I keep hearing supporters declaring that Barack Obama cannot be held accountable for his Pastor's words. The reason that is consistently cited is that one cannot be found guilty by association. I find this assertion to be ridiculous. It is not simply association.
One supporter, comedian Tracey Morgan, described it like this: If you have a friend that likes prostitutes, that does not mean that you like prostitutes or that you visit them. I find this terribly reductive and non-analogous.
The more appropriate analogy would be: You have a friend who really enjoys prostitutes. He enjoys them so much that every week he gives speeches on the laurels of prostitution. You decide to go every week to hear his speeches. You decide that what he is saying is so insightful and instructional that you should bring your wife and children to hear his speeches. Every week... for nearly twenty years... listening to speeches about how great hookers are and returning next week for more. He is so inspirational to you that you have him perform a marriage ceremony for you and your spouse and perform a baptism on your children. You hail him publicly as your "moral compass" and as a brilliant and insightful man. After years of attendance and support from you, one day you are confronted by an outsider who claims that you approve of prostitution. Hearing this you reply: "How dare you? What makes you think I approve of prostitution? That person is merely an acquaintance. You cannot find me guilty by association."
"Blatherskite": one given to empty talk.
"Apotheosis": the raising of a person to a god.
See, e.g., Barack Obama
Pied Piper of Change? Or Just Corrupt Crony
In this excellent article from the Boston Globe, you can read about Chicago's attempt to develop and manage low income housing through private developers, and that Mr. Obama, the candidate of change, is nothing more than another Chicago machine-generated pol with his feet firmly mired in the muck of corruption. You'll see how Tony Rezko, FOB, (Friend of Barack's) whom we have known up to now only as a corrupt developer, was and is, in fact, a slum lord, although on a much grander scale than what we usually associate with that term. (Remember when Hillary tried to raise this issue? The boos and hisses she received? How DARE she express concern about public housing for the poor?) Using government subsidies which Obama helped them obtain, Rezko and other FOB's, some now actively associated with his campaign, developed low income housing with fancy sounding names and substandard construction within Obama's state senatorial district.
The article points out that it was Obama's law firm and Obama himself that represented these slum lords when angry tenants complained about overflowing sewage, inoperable heating units and rat infestations. And guess what? Just as we're expected to believe that Obama sat in his church for twenty years and never heard any of Reverend Jeremiah Wright's racist diatribes, now we're told Obama was unaware of the slum-like conditions his constituents were living in, conditions directly attributable to the thievery from public coffers of his political cronies like Rezko. So, what is worse? That he is so clueless that he never heard anything and did not notice anything (when as the senator of this district, this was his JOB), or that he is a liar and corrupt?
In 2001, more than 1,400 people lost much of their life savings when Superior Bank of Chicago went belly up, in part, due to how the bank was promoting subprime home mortgages. The bank's owners paid $100 million and agreed to pay another $335 million over 15 years.
This happened seven years before the current subprime chaos. Perhaps Superior's financial engineering tactics -- predatory lending, exorbitant fees and high interest rates -- became the textbook for the future.
Obama, who believes he is the real hope of the future, claims he will crack down on fraudulent brokers and lenders. He also contends he will make sure home buyers have honest and complete information about their mortgage options.
Despite this, Obama's current campaign finance chairwoman is Penny Pritzker, a one-time top official at Superior, which was named in a racketeering class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of the bank's depositors.
Additionally, several of Obama's top 14 donors are officers and employees of the same Wall Street firms.
There's Goldman Sachs, UBS, AG and Lehman Brothers.
And there's Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and a hedge fund, Citadel Investment Group.
These giants, along with five corporate law firms, as of Feb. 1, contributed more than $2.5 million to the same Obama who claims that Washington lobbyists won't fund his campaign.
Why should they when their New York offices are taking such good care of him?
