Vastleft at Corrente is an “Obama supporter” (airquotes) who is starting to lose his religion. In Confessions of an Obama Skeptic, he writes:
In Barack Obama, I see a lot to like.
He really is smart. He really is charismatic (even if he’s wearing on me more and more as the campaign goes on). And he really does offer a healthy opportunity to re-imagine what a President of the United States looks like.
Hillary Clinton, too, is smart. She really is charismatic (she’s impressing me more and more as the campaign goes on). And she really does offer a healthy opportunity to re-imagine what a President of the United States looks like.
Oops. I left out one huge differentiator: unlike Hillary, Obama voted against the war.
I know he did, because a Google search on “Obama voted against the war” turns up thousands of citations.
Oh, wait a minute. He didn’t get to the Senate until 2004, and the AUMF vote was on October 11, 2002. Hmm….
There’s more. *sigh* Yes, it’s brilliant. Just go read it and leave us in peace to lick our wounds.
Filed under: Barack Obama | Tagged: Iraq war resolution vote, Obama curiously absent, Vastleft |
The Confluence 
But . . . but . . . .he gave a speech!
He agitated, he marched the streets, he did everything he could to stop the war…well, I mean there was a speech.
Oh, yes, he gave a speech. It’s a good thing we have that on record.
right?
(snort) licking our wounds …
You’re very good, riverdaughter!
No, no, I know when I’ve been bested. I’m just going to go off in a corner and drink my Basil-Hayden’s and reflect on where I’ve gone wrong in my sorry excuse of an unpaid blogging career.
Nobody better touch my bottle.
Obama not only gave a speech, he gave The Speech which magically ended the Iraq War before it even started! We just don’t know it yet! I bet you mere mortals are asking, “What?! How?” Time travel. That’s right. Obama is “Jacob” from the Lost Island! Jealous? Thought so.
He’s currently preparing to unleash the Smoke Monster to finally kill off
critical thinkingcynicism (see: Kos, Americablog, Huffington Post for proof of past successes). Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. Just stop thinking; embrace The Hope.rd, I don’t know if you’ll consider this an effective salve or not but, Confluence already has more visitors than The Booman Tribune.
Brave, brave Obama…to give a speech in your district, which includes the University of Chicago, the Hyde Park mansions (your home and Rezko’s), and depressed sections which Rezko was to have revived with his $100 million gifts from taxpayers and loans.
I bet Ayers and Dohrn were part of the recording crew. I know you forgot your association with them during the last debate, but you launched your campaign for the State Senate at their house. A video of them speaking in 2007 has surfaced, and, no, they definitey are not repentant.
Smokemonster? I’m down!
Will I need a cannabis club card?
The new Wright speech summary at the NAACP gathering in Detroit via diplomatic from Talk Left:
“Jeremiah Wright in his speech:
1) Mocked Massachussetts/Boston accents
(specifically mentioning the Kennedys and not in a flattering way) He followed that up by speaking in a “goofy white person voice” (my term) that some black comedians have employed in the past. example: Imagine Dave Chappelle saying… “Why, hello there mister. It sure is a golly good night for a dance. Let’s jam.”
2. Stereotyped African American brains and learning/behavior “differences”
3. Spoke Arabic, several times (more material for Republican ads)
4. Gave a shout out to the Nation of Islam. (followed by some more arabic speaking…just reporting the facts, folks)
5. Gave a shout out to Roland Martin of CNN.
(after the speech Roland Martin and Soledad O’brien went WAAYYYYYYYYY out of their way to defend, excuse, sugarcoat, and spin what we had just head. A little panicky overcompensation if you ask me)
6) Mentioned that “change is coming” about a million times. He used a wide range of emotions depending on the instance.
What else did people find noteworthy? ”
Oh my gosh, with the words “change is coming” from Wright the GOP can make Obama’s central platform sound ominous and racially charged.
WS, it sounded like he was calling for a return to segregated schools. At least according to what I heard on Point # 2.
Because if all black children are right brained and all left brained children are white (something I’ve never heard anyone else say) and IF you really can’t keep the right brained children from climbing on desks during class, HOW do you teach the two groups together?
It’s obviously impossible.
I always thought right/left brained people was based on personality like if you’re artistic, you’re right brained and if you’re orderly and systematic, you’re left brained (or is it the other way around?)
Kbird: Really? What is Booman Tribune?
After watching his interview with Bill Moyers on Friday (suggesting BO is just saying what he has/needs to “as a politician” ), it’s clear that while Rev. Wright may not be attempting to undermine BO’s candidacy intentionally, he clearly feels slighted by the Senator, to an extent. And as such, seeks to protect himself – his personal and professional “legacy”.
