Letters to the Editor
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Carville Actually Makes Sense
Wow, I actually agree with Carville. I don't think he was siding with the Clintons on this one as said that it was silly to have Power resign just because she called Clinton a "monster" while he suggested that Ferraro should have just been shipped of to Antarctica. That doesn't sound to me like he thinks the two said equivalent kinds of things.
To me, the "monster" comment was kind of rude, like telling someone their ugly hat is ugly. She apologized, and that was really all that was required. Personally, I don't have a problem with Ferraro shooting her raciest mouth off in Clinton's service. As an Obama supporter, I say "Go girl, go!" Heck, she may be able to single handidly net Obama enough pledged delegates to avoid the messy Super Delegate situation at a brokered convention.
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The difference in civility is . . .
that Bill Clinton actually was "a philandering, pot-smoking draft dodger." Whereas Obama has never been a muslim (not that there's anything wrong with being a muslim). And although Hillary would like for us to believe that she has 35 yrs. experience of being a monster, she's really had less than ten years of monsterial experience.
I hate to say it but I think DLC Carville has a valid point: the politically correct hypersensitivity of Democrats turns off voters. It makes the Republicans laugh at us (no great loss since we weren't getting their general election votes anyway). But it also disgusts the Independents. The Independents will be picking the winner this year. Some Independents do their electoral homework. But most Independents, along with most Democrats and most Republicans, vote based on sound-bites, misinformation, and personal instincts. This is not a good way to select leaders. A meme that strikes the right chord is all it takes to steer an election (Al Gore lied about the Internet, a 1970 film, and being bff with FEMA director James Lee Witt, so you can't trust him; John Kerry exaggerated his combat experience; George W.Bush is God's choice, etc.). I predict that McCain will be the next preznit and that as a result, I will throw away my 35-plus yrs. of tee-totaling experience and begin to drink--early and often.
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thanks Reality-based Liberal for your explanation
it allows me to listen-detached and not dislike carville like i usually do when i hear him speak (i'm one of those obamabots). he's just doing his amoral machiavellian job, ok, can handle that.
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"Obama and the Minister"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120545277093135111.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
This is a story/editorial in today's Wall Street Journal. Here are a few choice quotes:
"In a sermon delivered at Howard University, Barack Obama's longtime minister, friend and adviser blamed America for starting the AIDS virus, training professional killers, importing drugs and creating a racist society that would never elect a black candidate president. The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., pastor of Mr. Obama's Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, gave the sermon at the school's Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel in Washington on Jan. 15, 2006."
Obama will definitely need to distance himself from the reverend's AIDS comments. That the U.S. trains professional killers is an indisputable fact, though. Also, even if there is no proof of a U.S. agency having a clandestine policy of importing drugs, there is no denying that the CIA, FBI and branches of the military have been caught working as high-end drug runners. Nor is there any denying that historically, people high in government have advocated on behalf of racist divisions.
More quotes:
""We've got more black men in prison than there are in college," he began."
True.
""Racism is alive and well. Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run. No black man will ever be considered for president, no matter how hard you run Jesse [Jackson] and no black woman can ever be considered for anything outside what she can give with her body.""
Odd comments... Surely he was aware of Obama's candidacy. There's no reason Obama should have to answer for this guy, though.
"Mr. Wright thundered on: "America is still the No. 1 killer in the world. . . . We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns, and the training of professional killers . . . We bombed Cambodia, Iraq and Nicaragua, killing women and children while trying to get public opinion turned against Castro and Ghadhafi . . . We put [Nelson] Mandela in prison and supported apartheid the whole 27 years he was there. We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God.""
As far as I can determine, America is indeed the #1 killer in the world at this moment. We did bomb all those countries listed. We did kill women and children. We did de-facto support apartheid. The "we believe in it more than we believe in God" part is nutty hyperbole.
"His voice rising, Mr. Wright said, "We supported Zionism shamelessly while ignoring the Palestinians and branding anybody who spoke out against it as being anti-Semitic. . . . We care nothing about human life if the end justifies the means. . . .""
All of the above is true. The U.S. supports a policy of horrible dehumanization and massive land theft in the Palestinian Territory. There is no denying this. I defy anyone to explain how this is not true.
"Concluding, Mr. Wright said: "We started the AIDS virus . . . We are only able to maintain our level of living by making sure that Third World people live in grinding poverty. . . .""
The AIDS virus thing is nutty. Does the reverend know something we don't? His second statement is arguably true, insomuch as the U.S. has reaped the benefits of global imbalance for the better part of the past century.
Anyway, the rest of the Wall Street Journal editorial is typical of the right-wing garbage you can expect from their Heritage Foundation-bred editorial board. Here's a choice quote:
"Hearing Mr. Wright's venomous and paranoid denunciations of this country, the vast majority of Americans would walk out."
Really? I would stay for the entertainment!
Obama has refered to the reverend as being like "a crazy uncle whose views I disagree with." I don't doubt it. How many of us know radicals who are much more extreme than we are, but who are still our friends? I know a lot of people who think the government was aware of 9/11 and let it happen (as well as Pearl Harbor), but I don't break off my friendship with them because of it. If I were running for office, though, I would certainly not include them in my campaign.