I am utterly amazed at how seemingly uninformed or intentionally ignorant many people are with respect to the Reverend Wright’s ministry. For some forty years, he encouraged, exhorted, and tried to instill and keep up the hopes and aspirations of his members. The members get it. Detractors don’t.

As Captain Bligh must have done, Reverend Wright found himself facing the same sort of challenges. Imagine preaching tithing on Sundays and finding on Mondays his members inordinately fired. Decade after decade he tried to preach upbeat sermons, while knowing that his members were among those, who made up 13.8 percent of the nation’s population but possessed only a miserly and static 3 percent of their nation’s wealth. This huge gap in wealth ownership represents an economic black hole from which few can escape. With such conditions, how frustrating it must be to see and hear many of those, who are the direct beneficiaries of such economic disparity, state that the playing field is even and in extreme cases, uneven against them.

This is 2008. How do you deal with the fact that some 12% of Pennsylvania’s voters stated that they wouldn’t vote for a black candidate? Isn’t this un-godly, reprehensible, despicable and un-American? The entire nation is ignoring it!! Why? And we are saying that ministers in the land should also keep silent?

Continuing, he saw more and more of his members profiled, prosecuted, jailed and deprived of the vote by a justice system now doing that, which the poll tax used to do. He saw a GOP go from being a party of integrity to one selling its soul to the devil in order to get elected appoint judges who would, even today, have no problem upholding the Dred Scott decision.

His sermons, no doubt, at times reflected his observations and anguish. Yet, his members understood their minister. They joined the military, attended colleges, made the daily commute to work contributing to GNP, and paying taxes, portions of which are sent annually to support Israel. This reflects the success of his ministry. People a doing book reports without reading.

On the other hand let’s look at the hell hole that the good ole boys have us in, in Iraq. No one can escape except our allies! A mere hand full of fighters have fought us to a standstill. Still, after five years General Petraeus has stated any gains are tentative and reversible!! There are the gates of hell that have been thrown open in the process killing probably hundreds of thousands and displaced millions and destroyed a country that never attacked us. They are sticking the tax payers with what will surely eventually turn out to be a bill of some three trillion dollars.

What damage has Reverend Wright preaching caused? There is no report other than the fact that his members are just Americans, as good as any. As a matter of fact, we had better take another look at what he has prophesized. Things are not looking good in the Middle East at all.

Finally, Reverend Wright’s messages reflected his extreme anguish and frustrations. It is dishonest to look at only the part and not the whole. That this country produced a Barack Obama, all sincere Americans should be justly proud. I am.

More than ever before, the world is watching to see how American deals with this election. What a recruiting tool to hand to our enemies if it turns out that we have not come as far as we would have the world believe. And, we show it by cannibalizing one of our own.

Then you must add Senator Obama to the list of the "uninformed or intentionally ignorant" since he so forcefully denounced Wright.

He saw a GOP go from being a party of integrity to one selling its soul to the devil in order to get elected appoint judges who would, even today, have no problem upholding the Dred Scott decision.

yeah after we all know Clarence Thomas wants to enslave blacks, oh wait he is black.

interesting post yet that half-paragraph I could use to fertilize my yard.

if it walks like a duck..........no amount of spin will clean this one...

To BigSky-

I would be interested to know if you feel Reverend Wright did or did not do a disservice to Obama by making his speeches and acting like a mean-spirited idiot for all the world to see?? While many people may not understand him, what do you think he meant to accomplish by diminishing Obama and attempting to derail his nomination? Wright certainly did nothing to HELP people understand him - other than to pound in his most inflammatory views - such has his HIV theory, etc.- thus eliminating any chance that Obama could defend him.

I, too, am proud that Obama is a candidate and believe he will be our next president - with no help from Reverend Wright. Personally, I hope he crawls under a rock and stays there. I wonder what his congregation thought of his antics? In one stroke, he managed to cause more damage to Obama than anyone else could have. He ought to be ashamed of himself!

What makes you think Wright intended to derail Obama? He has every right of a free American to seize his 15 minutes of fame. If that conflicts with Obama's run for office, so be it.

Obama tried to tell the nation in his first speech that he and Rev. Wright are not the same person. Apparently people didn't listen. No one is hostage to their relatives, friends, pastors, or teachers.

This entire Rev. Wright issue is a non-issue. From now on we must hold all nominees accountable for their childhood friend's nose-picking, cousin's alcoholism, or pastor's words.

I'll bet we all know someone who we love dearly and disagree with vehemently. This has gone far enough. It's time it ended.

What a lovely, in depth and sappy defense for Pastor Wright. He must feel just awful for the downtrodden blacks while he luxuriates in the lifestyle of the rich and famous. The man is just another shill using religion to make himself obscenely wealthy. He found out what these people wanted to hear and pounded it home while passing the plate. He is an embarrassment to his race, a travesty to Christianity and absolutely no friend to Obama. But the relationship Obama held for this con man is very telling. Who was using whom for 20 years? It doens't matter to the good Pastor. After all the Obama's did pay for at least one of his $1000.00 suits.