Katiebird: Booman, a lefty with a love for Obama.
riverdaughter, Pat’s right Booman’s a liberal-ish Obama supporter. And he started The BoomanTribune about 3 years ago just in time to be ready for a HUGE influx of visitors as a result of the Pie War at dKos 3 years ago.
Rev. Wright Delivers Fiery Address to NAACP
April 27, 2008 11:28 PM
Speaking in Detroit, at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s 53rd annual “Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner,” Rev. Jeremiah Wright took on his critics even while he spoke of a new, unified day coming.
Addressing a local Republican official who’d called Wright “divisive,” Wright told the welcoming crowd in his keynote address, “I am not one of the most ‘divisive.’ Tell him the word is ‘descriptive.’ I describe the conditions in this country — conditions divide, not my description.”
Wright’s appearance guaranteed more media attention for the former pastor of the Democratic president frontrunner, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, who likely had hoped the issue — and Wright — would go away. In more news that would no doubt trouble Obama, Wright mentioned that he was working on a book.
“I’m not here for political reasons,” Wright said. “I’m not a politician.” He said that might surprise in the crowd of 10,000 since “many in the corporate-owned media have made it seem that I’m running for the Oval Office. I am not running for the Oval Office; I’ve been running for Jesus for a long, long time, and I’m not tired yet.”
Most of Wright’s speech addressed the theme of the dinner, “A Change is Gonna Come,” talking about the differences between different cultures and races, saying “a change is coming because we no longer see others as being deficient…Different doesn’t mean deficient.”
“The black religious tradition is different,” he said in comments that seemed to address the controversy about his sermons. “We do it a different way.”
Wright discussed how different groups have seen other groups as “deficient.” After saying English-speakers saw Arabic-speakers as “being deficient,” Wright mentioned Obama almost as an aside.
“Please run and tell my stuck-on-stupid friends that Arabic is a language — is a language, it is not a religion,” he said. “Barack HUSSEIN Obama,” he said, emphasizing the Illinois senator’s middle name dramatically, “Barack HUSSEIN Obama, Barack HUSSEIN Obama. There are Arabic-speaking Christians, there Arabic-speaking Jews, Arabic-speaking Muslims and Arabic-speaking atheists. Arabic is a language, it is not a religion. Stop trying to scare folks by giving them this Arabic name like it’s some disease.”
The bulk of his remarks addressed, however, different groups seeing each other as deficient. He acted out the differences between marching bands at predominantly black and predominantly white colleges. “Africans have a different meter, and Africans have a different tonality,” he said. Europeans have seven tones, Africans have five. White people clap differently than black people. “Africans and African-Americans are right-brained, subject-oriented in their learning style,” he said. “They have a different way of learning.” And so on.
After jokingly mocking the Boston accents of former Presidents John F. and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., Wright said, “nobody says to a Kennedy, ‘You speak bad English,’ only to a black child was that said.”
Wright said that he believes “a change is going to come, ’cause many of us are committed to change how we see others who are different.”
Earlier in the day, Wright delivered two sermons at the Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, referring to his “public crucifixion,” according to the Houston Chronicle. Wright will address the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Monday morning.
– jpt
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/rev-wright-deli.html
@myiq2xu: Ha! Maybe cannabis explains how many people are so willfully ignorant when it comes to Obama. Or is it Hopeium?
I ran screaming from OpenLeft right before NH when people there considered Clinton simply campaigning on behalf of herself to be an “attack” against Obama.
@WS: I am totally enjoying this. Wright is a godsend to the right wing and Obama just said on FOX “News” that his long-time spiritual mentor is a “legitimate” issue. The genius switch is never “off” with Obama is it?
(applause)
Thanks for the linky, RD. I’m going to be forwarding the Corrente piece to the few reasonable Obama supporters I know…
Aw, shucks, ma’am!
Very nice of you to say, and very much appreciated!
