It appears there may be yet another mini scandal involving incendiary comments from a pastor with ties to Barack Obama. Here is the video.
There is, in my opinion, a right way and a wrong way for opponents of Barack Obama to try and attack him in light of this latest scandal. The wrong way is for more guilt by association. I recently wrote a piece in which I tried to differentiate between fair and unfair attacks of guilt by association. It is one thing to sit in the pews of Trinity for twenty plus years and say nothing while your pastor attacks your country and do nothing. (as Obama did with Wright) It is quite another to be friendly with a pastor, and then have that pastor say something inflammatory. If we are playing that game, the McCain has just as much to answer for with Hagee and Parsley as Obama does with Pfleger.
What struck me about this video is the audience reaction. It is not of horror, shock or discomfort. The crowd was excited, comfortable, and totally enthralled. Now, take a look at a recent sermon by Reverend Moss, current pastor at Trinity.
The crowd reaction here is largely the same to an equally incendiar sermon. Of course, the crowd reaction to any of Wright's most incendiary sermons is largely the same.
So, the crowd reaction to Pfleger's most recent incendiary statements, along with that of Moss' and Wright, clearly show a church community that is perfectly comfortable with such thought.
In my opinion, the latest dust up should put to rest any ideas that Wright's most incendiary comments were somehow uncommon. The videos speak for themselves. The Trinity community is one that is perfectly comfortable with the sort of racist, anti American, and incendiary thought that each of the videos bear. That is proven by the overwhelmingly positive crowd reaction to each of them. For Barack Obama to claim that this was thought he was unaware of is just plain disingenuous. For that to be true, he would literally have to be totally unaware of the belief system of the entire church body.
That is the way he needs to be attacked in light of these new videos.
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3 comments:
Looks like I did this wrong the first time. Trying again.
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Mike --
Yes, the crowd loves this hate, that is the kind of church it is and Obama is quite aware of the kind of church to which he belongs. Little by little the rest of the country is learning about the opinions of his church and fellow churchgoers.
However, I will take issue with the McCain association game. Hagee said nothing anti-semitic, not at all, and this observant Jew sees nothing wrong with what he said. For a well worded review that is similar, but different from mine, see Dennis Prager's column last Tuesday on the subject. I think Dennis' analysis would be acceptable to all religious Jews, and as for the non-religious ones, well, they are all Democrats anyway. Regarding Parsley's comments about Islam, what is incorrect about claiming that the religion is inherently violent? Historically this is true and the flag of S.Arabia has a sword on it. Islam is at war everywhere it is in contact with the infidel, so why is this such an unfair characterization? It is more a matter of opinion than an anti-Islamic charge. McCain had no reason to distance himself from either, except to reply to the MSM's attacks on two Christian pastors (which the MSM loves to do).
That said, B.Hussein Obama is still a member of that church and your point about what the members of that church believe and clearly support is the major attack against BHO. Lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas.
Regards,
Robert Jacobs
May 30, 2008 12:05 PM
Robert, you didn't do anything wrong, I just need to approve each comment first.
In any case, your point may in fact be a good one about Hagee and Parsley however political, that would matter very little. The perception is that each made inflammatory statements. Getting into a debate about their worth would get no one anywhere. The point I was making is that Obama's affiliation with Pfleger is about as loose as that of McCain with Parsley. Thus, if Obama's opponents were to try and attack him by guilt by association, I think that is the wrong way.
So far, Hannity et al, have chosen this route and I think it is not the right way to go.
I think that this effectively makes the point that this is the sort of church this is. If Obama, after twenty years, didn't realize that, then he frankly shouldn't be President anyway.
This is not a place where people can come away with tools that help improve their lives and the lives around them. As a matter of fact I would offer that they become
emotionally drained, their creativity drained, their individualism, nil.
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