After all, when everybody from the New York Times to the Fox News pundits agrees...
But then I actually read Wright's speech to the National Press Club. A question and answer period followed. This isn't the cartoon figure, the anti-American firebreather I've been reading and hearing about.
Plenty radical, but no more than I lot of people I know. Here's a taste:
And I said to Barack Obama, last year, "If you get elected, November the 5th, I'm coming after you, because you'll be representing a government whose policies grind under people." All right? It's about policy, not the American people.I've heard wingnuts say the same thing.
Obama edging away from any association? 'That's what politicians do'. But he's upset with excerpts and sound bites--can't imagine why--so read for yourself.
It's very interesting, educational, funny in places and really, really long.
Effect without cause
I'm fascinated by synchronicity, what I suppose you'd call coincidence that's meaningful. Thinking of someone just before they call you on the phone is usually used as one example.
I went through a Jungian phase where I read up on it a lot. Jung theorized that it was an ordering principle like cause and effect, but that we couldn't figure out how to study it. Or something like that. Whatever.
But I'd just posted this comment before I stumbled across the Wright speech:
I don't trust reporters. I doesn't matter whether they're from the Washington Post or the (Moonie) Washington Times. The Wall Street Journal doesn't deserve any more or less skepticism as it tabloidizes like Murdoch's Post and Fox News.Exactly what I was talking about, but what's going on here? Why are Wright's words getting so twisted?
I've seen them cheat, across the political spectrum, by cherrypicking facts and quotes. So I check their sources if I can and if I've got time. Sometimes I post the links while I've got 'em, in case anyone's interested.
Posts
13 comments:
someone's scared shitless?
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04252008/watch.html
www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04252008/watch.html
sigh, everyone's got a different way
to make an url...
you can cut and paste the above, I guess.
What's even slightly wingnutty about that:
you'll be representing a government whose policies grind under people.
Iraq, deficit financing, health care ad infinitum, those things grind under a lot of people.
I tuned in a little to Reverend Wright's presentation at the recent NAACP convention. I thought Rev. Wright seemed articulate and persuasive. I haven't studied all he's said and done, but I agree with Jeff-this quote isn't a problem at all!
Ken. The link to the speech is broken. I've tried, but can't get through the html guards.
basically you can view the speech on www.hiphopmusic.com
but you need the rest of the code to go directly there and the link keeps breaking when I publish.
http://www.hiphopmusic.com/2008/04/rev_wright_national_press_club.html
so that ending is
national_press_club.html
It should be fixed now. Somehow it transmuted into the trackback URL. It's
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/04/the_full_wright_transcript.php
in case it breaks again.
About Moyers, Wright said 'but they edited that out' umpteen times.
Transcript from Bill Moyers Journal
I listened to the whole speech, including the questions and answers.
Really, Obama could do a whole helluva lot worse. I wouldn't be distancing myself from someone who is this smart and makes this much sense.
Frank Rich has an interesting piece on this Wright fiasco, and the lack of Right Wing equality for far whackier whack jobs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/opinion/04rich.html?em&ex=1210132800&en=e5d5126f1b93ece3&ei=5087%0A
Look to the Clinton campaign for the fuel that fires this particular burning cross.
Plus the media's fixation on political gamesmanship, aka irrelevant bullshit, over the responsibility of informing the ignorant masses.
Funny you should mention Clinton, Bruce. That's a follow-up to this story.
Hillary (plus supporters) is an opportunist; the rightys are looking for a Swift Boat (it's habit already).
To me though, it's racism, across the spectrum. It can't be expressed directly, so you get hoop-jumping like this. Wright can't say that directly, they'd turn it on him. He sure implies it.
I'm actually amused that he's the victim in all of this. You may not have noticed that I didn't get into the merits of his ideas. That's because I thought the treatment of him should stand alone.
Plus, I sure don't want to fly to Roswell and get backed into defending his views on AIDS.
But he's not my pastor, just a bright guy who's pretty interesting.
Oh, and Obama will do whatever it takes to get elected. Which makes him a great candidate.
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