite power structure that doesn't care about the issues facing blacks and that is entirely true.

[spag68]

31. The black trumpet player

he was a racist guess Ike Turner was a racist,too.For every black racist there are twenty KKK racists out there lurking.

[rodeodance]

50. its called reverse racism.

[seriousstan]

10. What? Was he in the bathroom during those rants? When did the Minister become daft?

He was not talking like this 10,15,20 years ago? Was he the pastor when Obama joined?

[theredpen]

18. Wright preached for 30 years

We have no evidence that his sermons were like this very often. In fact, we have http://youtube.com/watch?v=ioaChVw_pUw">evidence to the contrary.

[seriousstan]

23. No bias there whatsoever. Impossible. Thanks.

[theredpen]

27. What are you talking about?

I'm talking about actual facts. Do you have any?

[seriousstan]

30. OK, so your position is he developed this belief recently? What is the date of the HIV video?

Or the U S of KKK A video?

I don't believe these are recently developed themes in the right Rev. Wright's repertoire.

[theredpen]

34. My position is that Wright's sermons rarely ventured into these topics

You don't have any evidence that these clips represent Wright's typical sermon, do you?

[seriousstan]

36. And neither do you.

[theredpen]

37. I have statements from several people

They may be self-serving statements, but you have NOTHING.

[seriousstan]

41. Weak as water.

Wait till you see what the Rep. throw his way. This will look like Little League.

[theredpen]

48. I can wait

There are a zillion (approximate number) right wing bloggers scouring every recording of Rev. Wright, looking to be the guy who breaks the story that takes down Obama.

With the speed at which dedicated bloggers find things, the internet should be awash with unforgivable examples. But it's not. We have a short clip and a few other statements, most of which aren't particularly outrageous.

The conceit that there is some secret stash of "really embarrassing" stuff that the Republicans are keeping "for later" is ludicrous.

[rodeodance]

46. OP has the press. media. YOU GOT NOTHING

[theredpen]

49. Huh?

What the hell are you talking about?

[Metric System]

59. Seriously, you're praising Al-Qaeda over the US?!? I hate that jingoitistic, ultra-patriotic, Tobey

Keith crap too, but even I think giving a more favorable assessment of Al-Qaeda than the US is pushing it. You'd never hear Obama saying something like this. He's not stupid.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[better tomorrow]

15. I wonder about Pearl Harbor, too, and here is the link for you to...

read and decide.....the ships were all lined up in a row.....

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/pearl_harbor.htm

[jackson_dem]

21. Good luck selling Obama on the "US of KKKa is evil and FDR was behind Pearl Harbor" platform

Unreal. Obama supporters would probably tell Salman Rushdie that he could get elected in Saudi Arabia.

[seriousstan]

26. If he keeps his mouth shut.

[texas_indy]

33. Wow, what a surprise. That is how the Navies of all the countries dock

their ships in their home ports, even today. Hey, check out the local Air Base of any country and you'll see the a/c all lined up in a row. Check the Army and Marine, active, reserve and guard depots and you'll find all their equipment lined up in rows too.

Take a harbor trip through San Diego bay and see how the USN has their ships docked there, and their a/c lined up on the runway. Think they are being setup for another sneak attack? They use the same exact spots for the ships year after year after year.

The ships on 12/7/41 were in the same spots they had been assigned for years!

[izzybeans]

29. Ironic you choose Jackson as your username, that's for sure.

[Straight Shooter]

32. United States of Ku Klux Klan of America ..... is that what Wright implied?

(I can't watch the video because my connection is too slow tonight.)

All white Americans are members of the Klan, is that it? And we're the same as AQ, for all intents and purposes? Hooboy! This is going to go over just dandy in rural America. Not!

[jackson_dem]

39. Yes and netroots Obamites think because they agree with it middle America will too

:scared:

[Straight Shooter]

40. Amazing, isn't it?

I'm really at a loss for words over the al Qaeda comparison. Last night I had dinner with friends, and one of them was still wearing his "honor 9/11" pin. He's a very smart guy, decent, hardworking, never had a nasty thing to say about anybody in his entire life.

