It seems he passed the test.

It was bad enough that not enough high profile Democrats would go out and throw Wright under the bus.- Jerome Armstrong

What an asshole.

1)Hillary Clinton stating that she would have left that pastor rings as hollow as her lies about Bosnia and NAFTA.  It also points out how instrumental all her private assoications are.....if they are not politically advantageous to her, she will dump them.

2) Obama is unique in American politics.  He is speaking about a politics of experience, and making all American experience meaningful to all Americans.  Any rational human being should be able to understand why African Americans experience of America isn't the same as that of the class of Americans that the Bush's come from.  But both are American experience and are equally meaningful in who we are.  He is attempting to go beyond the politics of distraction, whether it's flag burning, gay marriage, race as theater like the OJ trial, illegal immigration, etc.  None of these distracting issues solve the problems America faces.  Getting one's panties in a bunch over these issues actually prevents anything from getting done, which is precisely why the ruling class in America keeps coming up with them.

All Progressives need to become ardent supporters of the Second, as well as the , First Amendment

Let's face it, Obama could be white, middle-aged, never smoked, drank, done drugs, bought real estate from a shady guy, never engaged in homosexual acts, never had sex with anyone but his wife and they'd STILL find a way to personally smear him.  If they can Swift Boat John Kerry they can trump up something against anyone, period.

Here's a question for Clinton supporters: what in the world was Clinton doing sitting down with Richard freaking Scaife's paper doing an interview?  The guy is practically the king of the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy and he has to personally fund that piece of crap rag the Tribune out of his own pocket to keep it from going bankrupt.  Why in the world would she feel the need to do an interview with him?

Pax

Night and day you can find me Flogging the Simian

Here's my feeble offering from yesterday in a comment to Fabooj:

I've had, and continue to have "issues" with church, but I STILL go back to my home church when we go home. Not every time, but we do.

It's my husband's home church, too. I was baptized there. It offered one of my first platforms for public speaking. I sang there. Ushered there. Received scholarships there. We were married there.

Whatever my own personal issues with religion in my life, there are too many people there who were my role models, folks who helped "raise" me, who supported me, encouraged me... I love them. You just don't walk away from that.

Ironically, it's this whole mess that has me thinking of going back. If I join a progressive, non "blab it and grab it" place that I don't have to agree with everything that's said. I miss the community, and I miss the service to others, though I also have other outlets for community service, too.

And of course, you will be nurtured and supported when you are attacked by stupid people who've never had your best interests at heart.

Can't hear ya, Peach!

The charges that have been leveled at Wright and Trinity are simply false, in my view. And although I'm more than willing to defend Wright, another way of understanding the charges against him is to examine the roots of those attitudes.

Here's an interesting article on the subject of Civil war era attitudes in the church, with excepts following.

http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-7299529/Slavery-s-champions-stood-at.html

     "-Southern clergymen played a prominent role in developing a coherent defense of slavery prior to the Civil War. Under an intensifying assault from Northern antislavery forces, Southern ministers proclaimed that slavery was no sin, but a divine institution ordained by God as the foundation of a Christian society. Proslavery Christians merged a literalist interpretation of the Bible with a paternalistic ideal of the master-slave relationship to create a conservative vision of Southern slavery."

Some of you may recognize the similarity of this attitude to what George Lakoff calls the "strict father" model.

http://www.wwcd.org/issues/Lakoff.html

In fact, one of things Christopher A. Luse explains in the article is that representatives of the Southern church, such as Reverend James Henley Thornwell, found scientific support for slavery objectionable, largely because of the emerging scientific belief that slaves were genetically different beings.

     "-He assaulted the 'science, falsely so-called' that defended slavery by making 'the slave a different kind of being from his master.' Thornwell denounced those "who defend slavery upon the plea that the African is not of the same stock with ourselves..."

Thornwell saw slavery as an institution supported by biblical beliefs, thus scientific support for the idea was unnecessary and even interfered with the biblical justification for slavery.

Luse also dismisses the notion that representatives of the church acted as mere apologists for slavery. Supporters of slavery weren't simply attempting to reduce cognitive dissonance because of the guilt they felt.

     "-Proslavery advocates saw slavery as defining the social relations of the whole South, reinforcing tradition, authority, religious orthodoxy, and political stability. In contrast, they denounced the North as the home of dangerous 'isms' such as abolitionism, spiritualism, and socialism. They portrayed Northern 'Free Society' as disordered, immoral, and corrupt."

I could go on, but I trust that you will recognize the similarity between some current attitudes and those that justified slavery.

"..the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. .. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked.." - Goering

I tend to see issues backwards, in general, but I'll toss in some more anyway from a complementary (I hope) direction.  Not only did the Clinton campaign spit on such an important institution (btw it was a force of resistance against slavery as well), the reasons were just WRONG in so many ways.

I respect people for sitting/bending/kneeling down to pray with people they don't agree with.  I've had the great pleasure of attending some Muslim holiday services, and lots of my family is Christian... I figure, if we can't pray together here, how can we tell 'em to stop fighting over there?  Or something.

Congregations that bring together people who do not all vote the same way are probably stronger and truer to their values than ultra-homogeneous ones.  So if my junior senator wants to pray with right-wing people, on the face of it, hooray for her.  

On the other hand, if she wants to drag some clergymen through the mud for obviously calculating reasons, then the former activities prob'ly don't reflect some kind of broadminded ecumenism (??) on her part, do they?

The comparison of Rev. Wright's rather brilliant trope (building the G-d bless America? - no, G-d d-mn America contrast) with pottymouth Imus showed more truth about Sen. Clinton's values (if I can call them that) than she may have intended to reveal.

Imus attacked individual students, and no it was not brilliant.  I teach undergrads right now, and they're adults, sure, but they're also kids, and the ones that play varsity sports at a Div I school like Rutgers are pretty d-mn hardworking dedicated kids.  Nowhere did Wright trash someone else's kids, identifiable by name, on public broadcast.

Wright mentioned some truths -- with interpretations I might not 100% agree with, sure -- but I dunno, I get disgusted with my countrymen when so many people can't listen to basic truths about ongoing inequality from Stevie Wonder or Grandmaster Flash w/o a fit of the vapors.  Then we more-privileged folks are all stunned when NWA says the same thing a bit more bluntly.

Sorry, I'm ranting, and anyone who read all of this and got anything out of it, G-d bless you.  

I used to be merely disappointed by HRC; now I'm ashamed of her, and there are many more important things for the country to work on than her "issues"...  C'mon Philly...