And the stupid jerk still keeps a fool like Penn as a key strategist, pays the MF'r $10-13 million, and doesn't dump him, contrary to all outside advice, until he virtually blows her campaign message to Kingdom Come.

Oh yeah. Experience. That's the ticket alright.

20+ years listening to the Wacked Pastor spewing pseudo-theology and black supremacist conspiracies and he objects (mildly) only when the media draws attention to it.

Oh, yeah. Integrity. That's the ticket.

Richmond:

20+ years listening to the Wacked Pastor spewing pseudo-theology and black supremacist conspiracies and he objects (mildly) only when the media draws attention to it.

Oh, yeah. Integrity. That's the ticket.

Yeah, keep pushing the pastor bullshit. It suits you. You assholes came up with what? 30-60 seconds of offensive comments out of 30 years and you think people give a shit? Only idiots who get their information from talk radio, which means people who wouldn't vote for Obama anyway.

So keep dreaming.

Richmond, Nice move--don't repsond or defend your candidate's poor judgment (the hallmark of her campaign)--just bring up Wright. I doubt you can grasp it, but, that's why she's losing.

Hillary may want to blame Penn for her disasterous campaign strategy, but she really only has herself to blame. Afterall, she is the one who picked and stuck with this loser. One could think of him as her own "Rummy", though "Brownie" may be a more apt comparison. Such a display of bad judgement indicates she is poorly qualified to meet the challenges facing the next president. It is better we discover her shortcomings now.

Obama 08

The problem is that Obama could have nipped it in the bud. At the time he announced his candidacy several months ago Obama had invited Rev. Wright to join him at the podium. Suddenly the invitation was rescinded. Obama could have made a frank statement. But he chose to keep the matter secret. He knew that there was a problem here. This shows lack of candor and political expediency. His argument is that the Reverend is retired and so the issue is moot.

I am continually amazed by those who assign guilt by association and more importantly, without fully researching or understanding the facts.

I have never heard Obama make racially offensive statements and I haven’t read anywhere that anyone else has either. I make it a practice to base my opinion of people based on what the person says and does themselves rather than how the person’s enemies chose to define the person.

An easy way to look at this rationale is to put yourself in anyone of the candidates’ place. Would you expect others to judge you by something your friends, family, or neighbors said or believe; or would you expect that you would be judged by your own deeds?

I am giving my vote (which is very precious to me) to a candidate based on what the candidate says and does.

I have to admit that the campaign surrogates and the pundits are mildly entertaining but entertainment is where their influence ends.

Obama's ex-pastor, while having a record as a solid American citizen, does espouse some radical extremist views.

This issue was the big secret weapon to use against Obama. The Clinton campaign took their shot with the Rev. Wright issue. It has proved to be less than deadly. It will be a footnote in the history of this campaign.

Those who will not vote for Obama based on this issue wouldn't have voted for him anyway, simply because he is black. They don't appear to make up a significant proportion of the electorate. Frankly, I am surprised by this. I thought that America still harbored too much latent racism for Obama to succeed.

Obama either believes the crap the Wacked Pastor made his career off of, and he won't admit it OR Obama doesn't believe it and he attended the church for other reasons, e.g., to develop a political base.

Richmond - You're missing the point of this thread.

Hillary's selling out of the trade unions, through Mark Penn, has nothing to do with Rev. Wright. You can keep your shorts in a bunch, but the jobs are going if Hillary has anything to do with it. Her and Bill are invested with Ron Burkle. That money isn't invested in plants in PA (or Ohio, but that elections over). Penn, as chief strategist, knows everything there is to know about the Clintons. There is no way he could have been conducting business with the Colombians and Bill and Hillary not being aware.

Oh, and Hillary didn't really fire Penn. He is still with them and I presume still being paid. They just changed his title.

Don't worry though, Hillary still needs your money. Please send it as soon as possible. She is behind in paying her campaign vendors and this one guy, Mark Penn in particular, really is pushing to get paid. And ask any of your union friends to also contribute. Hillary needs their money before they lose their jobs. We have to help our friends in Brazil and Colombia, and what better way than to ship a few jobs down there.

Richmond:

Obama either believes the crap the Wacked Pastor made his career off of, and he won't admit it OR Obama doesn't believe it and he attended the church for other reasons, e.g., to develop a political base.

Or, how about this: Rev. Wright is, 99% of the time, a decent, passionate pastor of the Gospel. Occasionally, he, like me an others, lets the cruelty and illegalities of our nation get to him and he spouts off with words that are quite politically incorrect. In the course of any impassioned plea or sermon, it is hardly atypical to use the term "America" to refer as shorthand to the "gov't of America", or the ruling class, or that portion of America that one is objecting to.

Political incorrectness is the last thing a bunch of rednecks ought to get their panties wadded over. Second, we all have to give room to each other to say things that, out of context and selectively edited, seem out there-- that's just normal.

Rev. Wright is nothing except a mirror. You see in him what you want to see, not what is objectively there. The very fact that he is all the anti-Obama folks have to rail about is the best sign that Obama is one of the least objectionable candidates we've ever seen.

You're own fixation on a non-issue is the best indicator thus far that Obama will be unstoppable.

I'd recommend going over doodahman's reply to your earlier post in this thread; there was something insightful in there that clearly still hasn't registered.

And how about how the capaign of HRC officially pissed off a foreign country?. That does not instill confidence in HRC's ability to deploy policy.

perhaps a Clinton supporter will be able to answer the question- why does a candidate with 35 years of experience need to pay somebody $13MM for political advice. I would have thought with that much experience you would be getting paid for giving advice not paying somebody. Is it possible that after 35 years Hillary Clinton still doesn't know who she is and needs to pay somebody to help her position appropriately. The image of blind person playing golf comes to mind- they need somebody to help align them to the target.

doodahman:

Or, how about this: Rev. Wright is, 99% of the time, a decent, passionate pastor of the Gospel. Occasionally, he, like me an others, lets the cruelty and illegalities of our nation get to him and he spouts off with words that are quite politically incorrect. In the course of any impassioned plea or sermon, it is hardly atypical to use the term "America" to refer as shorthand to the "gov't of America", or the ruling class, or that portion of America that one is objecting to.

Political incorrectness is the last thing a bunch of rednecks ought to get their panties wadded over. Second, we all have to give room to each other to say things that, out of context and selectively edited, seem out there-- that's just normal.

Rev. Wright is nothing except a mirror. You see in him what you want to see, not what is objectively there. The very fact that he is all the anti-Obama folks have to rail about is the best sign that Obama is one of the least objectionable candidates we've ever seen.

You're own fixation on a non-issue is the best indicator thus far that Obama will be unstoppable.

Very well said. You could find questionable speech from any public person (Pastor, Priest, Pope or Politician) who has every comment recorded. But do you just find a few soundbites, or a history of action? In the case of Wright, the few sound bites do not put question in my mind. His words were no stronger then the words spoken by MLK, who in a moment of anger said some very unkind things about the country. His words were no stronger then those Dobson or Falwell often shared. Time to move on to a new issue.