Wright is racist, and a conspiracy nut, but he enthralled Obama for 20 years. No, middle America is not going to be at ease with this. It's time for Obama to charm them again. :eyes:

[malik flavors]

43. Didn't presidential candidate Ron Paul say the exact same thing?

I don't see what so shocking about that. Some of his other statements, sure, but not that one.

[rodeodance]

47. hey R.Paul~~ oops no one cares

[Straight Shooter]

55. Ron Paul was blasted as a racist on a lot of Internet forums and blogs.

He's also widely regarded as a kook. Just because he says some things that are lauded outside of the mainstream, doesn't make him a good candidate. What was his overall support? 3 percent? 5 percent?

I wonder how many members of Rev. Wright's church despise the Clintons, thanks to his diatribes. The Clintons might as well have done nothing for minorities, if this is the reaction they get, to be reviled in such a manner.

[rodeodance]

45. k and r

[Emit]

52. That's a piece of crap video

And what was the final comment supposed to mean?

"Does Anyone remember the DC SNIPER STORY?

CRAZED MADMAN AND HIS YOUNG APPRENTICE!"

[WinkyDink]

53. So---not only are some supporters of Obama disdainful of Bill C.; they're also now going to call FDR

a TRAITOR?????

[GoldieAZ49]

54. Unbelievable video

what a fucking idiot. And his church is worried about his reputation??

This is Obama's mentor, unbelievable

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

56. The US knew a Japanese attack was imminent, and expected it in the Philippines.

or some of the British colonies.

Pearl Harbor itself was, however, a genuine surprise... we didn't think that level of coordinated over-the-horizon carrier attack was feasible, given the distances involved.

We were wrong. In 1941 the Japanese were a LOT more sophisticated about carrier warfare than we were.

Everyone at Pearl knew war with Japan was imminent. They just thought they were out of range.

[Hoof Hearted]

60. That would play just great with the Indy's in November. Guess Obama was in the boys room

for every racist, lunatic remark his mentor made for 20 FUCKING YEARS.

[PerfectSage]

61. Wright says the US knew about Pearl Harbor and lied.

When I was in high school I read every book on ww2. The Japanese diplomatic code had been cracked. They knew an attack was coming but not where. They expected the Philipines not Pearl Harbour? Eventually the Japanese naval codes were cracked which set up the trap at Midway. That's just common military history knowledge.

The German enigma machines were way harder to crack than japanese codes.

[Swamp Rat]

62. PLOP!

[sudopod]

64. LOL I'VE NEVER SEEN THIS SORT OF POST BEFORE

It's like never ending trail of tears to fail.

Andy would be proud! :p

Senator Clinton shouldn't have to defend herself on account of tools posting stuff like this OP.

Senator Obama shouldn't have to vet everyone he's been friends with for the last five decades.

[Peace Patriot]

65. I spent 20 years in a Church that considers women unfit to be priests because we

don't have a prick. The hatred and prejudice against women was pervasive, and DOCTRINAL--dictated from Rome, Church LAW. Does that make me unfit for public office? Does it make John Kerry unfit for office, that he currently belongs to that same Church? Should women not vote for Kerry or other church-going Catholic politicians, because the priests of that Church are pricks and regard women as second-class citizens, and proclaim this as the word of God?

This is a ridiculous issue. Obama isn't responsible for what his preacher says--and what his preacher said is obviously being taken out of context, with deliberate misunderstanding.

We should be defending Obama, in a progressive forum, not buying into this fascist corporate media hysteria. Good grief!

