Questions, Questions
While I was busy painting and planting and generally getting ready for this week-end’s open house, I was paying attention to the news out of Pennsylvania. One comment from Barak Obama that struck me was a remark he made in response to the uproar over his remarks at the San Francisco fundraiser where he said that mid-staters “cling” to guns and religion and are bigots because they are bitter. His comment was how people would take one poorly worded comment…one that was not “properly phrased” and use it to continually “beat” the candidate “to death” over it. I found that comment to be entertaining (to say the least) considering how Senator Obama did the very same thing he is complaining about (beating an opponent over the head with an out of context comment) to both Senator Clinton and McCain! Yet he claims to be a “different” less divisive candidate?
Another story that came up last week was Senator Obama’s ties to former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers. About the time that story was really gaining traction (on the internet) I was on a field trip with the Junior Logicians class to the Minnesota History Museum. They are hosting a travelling exhibit “The Enemy Within:Terror In America 1776 to today”. A large portion of the exhibit was dedicated to the Weather Underground and their activities. It was a vivid reminder of a period of my youth that I had forgotten (the Weather Underground had a base of operations in the Chicago area).
Which leads us to today…..Logical Lady Carol Platt Liebau asks a very pertinent question over at Townhall.com.
For those on the left who would like to characterize these ties as no big deal, a thought experiment might be in order. What if Eric Rudolph, the unrepentant bomber of abortion clinics, someday ended up “moving in some of the same political and social circles” as a Republican presidential candidate, donated to him, and introduced him at a political event at Rudolph’s home? Would it matter — or would it be just an unimportant as they’re trying to convince us the Ayers-Obama association is?
Would it matter? I think we all know the answer to that…
Jazz Shaw and I will be talking about the Pennsylvania Primary, Bill Ayers AND Al Franken’s continued legal troubles on today’s Midstream Radio.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
This week, the North Carolina Republican Party has came out with a political TV ad that highlights Rev. Jeremiah Wright, specifically, his “God D___ America” rant. The ad, while making the case that Barack Obama was too extreme for America, was directly targeted at two Democrats running for governor of North Carolina since they had both endorsed Obama for president. As a result, liberals and Democrats are up in arms over the ad, even as the Hillary camp plays on the same points.
In the wake of the ad, John McCain and the RNC have asked the NC Republican Party to remove the ad as being divisive. Up to now, the state party has refused to comply. Notwithstanding his disapproval of the ad, McCain is taking heat from Democrats. Howard Dean is attacking McCain for his inability to force the NC Republican Party to take down the ad.
Then there is MSNBC’s blatantly partisan Keith Olbermann, who, last night, called the ad racist and attacked McCain in his “Worst person in the world” segment for his “connection” to those putting the ad up.
What connection, Mr Olbermann? John McCain has disowned the ad and tried to have it taken down (something he does not have the authority to do).
John McCain should be praised for his attempt to conduct a non-divisive campaign (at least to this point). But was the ad racist, as Olbermann and others on the left are charging? I think not. Just because Obama has a pastor who cries “God d___ America” and rails about white people and the “US of KKK”, does not make those who point out the truth racists. If anyone is racist, it is Reverend Wright. I would agree that the two Democratic gubernatorial candidates of North Carolina should not be saddled with Jeremiah Wright just because they endorsed Obama. That is another step removed. At any rate, I don’t consider the ad racist just because it criticizes a black pastor who has said outrageous things.
Olbermann’s charges of racism surrounding the ad are to be expected. While he rails against Bill O’Reilly and Fox News (”Fix News” as he calls it.) on a nightly basis, Olbermann is a hypocrite when he makes these statements. His own show is nothing more than a one-sided exercise in bashing of Bush, the Republican Party and all things conservative. Unlike Fox, which has debates between liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats, Hannity and Colmes, as well as O’Reilly bringing on opposing voices, Olbermann debates no one. His guests every night are the same tired old faces, Eugene Robinson, Rachel Maddow, Chuck Todd, Jonathan Alter and others who agree with him on everything. So now, Olbermann is attaching the “racist” label on the North Carolina ad without any explanation or evidence.
In the wake of the ad “controversy”, David Axelrod, campaign chief for Obama, has thrown in his two cents worth with a comment about “white working-class voters” who will vote for the white candidate (as opposed to Obama).
Then there is Joy Behar of “The View”. This morning, she joined the fray in bringing up the “Republican Attack Machine”, that “will do anything to hold on to power- anything.” What Joy refuses to understand is that Obama is still engaged in fighting off Hillary Clinton for the nomination. It is the Clintons that are playing the race card against Obama, not John McCain and his campaign. It is the Clintons who will do anything to win-anything.
In short, the NC ad, while stretching to connect Jeremiah Wright to the two Democratic candidates for governor, are not racist. If they are, then any criticism of a black public figure is also racist. I would like to think we have progressed beyond that point.
gary fouse
fousesquawk