Letters to the Editor
BryanS
Published Letters: 365 Editor's Choice: 1
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@ lacquer
[Read the article: Why Jeremiah Wright is so wrong]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You said:
But I think it's utterly naive to assail Joan for this column, as if the issues she raises are ridiculous or imaginary, when they instead they point to a very real problem for any politician seeking the broad mandate necessary for high office. No one's going to get elected president trumpeting the views of Rev. Wright. Period.
And as far as I've been able to tell, no one is trying to get elected president trumpeting the views of Rev. Wright. Obama has gone out of his way to distance and divorce himself from Rev. Wright's inflammatory rhetoric, and even Rev. Wright himself said in the PBS interview that he's never heard Obama share or espouse these views. You're trying to equate Obama's views with Rev. Wright's views, despite every shred of evidence pointing to the contrary. So, basically, you're either ignorant of the situation, or you're deliberately misrepresenting Obama's views.
To which the natural rejoinder is, "Obama isn't trumpeting those views in his candidacy", and no, of course he isn't - but that sort of makes Joan's point, because those views are associated with him, whether any of us like it or not...
They're associated with him because people like you and Joan and others who are opposed to Obama's candidacy keep bringing it up over and over again, as if there's anything left for Obama to say on the issue or any questions left unresolved. Seriously, where is the good in doing this (unless you consider undermining Obama's candidacy to be a good thing)? What public benefit is served by obsessing on this story? What are you expecting to get out of it that you don't already have?
No one with any knowledge of Obama's views or his relationship with Rev. Wright claims that Obama shares these views, and there's been no evidence that Obama has ever publicly or privately declared otherwise. Again, anyone who claims that Rev. Wright's opinions are Obama's opinions is either lying or hasn't bothered to do even the most cursory research.
...and the idea that the Republicans are going to leave this alone is crazy. Every sound bite will be chopped to its most corrisive form and blasted into every red and battleground state until our ears bleed.
So you're saying we should all join the right-wing chorus and rake Obama over the coals? What good does that do us? The best chance that any Democrat has for victory this November is if we refuse to allow the political discourse in this country to be distracted by non-issues. The Republicans are wrong on everything that matters, from the war to the economy to the environment. If we go down the path of zinging the candidates over meaningless garbage like their pastors' sermons, their misremembered sniper fire stories, or their bowling scores, we're going to keep the conversation at the absolute lowest common denominator, and that only favors the other side and their sound bite faux patriotism.
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Meaningless
[Read the article: When did Obama start running for president?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And Hillary started her run for the presidency as soon as she agreed not to divorce Bill after he admitted that he did, in fact, have inappropriate relations with "that woman."
What's your point?
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A pattern of abuse
[Read the article: Obama camp files complaint against pro-Clinton 527]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Usually I'm not a big fan of comments that go off-topic, but I think it's also worth mentioning that "Women's Voices Women Vote," a DC-based non-profit organization whose president and founding members have contributed heavily to the Clinton campaign, have been making illegal robo-calls full of false voter information to North Carolina voters. They've also engaged in a pattern of voter disinformation in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, and Arkansas and at least half a dozen other states. Oh, and did I mention that one of their board members is Bill Clinton's former chief of staff?
Facingsouth.com has an excellent write-up on the organization here:
http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/04/facing-south-exclusive-dc-nonprofit.asp
I look forward to seeing a piece on this in the War Room soon, and I hope that we get a feature article on the pattern of election law abuses that pro-Clinton groups have established over the last month or two as they've dragged this campaign directly into the gutter. I realize that this might conflict with Salon's upcoming five-part series on eight-year old Barack Obama's ties to the Weather Underground and the Manson Family, but I can't think of a single legitimate reason why Salon wouldn't at least make the attempt to cover this in detail and see if there's any truth to the allegations.
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Clinton-linked group distributing false info to black voters
[Read the article: Can Clinton heal the racial divide?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Are we talking about the same Hillary Clinton who's having illegal robo-calls full of false voter information made on her behalf to primarily African-American North Carolina voters? A group called Women's Voices Women Vote has admitted that they're behind the calls. They're a DC-based non-profit organization whose president and founding members have contributed heavily to the Clinton campaign, and they count Bill Clinton's former chief of staff as one of their board members.
http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/04/facing-south-exclusive-dc-nonprofit.asp
Here's a tip for Bill and Hillary: If you want to have any credibility left with African-American voters after this election, you might want to try not lying to them and trivializing their accomplishments at every opportunity.
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Pot vs. kettle
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I am shocked -- shocked! -- that trivial articles about Rev. Wright, misremembered sniper stories, and the significance of wearing a flag pin would attract equally trivial and superficial comments from readers.
Speaking of which, I haven't seen any Clinton campaign press releases on here for a while, Alex. Aren't you starting to get the shakes?