Black Americans have good reason to hate whites, and it has always been amazing to me how few of them actually do. White Americans enslaved their ancestors, and routinely lynched, and beat, and raped them, and denied them human rights--not to mention civil rights--for hundreds of years, into the 1960s! And we're not rid of this horrible prejudice, bigotry and exploitation even today. For God's sake look at what happened during Katrina--poor black citizens left to die and rot in the flood! A few blacks have made it in this cruel economy, but most have not. That is the worst legacy of slavery and all those decades of hatred and repression--a permanent poor black underclass, excessively high rates of imprisonment and unemployment, inferior schools, inferior public services, black neighborhoods used as toxic waste dumps--with economic class, in which blacks are severely disadvantaged, now being an even more important factor than race in the lack of upward mobility and lack of hope for millions of Americans.

But there is a difference between hatred and anger. And what I see, in this controversy, is a deliberate blindness to that crucial difference.

As for the U.S. being as bad as Al Qaeda, I agree with Rev. Wright. But I would have said "Bush/U.S." is as bad as Al Qaeda, cuz I don't recognize the United States that Bush is president of. How many innocent people has Bush/U.S. slaughtered? ONE POINT TWO MILLION! How many orphans has Bush/U.S. created? FIVE MILLION! I could go on--millions of wounded, millions of refugees, and GRAND THEFT OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF AID MONEY, meant to alleviate some of this suffering and rebuild their country--stolen by unaccountable corporate pals of Bush/Cheney!

Now you tell me how many innocent people Al Qaeda has killed in the same period? It is peanuts compared to Bush/U.S. And shall we talk about the thousands that Bush/U.S. has tortured?

I'm no fan of Al Qaeda--whoever they are, this murky group that the lying bastards in the White House ORIGINALLY CREATED AND FUNDED AND ARMED in Afghanistan. I despise whoever killed the 3,000 people on 9/11. What a despicable and cowardly and heinous act! Or any other attacks on civilians. But there is nothing more mind-bogglingly despicable and cowardly and heinous than the "shock and awe" bombing of Baghdad, slaughtering 100,000 people on one night! FOR NO REASON! TO GET THEIR OIL!

So, tell it, Rev. Wright! It's the truth! And it's time we, in whose name this atrocity was committed, acknowledge the reality and magnitude of it. It is comparable to the crime of slavery itself. It was a racist and genocidal crime.

It is the obligation of people of conscience to condemn it, and to bring its perpetrators to justice. And our politicians should be saying this, not just our preachers.

As for Rev. Wright's "God damn America," consider this quote by one of the greatest writers and thinkers of the 20th Century:

"I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice. I don't want just any greatness for it, particularly a greatness born of blood and falsehood. I want to keep it alive by keeping justice alive. --Albert Camus ("Resistance, Rebellion and Death")

When you contemplate the body of a child blown to bits by U.S. bombs, it could cause you to be less articulate than Camus, and to simply burst forth with "God damn America," not because you really want your country to suffer harm, but because you are so bitterly, bitterly disappointed, and cannot reconcile its highest laws and ideals with what has been done to the innocent under the same flag.

It is not a politic statement. But it is heartfelt. And are we to go on with this phony politics that pretends that 1.2 million people did not die horrible deaths because of the greed of the people who rule over us, whom we can't control?

And is this not what a preacher is supposed to do--challenge us fundamentally, on moral ground, when we are too tepid and afraid to speak the truth, and to act against horrible injustice?

I'm glad Obama goes to a Church where the preacher speaks his mind--however it may sound to our lily white ears. If nothing else, it would give Obama UNDERSTANDING of oppression, and the harsh language that it sometimes must use, to express the depth of frustration and bitter disappointment that people feel. I feel it myself--bitter disappointment in my country, that we could ever have let criminals like Bush and Cheney take us over, and commit such horrors. It raises Obama in my estimation--that he could hear his spiritual adviser's despair, and come forth with a message of hope. But that is not to say that OBAMA is responsible for what his preacher says. That is the height of unfairness. It denies him an independent mind--just as NOT voting for John Kerry because he attends Catholic Church would be unfair and insulting--as if Kerry couldn't sort out his own position on women's rights from his misogynist Church.