On Sunday night, in an appearance before the Detroit N.A.A.C.P., Mr. Wright mocked the regional dialects of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. I’m not sure how he felt that was helpful in his supposed quest to bring about a constructive discussion about race and reconciliation in the U.S.What he is succeeding in doing is diminishing the stature of Senator Obama. A candidate who stands haplessly by as his former spiritual guide roams the country dropping one divisive bomb after another is in very little danger of being seen by most voters as the next J.F.K. or L.B.J.
More:
My guess is that Mr. Wright felt he’d been thrown under a bus by an ungrateful congregant who had benefited mightily from his association with the church and who should have rallied to his former pastor’s defense. What we’re witnessing now is Rev. Wright’s “I’ll show you!” tour.For Senator Obama, the re-emergence of Rev. Wright has been devastating. The senator has been trying desperately to bolster his standing with skeptical and even hostile white working-class voters. When the story line of the campaign shifts almost entirely to the race-in-your-face antics of someone like Mr. Wright, Mr. Obama’s chances can only suffer.
Beyond that, the apparent helplessness of the Obama campaign in the face of the Wright onslaught contributes to the growing perception of the candidate as weak, as someone who is unwilling or unable to fight aggressively on his own behalf.
Several thoughts:
1. The next speech Obama gives about this matter will be far more important than the first one he gave.
2. This is exactly the reason Hillary Clinton stayed in the race, hoping for a moment like this.
3. For some reason, I am reminded of Mel Gibson's Jew-hating father, and the way his mouth threatened to destroy the good work his son did.
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"I worked at TWT for three years in the early 1990s. Most people who work there aren't Moon followers, and wouldn't know basic Unification theology if it bit them on the nose."
Ok Rod, so most people who work at the washington times aren't rev. moon followers, so which ones are? the most important ones? who sets editorial policy? and you, a political and religious reporter and author, worked for one of the weirdest and richest christians on the planet for three years and never had any notion of where you're paycheck came from and the influence of your paper. It never crossed your mind while you cashed your paycheck that the washington times was a huge money loser. that's laughable. Where did the money for your paycheck come from, by the way?
and now you want to convince the world reverand wright is the boogy man and you know nothing of reverand moon. nice try.
Rod, you made an awful lot of default assumptions when you responded to me, like that I must be an Obama supporter and a Wright defender, and am blaming the Wright business on a "right wing spin machine" when in fact, I was just interested in yours and your conservative colleagues' take on Hagee. You seem quite exercised about Rev. Wright, but I am in fact interested in what you think about Hagee.
I didn't say republicans attended his chuch. even they are not that stupid!
So your analogy is fatally flawed. None of the Republican field were Moonies for at least 20 years, so none are subject to
Moon is not a Christian in any meaningful sense of the word, either. Claiming you are the messiah will do that to your creedal bona fides.
So it's a bizarre comparison, unless you are alleging Wright isn't a Christian. Which would be marginally sillier than claiming that Moon *is*, but I digress.
Finally, the Washington Times has a subscription base somewhere south of 150K and is in the process of layoffs. If TWT and Moon are the great rightwing boogeymen agitating you, you have remarkably untroubled nights.
Basically, what you are saying is that Moon spends money in politics. Much more than Rev. Wright, even though Moon has no protege in the field (unlike Wright).
And? When you compare influence and raw dollars, Moon is a bit player in politics compared to Soros.
"subject to comparable formative influence."
It looks like it wasn't only the white racists who weren't ready for an Obama candidacy, apparently the black racists weren't ready either.
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