I am utterly amazed at how clueless, naïve, and gullible many people on the left are with respect to Wright’s ministry. Calling him reverend would be giving him far more respect than he deserves. For some forty years he has spewed his angry, violent, hateful, racist, and ignorant beliefs from his pulpit all under the cloak of his version of Christianity. Anyone that has even a basic understanding of the teachings of true Christianity will know that he has added he own personal twists to the Word. He has spent his time fanning the flames of un-American anger, hatred, racism, depression, oppression, murder, and civil war. His members get his message because they agree with him (including Obama) while his detractors see the truth and have the guts to speak out against it. If you aren’t angry with him then you have not been paying attention.

It is incredibly interesting that you would compare Wright to Captain Bligh considering that Bligh was a cruel and abusive tyrant that worked his men to death until they finally had enough and mutinied.

Wright was no different from many preachers in poor neighborhoods that found many of their flock constantly losing jobs. The difference is in how they chose to approach the situation. Most of the preachers do what they can to lift their congregation up and motivate them. In contrast Wright has encouraged their anger and hatred. After all, if you cant find work or you get fired for poor work performance then it must be whitey’s fault.

There are many reasons why the black population makes up 13.8% of the nation’s population, but only possesses 3% of the nation’s wealth. Having a proper education and the motivation and willingness to do the work necessary to succeed leads to just that, success. If you are not willing to get up every morning, go to school, learn what you can, and then carry that on to doing the same thing at work then you will not make it. You will go through life making far less than you could have. If you start committing crimes because they money is quicker then eventually you will get caught and go to prison. However, if you find an honest job that pays less you will start building a resume that will lead to better paying jobs in the future. Crime is quick, but it has no base to build on and the risks of getting caught are too high. Doing it the right way through hard work gives you that base that you and your children can build on. The difference been many black families and the rest of us is that they do not build a base while we do. We have generation after generation of people willing and ready to do the work necessary in order to succeed not just in the here and now, but into the future as well. Blacks that do this are the ones that succeed. As more and more of them work hard you will find more and more successful black families. They have the same abilities as the rest of us, but they will only make it if they work at it. If you are a drug dealer, pimp, ho, hustler, professional thief, or thug then you are failures and your time will eventually run out.

I fully support paying for the physically, mentally, and emotionally disabled, those with children, or those that cant find work. If they are able to work then I want them to receive the training to find and keep a job so that we can reduce or eliminate their need of social services. If they can work and refuse to follow the program then they should be terminated from the program. A man or woman that is physically, mentally, and emotionally able to work and refuses to do so does not deserve the right to eat.

“This is 2008. How do you deal with the fact that some 12% of Pennsylvania’s voters stated that they wouldn’t vote for a black candidate? Isn’t this un-godly, reprehensible, despicable and un-American? The entire nation is ignoring it!! Why? And we are saying that ministers in the land should also keep silent? “

We deal with it because while mean spirited, ignorant, and hateful they have the right to say whatever they want. This falls under free speech and the fact that you and I don’t like it means absolutely nothing. They have just as much right to express themselves as you and I do. If you wish for them to close their mouths then we would have to close yours as well.

It is reprehensible and despicable, but it’s not un-godly or un-American since it has nothing to do with God and it falls under free speech. The majority of the nation is ignoring this because they are well aware that these people are within their rights. The difference between what these people have said and what Wright has said is that they’re just saying whom they will or will not vote for while Wright is spreading and encouraging hatred of others. There is a huge difference between expressing your own racism and calling others to commit violence as Wright has done. In addition, as a pastor Wright is in a position of authority while the people in Pennsylvania are average everyday people.

Racial profiling is a very useful and necessary tool of law enforcement. Whether you like it or not, law enforcement has used it effectively since the very first civilizations. If you are a member of law enforcement then you are well aware that different races commit different crimes and so you look for that type of behavior. This isn’t racism as all races commit crime, but because of social and cultural differences we do commit different crimes. Law enforcement would be negligent in their job if they ignored this tool. This is not to say that I believe that they’re perfect. Far from it, in fact I have a severe dislike for the cops and what they call the justice system. I do not support or approve of harassing people based on race. As an Asian American and a little person (4’9”) I have been stopped many times for no reason. Often they wonder if I can drive properly or if I have permission from my parents to drive their car. But for the most part it works.

If you commit a crime then you should be prosecuted and if it calls for it then you should be jailed or imprisoned. I do not support denying anyone the right to vote simply because they’ve committed a felony or are on probation/parole.

The GOP is still the party of integrity. Even at it’s very worst it has always been better than the Democratic Party. While the Dred Scott case was a low point in American justice, you have no way of knowing how the current judges (I’m assuming you mean the supreme court) would vote on that case if brought to them today. Such a statement is every bit as racist as you believe they are.

I have no doubt that Wright’s sermons at times reflected his observations and anguish. This is to be expected. What is not expected is the ignorant, hateful, and racist way he approached it. Again, his members understood him because they share his beliefs. Many of them did join the military, but for the paycheck and benefits rather than in any love for their country. They did what they could in order to survive, like anyone. Those that did so legally will have created a base on which to build on while those that didn’t will eventually crash and burn. If they share Wright’s beliefs then they will blame Whitey again.

