This is what we come here for. Thank You.

How many people do you tutor? What do you do for the youth in your community?

I tutored at Cook County Jail twice a week for years.

I coach Little League.

Jeremiah Wright says black people's brains and white people's brains are different. He made fun of the way white people clap and sing. He said we deserved 9/11 -- among other things.

That is a racist hatemonger. Period.

Read the transcript of his NAACP speech and his Press Club appearance. It's all there for anyone who wants to see.

but when I'm thwarted, I always throw a fête, and I always invite Cocktailhag, and as many of the moose persuasion as I can locate. GC! I don't have to invite; he knows he's always welcome.

(Does the staff at Moose Hall polish the sterling napkin rings before a fête? I'm not as up on etiquette as maybe I should be.)

So, I turn on CNN, and it's the-oldest-man-in-the-world show, ie. Larry 'Mr. Interview' King himself. And they've got good old Jimmy Carter on, plugging a new book. And besides Larry, they've got the regular ghoul squad on -- a bunch of smiling certified Catcher-In-The-Rye phonies passing themselves off as 'experts'. And of course the banter goes to how Condi Rice got caught being a bald-faced liar -- yet again. Yet they infer it was ol' Jimmy himself who lied. I means, it's what Condi does. It's her job -- she lies for the gummint. And gets paid very well, thank you, for doing it. And she does it well -- nary a blink. And of course, these guys go into how Jimmy tried to bring Hamas to the peace table, and how that was totally unacceptable to the good decent people of the world, and then it got into Mr. Wright & his outrageous, unAmerican (whaddever the phawk that is supposed to mean), un-Christian, etc. remarks and how they're bringing Obama's morality / credibility / integrity etc. into question. And the most outraged, most wattle-shaking, most visibly upset talking head (doing his Jack Straw snake-over -- sans spectacles) was Ari Fleischer. Talking about 'moral compasses'. This lying POS two-bit ex-beard talking about moral compasses -- and the other hacks nodding their heads in agreement. And Ari, jowls flapping in prissy mouthed disdain, sporting his American flag lapel pin (I wonder which flag pin he wears when he travels under his Israeli passport?) telling the world (well, not exactly, only ol' Larry's audience) that Obama was going to burn, burn I tell you, burn in hell because he associated with a preacher who had the gall to suggest that perhaps the chickens did come home to roost on 9/11, and that it wasn't blowback . . . .

rant over.

Thanks for that ... and, ah, for not saying GO LOOK IT UP IN WIKIPEDIA FOR YOURSELF MORON, which I should have. ulp.

I definitely see why the term has popped up here, with all the imagined variations thereof.

Joan Walsh in her role as advisor to the Obama campaign.

Amen.

Just pointing to other hatemongers does not make Wright less of one.

1) Pointing at other hatemongers can give you an idea of where Wright might sit on the hatemonger spectrum. If the "hate" he spews is weak compared to other prominent hatemongers, then it's likely that the "hate" he said wasn't really all that hateful.

In other words, pointing out that there are people taller than 6' doesn't make those people who are 6' shorter, but it does help you realize what it means to be "tall" and that 6' really isn't all that tall.

2) You totally neglect the multiple ways in which I pointed out that Wright is not a hatemonger and focused purely on one that doesn't necessarily prove one way or the other whether he is full of hate.

So I ask you...what you have done for others? How many poor and homeless people have you given assistance to? How many people do you tutor? What do you do for the youth in your community?

To call someone with those credentials hateful is disgusting. To call someone hateful when you yourself do little to nothing for your community is irony.

Who believes:

"I doubt anyone here thinks Wright is of no interest whatsoever in this election year."

I am that guy.

Jeremiah Wright's opinions are intesting as an election issue only insofar as they are shared by a candidate. And that means they are of no election interest at all, because if a candidate shares those views they are interesting because they are the views of a candidate.

Wright's opinions would surely be interesting to Obama's biographer, but Wright's opinions tell me nothing about Obama's ablitities or his intent.

We are facing a world wide food shortage; a continuing occupation of Iraq; a potential meltdown in the world's financial system; an increasingly dysfunctional healthcare system; homelessness; soaring budget and trade deficits; crumbling infrastructures; students who are falling increasingly behind; and is that enough?

When is enough enough?

At some point we will look back at these days, as the nation obsessed over a presidential candidate's opinions, with shame. Well, most of us will.

The Karl Roves and neocon warmongers will look back in pride that they were able to hijack what should be a serious undertaking, the selection of a president who is going to inherit a country that is hurtling towards the edge of the cliff.

Interesting? Jeremiah Wright? This whole thing is nothing but the age-old right wing red and race-baiting game.

Some of us fell for it again. So how do we stop? How do we leave this crap "issue" behind and get back to the serious business of vetting the people who would make life or death decisions?

I think we stop by stopping and this is my last post or comment about any of this.

Everyone - just slap your cheeks, wake up, and leave this non-issue behind. Let Karl Rove work on his next scheme and let the rest of us figure out how to keep on living.