Nicole posted a clip yesterday showing FOXNews bringing on the wingnuts who are simply apoplectic over past inflammatory statements made by the former pastor of Barack Obama’s church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It comes as no surprise to anyone that Chris Wallace continued the same line of attack this morning on Fox News Sunday.
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Wallace interviewed Senators Chris Dodd and Chuck Schumer about Rev. Wright’s comments and he absolutely refused to let go of the notion that people should be scared of Obama because he attended Wright’s church for 20 years, and hey, after all the time they MUST agree on everything, right? Dodd calls him out on his veiled assertions:
“Well, I would certainly disagree with this individual, we’ve all been in situations like that, but the idea somehow that this is deeply involved and ingrained, that this is really who Barack Obama is, what you’re suggesting, or those who are making these accusations, is this is really who Barack Obama is. Anyone who knows this man, who’s worked with him, who’s spent time with him would say this is totally unlike him, it’s not him at all. And so the suggestion somehow that this is really who this candidate is is really an unfair accusation.”
Schumer agrees with Dodd that this is a distraction from the real issues that Americans are concerned about, and brings up John McCain’s welcomed endorsement from anti-Catholic religious zealot, John Hagee, although he doesn’t mention him by name. Regardless of the fact that Obama has rejected Wright’s statements and he’s no longer a member of his campaign, Wallace never relents from the FOXNews theme — Americans should be frightened of Obama because he’s really a closeted, anti-American, black militant. If you think about it, this was the only move for Fox. The whole Obama is a Muslim meme isn’t working out so well and since they’re being forced to report that he really is a Christian, they have no choice but to attack his church.
Filed Under: Campaigns/Elections, Chris Dodd, Democratic Party, Election 08, Fox News, Fox News Sunday/Chris Wallace, Right Wing Stupidity, Smears
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Wallace got wasted on this by Chris Dodd & Schumer… They listened to his divisive crap and just laughed at him. Then they just focused on the issues, issues, issues. Wallace looked like an idiot, he was practically trembling.
I wish Democrats looked like this all of the time. If we keep up this message the Dems will be unstoppable in Nov.
Oh yeah Fox News. Our Daily Dose of Mental Pollution.
no one asked huckabee about his sermons.
Oh how I would love to slap that doughy plastic face into yesterday!
What Would John Adams Do?
I hope my dear friends in the Obama campaign will stop imagining racist boogeymen in Clinton’s campaign and get ready for some serious overt racism which will be thrown at them if Obama gets the nomination. This is just a taste of what is to come. Already my ignorant redneck cousins from the South are foaming at the mouth at the idea of a Black person being seriously considered for the Presidency, and a closet Muslim to boot! Lord Jesus, that’s three boogey men in one candidate: Liberal, Black and Muslim. Next thing I’ll be hearing is that he went to Harvard Law School and is a lawyer as well. Wait, you mean he did?
L.A. Confidential @ 3:
I agree… What a waste of time. Watching faux news, is like watching paint dry.
But what could be better than all the Clinton supporters who are suddenly walking around chanting something along the lines of: “America: Love it or Leave it!” and being shocked! shocked! at this awful pastor who they seem to think is threatening to incite African-Americans to torch their neighborhoods and make off with their daughters?
This spontaneous demonstration of patriotism makes me think, “Hmmmm…last refuge of a scoundrel.” Well, then, that’s a hopeful sign if I can take it to mean soon we’ll be done with them once and for all.
I hope Chris Dodd did a turn thru the sheep dip after being on FAUX with the bad son Wallace. Not that he is a Sheep, but you can’t be too careful.
I think you’re underestimating the impact of this. Democrats dismissing it isn’t necessarily going to be seen as a positive in the swing states needed to win the election.
How is this not an issue in this campaign. He and his wife spent 20 years being basted in the resentful, hateful, contemptuous racist worldview of the Rev. Wright?
It is an issue for me.
I think the real rub in all of this is that nothing Rev. Jeremiah Wright said is inaccurate. While he stated it indelicately, it’s a fact that 9/11 was blowback from decades of misguided US foreign policy in the middle-east. It goes back at least as far as US involvement in the over through of Mosadec in Iran and the Reagan regime’s training and funding of Osama bin Laden to oust the Soviets from Afghanistan. What’s dangerous and sad is that whenever someone points out this fact they are subject immediately to be excoriated in the Corporate Media and pushed out of public life and anyone who is even remotely associated with them is subject to the same fate. It has a chilling effect on our public debate and our ability to analyze, understand and deal with the problem of combating and counteracting terrorism.