We as a nation support Israel because she is our greatest ally. Without Israeli money we would not have been able to fund our Revolutionary War and things would have turned out very differently.

Btw, How do you do a book report without reading the book?

“Good ole boys” is a racist sentiment. Congratulations. A mere handful of fighters have fought as hard as they can, but they’re still overmatched and are killed by our soldiers at a fantastic rate. To say that they’ve fought us to a standstill underlines a severe lack of understanding and information of what is truly happening on your part. If you truly knew what was going on you would never say that because you would know better. General Petraeus is a competent commander. If he says that it is too soon to tell then he means exactly that.

Hundreds of thousands of the enemy have been killed and millions have been displaced. In case you’re unaware, one of the primary goals of going to war is to kill the enemy. The enemy murders the majority of the civilians that are killed. We are not responsible for who the enemy decides to murder. The fact that Iraq never attacked us directly is immaterial and irrelevant. Saddam needed to be removed from power and the known terrorists that he was harboring and funding needed to be eliminated. We needed a beachfront in the Middle East and that made Iraq the perfect target. If you knew anything of strategy you would know this. The taxpayers are supposed to pay for any war debt. More than likely I will pay a larger percentage than you will anyway.

The damage that Wright has caused is the spread and festering of anger, hatred, racism, and depression. If you wanted a race war it is men like him that would start it. His members are just Americans, but if they share his hatred and racism then they’re every bit as evil as any KKK member or Black Panther.

If part of what someone says is evil then it taints their whole message. Some of the things that Hitler, Stalin, and Mao said were good as well, but the evil things they said will forever mark them as evil.

That this country produced a Barack Obama reveals that we still have a long way to go and that we must fight this evil, vile, racist, hatred as passionately as we can. I believe that all sincere Americans should be ashamed of him, his wife, his pastor, and many of his friends. I know I am.

The world is indeed watching to see how we deal with our election. Our enemies are hoping we elect a weak kneed and limp wristed liberal and our allies are hoping we elect a strong willed and moral conservative. McCain is far from perfect, but he is the only qualified candidate running this election.

Cassandra

I believe that he did this because he and his advisors could see that enough Americans could see Wright’s anger, hatred, and racism that continuing to accept his support would hurt Obama’s chances. I’m sure that he felt that he simply had to cut ties with the man.

Cassandra

Indeed, but I believe that the whole post would make great fertilizer.

Cassandra

Seeing ducks could just mean that you need to wash your glasses more often, or maybe start wearing them. If something is true then there is no spin cycle required.

Cassandra

And I'm utterly amazed that you can regurgitate such limitless tripe. Same old, same old whine from you. Get some new material.

Wright only causes damages to those who are obsessed with him as you are. You're almost pathological.

I believe that Wright simply underlined his positions as well as what many of us think of him. I’m rather surprised that you believe that the fruit of this poisoned tree could be healthy. What exactly is it about Obama that you are proud of? I’ve yet to see anything about him worthy of respect. I believe that if he is our next president that we are in a world of hurt and if he loses then we will have dodged a bullet much like we did in 2000 and 2004.

Cassandra

Wright supported Obama and he accepted that until it became clear that continuing to accept Wright’s endorsement would hurt his chances. He did the right thing by rejecting Wright’s continued support and denied that he agrees with Wright’s positions. Feeling betrayed, Wright publicly humiliated Obama and called him a liar. I believe that Wright intended to derail Obama out of spite and anger and I believe this based on his actions.

While Obama and Wright are not the same person, Obama is fruit from that poisoned tree and should be judged accordingly. Wright was (and probably still is behind closed doors) his spiritual adviser for many years. Nobody in their right mind would stay in a church with such outrageous beliefs unless they shared them. It is only logical to assume that Obama secretly feels the same way that Wright does. We listen just fine, but most of us have the ability to recognize a lie when we hear it. It is true that nobody is hostage to his or her relatives, friends, pastors, or teachers. We can’t choose our relatives, but we do choose our friends, pastors, and teachers. If they knowingly keep company with criminals, racists, subversives, dissidents, and traitors then it is only natural to assume they share their views on life.

You may feel comfortable being friends with these types of people (an assumption based on what you said), but I do not. The issue with Wright is an extremely important and relevant one. If you attempt to get your 15 minutes of fame at the expense of someone else then you were never truly thier friend since real friends would never do that to each other.

Cassandra

If what I am saying is true then it cannot qualify as tripe. Your limited response only reveals that you’re not sure what to say. When you have nothing to offer then just insult the person’s intelligence right? That is a classic liberal tactic. Bravo!

I’m not obsessed with the man. I just have the ability to recognize something when it is important and Obama’s association with this man is extremely important. Wouldn’t you feel that a candidates association with a White Supremacist be important? This isn’t much different.

I’m analytical rather than pathological. There is a huge difference.

Btw, tripe isn't kosher.

Cassandra