Nope. From here on, it seems the only time we'll get to hear about the issues is if there's scandal or intrigue attached (such as NAFTA and the whole Canada thing). The two candidates have stated similar views on most issues so now the game is trying to disprove the sincerity of each other's statements.

Exactly. This game of guilt-by-association has gotten out of hand in this campaign. And that goes for when they play the game with McCain as well. The candidates shouldn't be forced to apologize for the comments of his pastor or others who support him, especially when they were said years ago.

The media has been on a slippery slope ever since Russert brought up Farrakhan in that debate. I don't recall any other election in which the media has spent so much time talking about what the candidate's supporters have said instead of what the candidates themselves have said.

In a sense this is going from the frying pan to the fire. People might think, "OK, so he is not a Muslim, he is a Christian, but his pastor hates America?"

There is no easy out for Obama, and saying he "profoundly disagrees" may not be enough for many Americans.

One thing for sure, he cannot let it continue to boil over a hot stove. Look, the press is giving McCain a pass on his own crazy pastor who calls the Catholic Church the "Great Whore," but last time I looked, McCain was lily-white, and standards of "acceptable behavior" are not the same for blacks.

Obama, more than anyone else in the public view today, realizes that blacks have to do more than whites to achieve the same level of acceptance. Therefore he cannot play this the same way McCain is doing with Hagee, which is benign tolerance.

And there is no way he is going to debate in Philly with this hanging in the air because it will come up anyway, so he needs to have a good answer by then.

You know, I remember back in NH he had a run-in with O'Reilly and the latter asked Obama to come on his show. This might be the right time for Obama to accept that invitation and air it out with O'Reilly one-on-one. That might be interesting.

I know I'm betraying my race by letting the cat out the bag, but I have confession to make:

ALL BLACK PEOPLE THINK ALIKE. Tens of millions of Black people share ONE brain and ONE heart. We are completely incapable of thinking for ourselves. Every other race has the capacity to disagree with a person yet still respect and love them EXCEPT for Black people. One of the genetic characteristics of a Black person is that anytime ONE Black person speaks it instantly gets transmitted in the hearts and minds of Blacks everywhere.

And guess what else....millions of us had a secret meeting and decided to elect Rev. Wright as SPEAKER FOR THE BLACK race! We decided that since it is completely impossible for us to ever disagree with anything ever spoken from another Black person then we might as well make him our spokesperson.

So you know what...it is perfectly REASONABLE to believe that Obama wholeheartedly beleives everything Wright Says, because well...they are both Black so they MUST agree!

I mean EVERYONE knows that Black people all hate America, just like all Black people are good dancers and singers, all Black men can rap and basketball.

Barack is so lucky to be Black, he doesn't have to even utter a word, because anytime any Black person speaks it will automatically be attributed to him. What a lucky guy he is!

If Senator Obama is nominated, do you really, really, reeeeealy believe that the McCain people are going to ignore this issue?

Me too.

Myself being part of the 1%.

But of course, we're not supposed to discuss the substance of Rev. Wright's remark. We're only supposed to assume it's inherently wrong and debate the degree to which it reflects Sen. Obama's views . . . as far as we know.

That is the funny part, while I know most of his statements will be viewed as politically incorrect, some of them are just the truth. If you are trying to paint Obamma as a "black guy" that is a little pissed off by inequality, is that a bad thing? It may hurt his polling, but it certainly doesn't hurt his likability to people who have their eyes open. I am a white guy that is pissed off with inequality, and I am not affraid to elect someone who has a friend that puts his views bluntly.
Hey, at least he is not trying to discredit someones accomplishments because of their skin color. That would be discusting. Let me say.. God Damn anyone who would do that, and the people who would think that is ok.

omg...

how sad is that !

Actually, he sort of is. He's on Obama's African-American Leadership Council, a sort of a defunct advisory committee..

You have an odd definition of "cherry-picking" then.

How about this -- let's look into the Arkansas churches the Clintons attended over the years. How much do you want to bet we could turn up reports of hateful things being said from the pulpit, even if the Clintons weren't in attendance on those days?

If you look at the religious figures almost anyone in politics associates themselves with, you'll find controversial content. It's not fair to impute that to the politician directly, unless you want to say that our politicians should all eschew any sort of religious connection (yet of course a politician who says he never goes to church will have a harder time getting elected).

Take the Reverend Billy Graham, adviser and pastor to many presidents. He has said the following:

"Is AIDS a judgment of God? I could not say for sure, but I think so." (1993)

In the 1970s, he is on tape agreeing with Nixon that Jews have a "stranglehold" on the media, and saying of his Jewish friends, "they swarm around me and are friendly to me, [but] they don't know how I really feel about what the're doing to this country."

Do these things mean that all our presidents from Carter through Bush should be credited with these beliefs, or should have had absolutely nothing to do with the man despite his other wisdom and accomplishments in life?

You got offended. What do you want to make you feel better, a hug or a cookie?

You got offended. What do you want to make you feel better, a hug or a cookie?

Actually, Ferraro repeated her "affirmative action" bs on three occasions within a ten-day period. It wasn't a line or two taken out of context...it was a clear message that she intended to get out. She then exacerbated it with her aggressive non-apology. Two compare the two borders on Mark-Penn-reality.

Obama should not be defending this guy.

Why is that, precisely? Rev. Wright is making an theological argument, not one without precedent in the Bible, about what he perceives as unjust treatment by the state and by the majority population. Read again what ABC News writes:

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people," he said in a 2003 sermon. "God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

But, you don't get to say "Denounce! Reject!" just because some preacher dares to challenge privilege in this country.

(And yes, I understand the unspoken context: Barack Obama might be a Blacker-than-we-thought Man who is going to lead the Negroes in some sort of wide-spread "Get Back at the White Man" movement as soon as he gets into the White House... call out the National Gaurd, and such.)

* and, I apologize her if you don't know what I'm talking about, but you're just going to have to spend a year or so reading the Bible and grappling with its message.

Exactly. Between their indignation at a black man angry about his race's treatment throughout American history, and their horror over Obama's causal drug use as a teenager, I'm really wondering what these people are doing reading and commenting on liberal websites.

Nice post EmmaP--I agree with you. But I don't think most people in the world, or the US can tolerate such bemused, calm ambiguity...

What's genuinely worrying, Jaysin, is that it's the same people here who are defending Obama because he said he disagreed with his Pastor, that were calling Hillary racist even though she said very early on that she disagreed with Ferraro's comments.
This irrationality is truly disturbing - it's exactly the same mentally that Bush has.

Christian communities like the one Obama describes belonging to don't "drop the guy." There are standards in such covenant relationships that supersede politics. If Obama chooses to be faithful to his local community in that manner, I will sympathize. Do you disown a parent for his or her unfortunate opinions or remarks? This person clearly means a lot to Obama one way or another. I would respect his telling the media and, for that matter, the voters that this is not a public, political issue.

And if people want to oppose him for his private commitments, so be it. They probably weren't for him in the first place.