Betty @ 12:
You wouldn’t vote for a Democrat anyway troll, so your issues are irrelevant.
Betty @ 12:
Betty you wouldn’t be voting for him anyway. The South has been written off electoral college wise..
For the rabid xenophobic wingnuts who will likely fill this thread shortly, this link to a column appearing in the Chicago Tribune has nothing to offer. For the rest of us, if you would like to read a thoughtful, probing column on the issue of race and this election cycle, this is a very interesting read.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/.....2438.story
Kate @ 9:
“Just Ice”
McCain will not release his tax records. What is he trying to hide?
Betty @ 12:
And you wonder why Archie prefers Veronica?
that was awesome, dodd and shumer owned little-man wallace.
The very worst thing to do is cave on this issue. Yet that’s what Obama did.
Shame on him. I lost a lot of respect for the guy when he made those idiotic statements that fed right into the Fox News pro-America bullshit.
“I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it’s on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.”
Bullshit! If he wants to live in a Dick Van Dyke world, he should switch parties and become a Republican. I’m sick of his anti-protest, pro-unity bullshit.
Rev. Wright was wrong to espouse his ideas from the pulpit, but is he any worse than Catholic-hater John Hagee or Muslim-hater Rod Parsley? Why hasn’t John McCain been more active about denouncing those men who have publicly supported and endorsed him?
Betty @ 12:
And I’m sure Obama’s middle name is an issue for you as well.
These conservatives who are so shocked (Shocked!) by Wright’s sermon haven’t read the Bible. Take a hour, Mr. Wallace, and read the Psalms, Jeremiah, or Isaiah and you’ll find condemnations and lurid imagery of judgement that make Wright’s sermons seem tame. God is not an American and therefore doesn’t have the luxury of tunnel vision. A murder of an Iraqi, a Palestinian, or a Vietnamese is just as wrong to God as the murder of an American. Even an atheist could see that 9/11 was a case of the chickens coming home to roost after a half century of assasinations (Iran, Chile, etc.), invasions (Vietnam, Panama, etc.), and careless meddling (East Timor, Nicaragua, Cuba, etc.)
Betty @ 12:
Why would this be a issue about Obama? Have you ever been to a church? Did you agree, or even listen to the sermons that your minister was giving? I haven’t heard Obama say anyrhing like this minister, so why would you hold that against Obama? Should all catholics be held to what the pope says? Do you judge people by what others say? This is all bullshit.
Betty Says:
How is this not an issue in this campaign. He and his wife spent 20 years being basted in the resentful, hateful, contemptuous racist worldview of the Rev. Wright?
It is an issue for me.
******************************
hmmmmmm………are the ‘christian’ ‘pastors’ of hate called hagee and pasly .. ‘McCains’ ’spiritual advisors an issue for you ? the one’s advocating the destruction of the entire Muslin religion, advocating bombing Iran so as to fulfill the ‘biblical proficies’ of the ‘end times’ ..which means also the destruction of all jews who do not convert to christianity .. the ones saying katrina was the fault of gay people living in new orleans, that 9/11 was caused by lesbians and witches, and all the rest of this kind of delusional messanic shit an issue for you ? of course not, cause you enjoy being a fucking bigot
c
DC @ 18:
Hillary hasn’t released her tax records either. Whats she trying to hide?
Betty @ 12:
Gee Betty, that Bigotry your wearing looks just … well … it just looks so YOU.
Wallace/Ailes sound like the Klan. Come to think of it - they ARE the Klan. Only their way or no way….Two words for them - GO AWAY.
Everyone should have seen this coming. The GOP can’t wait to pick Obama apart. Remember this is only the FIRST of many issues. They are going to find recordings or old video of the Pastor on other anti-white rants to contradict Obama’s claim. They are going to get tapes from Barack’s daughter’s baptism and other crazy stuff. The GOP is ruthless and we are about to be pwnd by them. Why oh why did we fall for their trick of sacrificing Hillary?
She does not have a kook, radical, divisive, rapture wanting, God damn America spiritual adviser.
Just saying.
Thank God the LoRd blessed us with the ability to put bad things behind us, learn from it, and do something positive for the world rather then lingering and wallowing in the misery’s and guilt of our past actions and failures.
Imagine if Religious Preachers gave sermons like that!
