Fear of a Black President: Haters Look for an Excuse to Dismiss Obama

 
The so-called "very extreme" Jeremiah Wright was a White House guest of the Clintons
The recent coverage of Rev. Jeremiah Wright has often cast him as a marginal, almost fringe figure, but Trinity Church is a major Chicago institution, and Wright has long been a prominent pastor on the American scene.

And an anonymous blog set up to defend his church offers some compelling photographic evidence of this: A photograph of Wright and President Clinton, which it says was taken on September 11, 1998 -- the date of a White House gathering for religious leaders.

[UPDATE: The blog seems to have taken that item down; here's the full image that was posted.]

Hillary Clinton, according to her recently-released schedule for the day, was present at the gathering. Al Gore also appears in the picture.

"In the course of his two terms in office, Bill Clinton met with, corresponded with and took pictures with literally tens of thousands of people," Clinton spokesman Jay Carson told Politico.

That's where Clinton reportedly told the assembled clerics, at the depth of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, that he had "repented."

As CNN reported at the time:

"I have been on quite a journey these last few weeks to get to the end of this, to the rock-bottom truth of where I am," Clinton said in his most emotional and dramatic statement since the affair with Lewinsky became public. "I don't think there is a fancy way to say that I have sinned."

Agreeing with his critics that he was not "contrite" enough during his initial Aug. 17 statement, Clinton said, "It is important to me that everybody who has been hurt know that the sorrow I feel is genuine. First and most important, my family, my friends, my staff, my cabinet, Monica Lewinsky and her family and the American people. I have asked all for their forgiveness."

His comments were the first time the president has publicly apologized to Lewinsky. Clinton went on to describe the journey he has been on during the weeks since his first public admission, saying that he has finally repented.

"I have repented," Clinton said. "I must have God's help to be the person that I want to be. A willingness to give the very forgiveness I seek. A renunciation of the pride and the anger, which cloud judgment, lead people to excuse and compare and to blame and complain."
UPDATE: The New York Times later this evening posted the same photograph, and said it had been provided by the Obama campaign. And here's a screenshot of the photo on the anonymous blog, before it was removed. Curious things, these anonymous blogs. [MORE]

 
Uncle Tom Tells Lies about Obama on CNN
On the March 19 edition of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck, Family Research Council senior fellow and former Ohio secretary of state Ken Blackwell stated of Sen. Barack Obama: "Here is a guy who basically said that, while he was in Reverend [Jeremiah] Wright's church, he embraces [Nation of Islam founder] Louis Farrakhan." In fact, in a February 25 speech, Obama stated that he has been "a consistent denunciator of Louis Farrakhan." Also, during the February 26 Democratic debate in Cleveland, Obama said "You know, I have been very clear in my denunciation of Minister Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments." And in a January 15 statement issued about an award given to Farrakhan by a magazine associated with Wright, Obama said, "I decry racism and anti-Semitism in every form and strongly condemn the anti-Semitic statements made by Minister Farrakhan. I assume that Trumpet Magazine made its own decision to honor Farrakhan based on his efforts to rehabilitate ex-offenders, but it is not a decision with which I agree."

Neither Blackwell nor host Glenn Beck mentioned any of Obama's statements denouncing Farrakhan or his related comments.

From the March 19 edition of CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck:

BECK: Ken, I wanted to have you on because you are a former U.N. ambassador -- U.S. ambassador at the U.N. And you have seen this black liberation philosophy or theology before. Explain. I think this is even more frightening than the stuff that I've already read on television. Explain what you've seen.

BLACKWELL: Well, essentially, liberation theology took root in Africa and Central America. It was often offered up by Marxist regimes that knew that they couldn't uproot the church, so they tried to weaken the doctrine of the church. So it is an alternative doctrine of the church that embraces big government. It advances a collectivist ideal and idea, and it says the state, not the individual, is central to society.

And that is very disquieting. But it also gives you a better understanding of the undergirding of Senator Obama's big-government liberal philosophy that would increase spending, increase taxes, weaken our military and our position in the world.

BECK: I tell you, it explains the comments of his wife. It explains -- you're exactly right, his big-government ideas. If you understand what this theology is, you do begin to understand Barack Obama, but it is in a -- I believe, in a frightening way. However, I'm being labeled the one that's the hate-monger for asking these questions. How is this theology out there and it not be labeled racist and hate-mongering?

BLACKWELL: Well, it's part of a -- it's part of a series of parts. You know, here's a guy who says that he studied the doctrine of Saul Alinsky, who was an anarchist, a radical. Here is a guy who basically said that, while he was in Reverend Wright's church, he embraces Louis Farrakhan.

The fact is that nobody has elevated this beyond his race. He can speak eloquently on race and moving towards a color-blind society, but what he can't speak to is how he got there, going to a color-conscious theology, and how he got there by embracing, I think, a position that was really radical and antithetical to this whole notion of God as being central to our nation and the individual as being primary. [MORE]

 
Racist Rush Limbaugh Revives "Barack the 'Magic Negro'"
RUSH:  Al Sharpton a guest on Fox last night.  Bill Hemmer said, "Reverend Sharpton, you said, in part, 'I'm gonna do whatever I gotta do to help you,' meaning Obama, 'Hillary Clinton's never done nothing for us.'  Do you stand by that?"

SHARPTON:  Well, why don't you read the whole statement?  I said she's never done anything for us as an organization, talking about the National Action Network. The connotation is that I was talking about blacks.  I was speaking to the people at National Action Network over the weekend with all of this controversy.  I think that Senator Clinton certainly can't call on me not to say don't support -- she's never done anything for us. That's the context.

RUSH:  Thank you Reverend Sharpton.  Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of the LA Times column, "Barack the 'Magic Negro.'"  We intended to play this tune in honor, but we forgot it, so here it is now.  Sharpton, sing it.  

(Playing of "Barack the 'Magic Negro'")  

I realize, ladies and gentlemen, that you might think that playing this song at this time will get me into some hot water.  Wrong, my friends.  I am always in hot water.  And do you know why I'm always in hot water?  The Rinnai Tankless Water Heater.  The thing is, I don't always have hot water. I only have hot water when I need it.  I am not wasting a lot of money heating hot water I will never use in one of those antique tanks.  Rinnai has all the hot water you want, when you want it.  It's an amazing technology, and you can see how it works at their website, called ForeverHotWater.com.  If you want to calculate how much money you're going to save, it's really easy to do.  Go to ForeverHotWater.com and for your specific home and space you'll find out how much you can save after installing a Rinnai Tankless Water Heater.  So if you need hot water, but only when you want it, for your dishwasher, four showers at the same time, Rinnai Tankless Water Heater at ForeverHotWater.com. [MORE]