o.k. … I want to put this somewhere, and here is the only place I can figure out to put it . As so me of you know I post on a stock board – that has a ‘few’ political boards on it .. anyway . . this is from a person that I never respond to or anything – he is a racist to the max and especially to Muslims – a real sic person. But – he came up with this right now .. and I thought it was good for a laugh – I know nothing about the website – other than it must sux – but it’s got this stuff on it, from the blogger boyzzzzzzzz & their predictions for the interview with fox today – hysterical – even one from Mother Jones with the links provided – the problem is cept you have to go to this link to get the links .. uh ……..can you tell I am tired ? .. lol
Obama should better be ready for the gotchas coming a mile a minute. He better have quick sound bite answers, becuase [sic] you know Chris Wallace is going to ask another gotcha question before he lets Obama answer the last gotcha question. [Kos]
Fox is interested in only one thing: taking down Obama, and they will literally stoop to anything to do it. Obama is nuts if he thinks he’s going to get fair or impartial questions. All Fox needs is one line, one questionable syllable, and they will be talking about it and looping it for weeks. [TPM]
FOX will distort this segment just like any other segment in reference to Obama. Murdough met with Bill Clinton prior to the outlandish “clips” aired about Rev. Wright. FOX will clip this interview as well. [TPM]
This is nothing but a trap. [NewsCorpse]
It smacks of capitulation and that’s how they will spin it. [Kos]
Obama’s going to answer the bully. [Kos]
It will be a hit job. They’ll pull out some crap he did in the 4th grade or something. [C&L]
Fox has complete control over what viewers will see, and they’ll edit it to make it into hit job on Obama regardless of what he says…. It makes no sense to expect that a Republican propaganda outlet will somehow produce something that helps Obama. [TPM]
No matter what he says or does, there will be negative spin from it. [Kos]
It’s [sic] viewers will become even more convinced that Fox is fair and balanced, and come the GE when Fox is running the 10-second clip of Rev. Write [sic] nonstop, Americans, on a whole, will get dumber. That’s the big picture, net consequence of this appearance by Obama on Fox — that it’s going further [sic] dumb down America. [Kos]
This is gonna make the ABC debate look like a tea party. [C&L]
He’ll probably rip Wallace a new one and make him look stupid. [Kos]
His responses will be cut up and edited and used against him in a million ways. [HuffPo]
He goes on fox, makes a stand against the [expletive deleted] foxnews, looks like a democratic fighter, and doesn’t have to attack hillary to do so. [TPM]
Prepare to be sand-bagged. [C&L]
I hope by, “take Fox on,” they mean, “beat Chris Wallace around the head and neck with a sock full of ball bearings,” but that’s probably too much to hope for. [TPM]
So wqho [sic] wants to bet that Wallace’s first question(s) will be about why Obama hasn’t appeared on Fox in so long? [TAP]
He’s walking into a trap and Wallace will try to sandbag him. [C&L]
The “questions” will be long narrative “opening statements” such as: “Sen. Obama, you have courted domestic terrorists like William Ayers for their political support. Ayers, of course, bombed American government builings, never repented, and on 9/11 said that the bombings did not go far enough. When questioned about Ayers in the last debate, you were very defensive and did not, in the eyes of many, renounce Ayers. In fact, you appeared to defend him by suggesting he was just a benign “English professor.” Senator, do you regret your association with this domestic terrorist?” By asking this kind of loaded question, the answer is almost irrelevant. [TPM]
Viewers will see it only after Fox gets done editing it into a smear job. [TPM]
I’m sure Karl Rove at Fox News, will be burning up the Blackberry with zingers to Chris Wallace to get Barack Obama tripped up and agitated so as to get a sound bite to play over and over. [TPM]
My guess, they go over the top on Rev Wright, and Obama has an answer ready. [TAP]
Fox will spend the entire time focusing on the “manufactured issues” of the campaign — flag pins, “bitter”-gate, Weathermen, etc. Obama’s going to get punched. [MoJo]
http://homepage.mac.com/mkoldys/blog/dmf231026381.html
I didn’t go to any of the links, these were enough for me – LoL .. *) – the point is – they are there if anyone needs the proof … how could all the big blogger boyzzzzzzz be so wrong ? — tsk tsk , I am shocked , just shocked I tell ya …
Great , Great stuff here today – as everyday . Unbelievable how great YOU ALL are here . Thanks for everything and everyone .. good nite .
vastleft:
Lemme just add that you are one of the shrillest bloggers in the internets.
Well, I’ve been watching Wright’s speech. if you can sort of bracket out the delivery, which makes it at least interesting to watch.. um.. when you get past all that I find myself wondering, what is his point? That’s the thing. it sounds to me as vacuous as a lot of Obama’s big speeches. People are different. Different things are different. (The ways in which he makes these points are sometimes funny, fraught with stereotypes, sometimes seeming to imply that he’s done immense amounts of historic research to come to these conclusions.) These different people say these things, and those different people say those things, and they’re different from each other. Wow! Different! How profound this is! Wouldn’t it be great if we all looked at different things and agreed they were different! We need change!
It’s a lot of words and the net effect is ultimately like, duh. It’s a whole lot of blah blah blah And? Change to what, specifically? What’s the point? I missed that.
Interesting. Did Kid Oakland forgive Kerry for his same vote?
The Kerry vote was forgiven once he was the candidate. Bu$h was the one who took the authorization and perverted it.
I guess if your candidate gave a speech– a speech that really didn’t require a great deal of courage in a liberal district–that should trump everything else.