Hagee endorsed McCain, Obama has a close 20 yr relationship with Wright. Hagee is a scumbag but he doesn’t present the same problem for McCain that Wright does for Obama. Wright undercuts the raison d’être of Obama’s campaign (unity, a different politics). The country doesn’t know him yet. This is going to be a problem. We shouldn’t bury our heads in the sand.
I would like to add that the real problem is that everyone knows in their heart that the essence and the sentiment of what the Preacher said is damn true anyways. Yet the exact fear we have at acknowledging that is the realization that the GOP are pure geniuses as tayloring racist and bigoted negative advertising. Remember, they took Howard Dean down because of one two-second yell. That’s how effective the Right-Wing slime machine is. Yet Hillary was called a fool for talking about a “vast rigth-wing conspiracy”.
getalife @ 31:
And how would you know? Has anybody asked her, or looked into the churches she has gone to?
another reason to vote for the she-devil. the vetted line has merit, we can’t have candidates who hang around people who tell the truth about american sins. it’s always better to cast stones at the weak and marginalized, as rev. fallhell and pat robbersman know.
these tapes probably came from clinton camp researchers and were past to our lazy press corps. but guess what? that’s the sort of dirty politics dems better play if the want to take back the executive branch and the courts from our fascist foes.
passed past (useless spellcheck!)
This is not a smear, this is Racist Propaganda.
Just think for a moment…if Wallace is so good at what he does, why is he in a basement position on a basement outfit like Faux Noise? If Wallace was any good would he not be in a better location? Chris is a zero who is going nowhere. So whatever he says about anything, as well as any of the rantings of the rest of the Faux stable = one big zero. It is fun to read about them here, but the only ones influenced by them are those koolaid drunks who are beyond being rehabbed.
So, C&L being a left progressive site. how many progressives out there disagree with what this minister said?
diamondmc @ 35:
They have and her pastor helped her through marital problems.
He is not a radical, spiritual adviser.
I’ve always left it to C&L to watch Fox for me so I don’t have to and now after watching this clip, I find myself living in Bizzarro World. I respect Chris Dodd a lot but I don’t think he has a very good grasp of the people and the voters. Of course they are worried about the War, Gas Prices, Home Foreclosures, etc. etc. but at the same time they are going to be picking a prez that can turn some of this around and they do care about the judgement and the character of the candidates. To say this is meaningless to the voter is pretty naive. Shumer did what he needed to do and stayed above the fray. The fact that I agree with Wallace about anything is very disturbing to me but I do agree that it is a conversation worth having. No offense to Dodd but I don’t want to find out too late that Obama or his wife believe what Rev. Wright has been preaching for 20 years in their church. Obama did not have just a casual association with Rev. Wright during those 20 yrs. Some people dismiss it as “snippets” that have been culled out of many hours but it is the snippets we see and will judge and I gotta say, some of it is pretty vile. Especially the ones concerning Bill & Lewinsky and the diatribe against Hillary - from the pulpit?? To not admit this is a problem for him is to put your head in the sand.
They have to make up their minds- is he a muslim, or a christian? Oh, he is the wrong kind of christian because the pastor of his church says things that are inflammatory to them! How is what this guy said different from what Ron Paul said? Obviously Wallace has never been to a black church-he needs to look around his own church on sunday and count the number of black people there.
McCain’s association with Hagee/Parsley(his spiritual advisor) are never widely discussed, Huckabee’s sermons have not been looked at!
I guess the whole moslem meme did not hold, they have to pivot to Wright’s statements.
Rev Wright Ringtones! With 9.99/m Subscription.
Hows that for capitalism?
diamondmc @ 25:
Your response is spot on. Here is a column that appeared in the Chicago Tribune that makes a strong argument in support.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/.....2438.story
For our history of racism and slavery against black people- God Damn America!
For the persistence of racism in our country- God Damn America!
For our history of genocide against the native American Indians- God Damn America!
For our history of overthrowing democratically elected government around the world and installing military dictatorships- God Damn America!
For our history of supporting far right genocidal regimes around the world- God Damn America!
For funding right wing terrorists such as the Contras, Luis Posada Carriles and Orlando Bosch who murdered many innocent civilians- God Damn America!
I could go on and on. We need to be honest about our past and the numerous atrocities that have been committed in our names if we are ever to put a stop to terrorism.
“I know everyone is now trying to equate Reverend Wright with McCain’s Reverend Hagee. I’ve done so much eviscerating of right-wing preachers, I’d be all in for it. However, Hagee hasn’t been McCain’s spiritual guru for 17 years. Hagee also never explicitly said so many hateful things about this country. I find the man