Obama and Rezko
Demoagogue: a politician who gains and holds power by playing on the passions of people
"Perhaps it's my atheism at work but I found myself increasingly wary of and resistant to the salvational fervor of the Obama campaign, the idealistic zeal divorced from any particular policy or cause and chariot-driven by pure euphoria. I can picture President Hillary in the White House dealing with a recalcitrant Republican faction; I can't picture President Obama in the same role because his summons to history and call to hope seems to transcend legislative maneuvers and horse-trading; his charisma is on a more ethereal plane, and I don't look to politics for transcendence and self-certification." -- James Wolcott, Vanity Fair
Obama keeps his language vague and ambiguous, letting his followers (which includes journalists too) fill in the gaps with their fantasies and imaginings. Sometimes, the most pleasant thing to hear is the promise of something wonderful, a vague but rosy future that is just around the corner. This is the currency of Obama: the seductive orator just lets his audience dream. There is no greater anaphrodisiac, nothing more soporiphic than policy-talk. Obama does not explain how he will govern, or how things will be accomplished, because his aim is to lift people's thoughts into the clouds, where their defenses will come down. His seductive speech, an elevating drug, makes people not care that he isn't saying much of anything at all.
Obama keeps his language vague and ambiguous, letting his followers (which includes journalists too) fill in the gaps with their fantasies and imaginings. Sometimes, the most pleasant thing to hear is the promise of something wonderful, a vague but rosy future that is just around the corner. This is the currency of Obama: the seductive orator just lets his audience dream. There is no greater anaphrodisiac, nothing more soporiphic than policy-talk. Obama does not explain how he will govern, or how things will be accomplished, because his aim is to lift people's thoughts into the clouds, where their defenses will come down. His seductive speech, an elevating drug, makes people not care that he isn't saying much of anything at all.
Obama Quotes
"A light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany ... and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama."
“It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks’ greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere. That’s the world! On which hope sits!”
“It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks’ greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere. That’s the world! On which hope sits!”
Obama's "Moral Compass": Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright
ABC News report
"Jesus was a poor black man in a country controlled by rich white people" and Obama is like Jesus
"Hillary ain't never been called a n****r!"
"When Minister Farrakhan speaks, Black America listens. Everybody may not agree with him, but they listen…His depth on analysis when it comes to the racial ills of this nation is astounding and eye opening. He brings a perspective that is helpful and honest. Minister Farrakhan will be remembered as one of the 20th and 21st century giants of the African American religious experience. His integrity and honesty have secured him a place in history as one of the nation’s most powerful critics. His love for Africa and African American people has made him an unforgettable force, a catalyst for change and a religious leader who is sincere about his faith and his purpose."
"In the 21st century, white America got a wake-up call after 9/11/01. White America and the western world came to realize that people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just ‘disappeared’ as the Great White West kept on its merry way of ignoring black concerns."
"When [Obama’s] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli to visit Colonel Gadaffi with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell."
"Jesus was a poor black man in a country controlled by rich white people" and Obama is like Jesus
"Hillary ain't never been called a n****r!"
"When Minister Farrakhan speaks, Black America listens. Everybody may not agree with him, but they listen…His depth on analysis when it comes to the racial ills of this nation is astounding and eye opening. He brings a perspective that is helpful and honest. Minister Farrakhan will be remembered as one of the 20th and 21st century giants of the African American religious experience. His integrity and honesty have secured him a place in history as one of the nation’s most powerful critics. His love for Africa and African American people has made him an unforgettable force, a catalyst for change and a religious leader who is sincere about his faith and his purpose."
"In the 21st century, white America got a wake-up call after 9/11/01. White America and the western world came to realize that people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just ‘disappeared’ as the Great White West kept on its merry way of ignoring black concerns."
"When [Obama’s] enemies find out that in 1984 I went to Tripoli to visit Colonel Gadaffi with Farrakhan, a lot of his Jewish support will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell."
Beware of the false prophets!
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