As Joe Wilson pointed out:” When he made that speech, Obama was not privy to the briefings by, among others, Secretary of State Colin Powell, in support of the Authorization of Use of Military Force as a diplomatic tool to push the international community to impose intrusive inspections on Saddam Hussein.”
For Clinton it was a threat that was to be used to resume arms inspection.
The finale of Senator Clinton’s speech (as delivered):
I urge the President to spare no effort to secure a clear, unambiguous demand by the United Nations for unlimited inspections.
And finally, on another personal note, I come to this decision from the perspective of a Senator from New York who has seen all too closely the consequences of last year’s terrible attacks on our nation. In balancing the risks of action versus inaction, I think New Yorkers who have gone through the fires of hell may be more attuned to the risk of not acting. I know that I am.
So it is with conviction that I support this resolution as being in the best interests of our nation. A vote for it is not a vote to rush to war; it is a vote that puts awesome responsibility in the hands of our President and we say to him – use these powers wisely and as a last resort. And it is a vote that says clearly to Saddam Hussein – this is your last chance – disarm or be disarmed.
Videos we wish we had made:
Sharks Do Bite!
Excellent post from TALKLEFT on North Carolina:
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/4/27/15489/6693
Sugar watched Obama on Fox News and this drove her to an extremely high level of schrillness:
I’ve admitted here that Fox News Channel is now my new choice for actual “Fair and Balanced” coverage of this primary season, so this morning, I numbed my senses by chugging Cranberry flavored generic Crystal Light–Walmart brand, and got ready to watch Barack Obama on with Chris Wallace this morning. As I expected, he rambled on and on about his favorite topic. What’s that topic you say? Him–of course. That’s his favorite topic. For the most part, there was nothing ground-breaking or new except for when the asshole said that he’d met a 48 year old white woman in Indiana who said that she was voting for the first time simply because of him and that he didn’t think she would vote if he didn’t receive the nomination…..Am I the only one who heard him say this and immediately screamed at my television? I mean, what an arrogant thing to say. I could be absolutely wrong, but I sincerely doubt that Hillary would have said something so arrogant and dare I say it–DIVISIVE.
Read the whole thing. It’s hilarious.
MABlue: he is like a little kid, isn’t he?
If you don’t give him what he wants, he is going to stamp his foot and go home. And take as many voters with him as he can.
OMG, Sugar pegs him perfectly. He’s such an egomaniac.
It’s early in the morning, maybe someone should pinch me because I must be dreaming:
Hillary Gets No Respect by Bill Kristol.
Huh? More caffeine please!
Memo to Bill: If you want to be accepted in the prestigious club of Conflucians, you phrase it differently: “Last week in PA, although Obama outspent her 3:1, he suffered a humiliating defeat”.
Overall, it’s a pretty good column (I know we all have to gag because it’s Kristol)
Honestly, where does this guy get off? Yeah, I really feel for that white woman in Indiana, what about the roughly 70% of white women in PA and OH? They clearly are more excited about the other candidate.
But the Questuion is, can you really trust Obama?
I can also say that i really like Obama as a person, but there are thing about him thats make you wonder, for a exempel his family has visit same Church for many years, nothing wrong with that, but now is it like this, that this church has a pastor that have some ideas about that White people and Black people should not live toghter and be seperated, that is this pastors message and he also sound little like a racist . I dont think and belive a promising and perhaps next President should have nothing to do with this sort of church and Message, just a thought….!
I really dont know how much true it is about this, but you never know, i myself have left this church at once if i was Obama!
Regards,
Nils Petter Nilsson
Forgot to give away my wordpress.com, it´s this:
http://nilspetternilsson.wordpress.com/
Regards,
Nils Petter Nilsson
Headline just now on Washington Post:
Wright: Black Church ‘Invisible’
Obama’s pastor says criticism surrounding his fiery sermons is an attack on the black church.
Great. More accusations of racism, this time apparently directed at the entire country.
It’ll be fun to see what Obama does next.
This is the big substantive issue of the campaign, not that substantive issues have been high on the overall list vs. self-referential campaign issues. What in the world would Obama have done with Iraq and its crackpot homicidal regime? I wrote a DK diary on this a couple of months ago, and between that diary and all the comments, I think it’ sfair to say that nobody knows what he would have done, or what he’d do in other recent, ongoing, and predictable future cases. That’s my next president???
Actually Rich, we do know. He would not have made up a bullshit reason to attack Iraq. His choice of foreign policy guides also points to a continuance of the same policy as before – containment . He would be focused on bin Laden. The same goes for HRC,
I think I am the only one who catn get to Sugar’s website – my browser crashes.