Letters to the Editor
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Why is it that when blacks do it
it's called Nationalism, and when whites do it it's called Neo-Nazism?
Obama is a closet racist of the worst kind. The kind that has a lot of people fooled. Look for the US to become a "chocolate" nation if he gets elected.
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Just how far...
Will Salon go to try to undermine Obama and help Hillary?
Some of the comments in this thread are clearly racist.
I was raised Catholic and went to what was a 99% white church. I can't tell you how many times, when I used to go to church, what was being said would require one to suppress laughter. I remember our Priest used to RAIL against TV shows that by today’s standards would be mainstream family entertainment. We would smile at each other as if to say... pay no attention... dinosaur alert. Our priest was a nice guy, a sweet guy even. He just thought that ‘All in the Family’ was a communist plot. He would go on and on and on.
Just think about what some of the total loonies on the Right have said in religious forums. Then ask… why is the press spending so much time on this? Would it be… because Obama and his minister are black? Gee that would sort of prove the point no?
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I love Salon because it's so... balanced? Fair?
Thank you, Mr McClelland, for bringing this indept article about a very disturbing figure in Barack Obama's past. Yes, it should be looked at closely and scrutinized because, after all, this may well be our next President and it is important to know who his associates are.
I look forward to your article next week when you will publish, in the intereste of fairness, another column detailing Hillary's "crazy uncle".
I will await with baited breath to see who you will pick: Mark Rich? Webster Hubbell? James Riady?
Wait! How about Norman Hsu? I mean, who could possibly be crazier than him, right?
Well, whoever it is, I'm sure you'll do an equally superb investigative piece of journalism!
I'll be sure to hold my breath!
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I'm not sure what the title of this article is meant to do . . .
Forgive me for not reading this piece today. I suppose the title just saddens me. It is human nature to lash out against those whom one has harmed. For this reason, I find many white folks who are upper-middle class and well-educated seem to need to disparage black Americans who are concerned about race, particularly if those black Americans dare to infer there is a problem.
So this title, in this intellectually-correct ezene that I so admire, seems more a testament to our will to forget racism and disparage those who discuss it,than it is a call to real conversation.
When black Americans fill our prisons (and are arrested and convicted in disproportionate numbers for the same crimes whites commit), when they are more likely to die at childbirth, at the prime of their lives, in middle age, when even middle class African Americans still face prejudice and when all these facts are clearly supported by data, I find it hard to feel outrage against Wright.
However, anger at least allows the man his dignity -- that he is a man.
In this title, you merely call him a "crazy uncle."
You then go onto infer that "white lefties" are a problem too -- those whom Clear-thinking, Hip, In-the-Know, Salon readers should marginalize.
I don't know. Just sad. Maybe I'll read this later, or maybe I'll just look at the fine reporting that Salon has featured in recent days on Guantanimo and the media's view of Iraq.
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It Is An Absolute Delight
To watch these Obama supporters lose their holier than thou act. He's a politician, jut like the rest of them.
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Finally a Real Candidate
I'm among those people who just can't figure out why this is an issue at all. I find the whole thing completely bogus. And yet many people (granted, most of them are Repubs and Clinton supporters seizing a political opportunity and exploiting it) at least pretend to be "concerned," so I'll play along. Maybe it's because I actually have friends with whom I disagree on politics or that I come from a very large family of Republicans (no, I haven't denounced and rejected them), but I sincerely believe it to be a virtue to form bonds that transcend politics and expose us to points of view that challenge our own. Isn't this a quality that keeps us inured from the forces of fascism and dogmatism? Isn't this exactly what we want in a leader? And isn't this kind of what Obama has been saying all along - that he not only wants to get us out of the Iraq war, he wants to change the mindset that got us in there in the first place? I'm inspired that Obama has not sold this guy down the river, that he continues to defend him, because it indicates the presence in him of something we have gone far too long without in this country: character. Obama's having strong friendships with people with whom he disagrees only underscores for me that his willingness to meet with our enemies is not mere campaign rhetoric: he can see past dogma toward common principles. How else can this world be expected to move forward?
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The Most Offensive Line in This Story:
"The only reason Hyde Parkers don't drive Volvos is that they're too long to parallel park."
Obviously, Edward McClelland has never owned an old Volvo. I've owned a 240 sedan and a 740 wagon (the latter running strong with 202,000 miles), and I've parallel parked each with ease in DC and in midtown Manhattan. These cars have a very tight turning radius (along with a short wheelbase).
Barack Obama, at 6'1", has a long wheelbase. But I hope that he'll be able to deftly maneuver into the tight space between America's fears and its hope for a better future.
And Ed? "Olaf" and I forgive you.
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@nepats
Fine piece, and very good-hearted.
However, you say:
"Obama's having strong friendships with people with whom he disagrees..."
How do you know that he disagrees? Maybe he agrees, but isn't saying so?
But we will never know, will we?
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Yes
Unless he can make (and has the guts to make) Hagee et al a significant issue. But that would be negative, wouldn't it?