Rolling Stone: Obama has "openly radical" background; another shocking Rev. Wright quote

Back on February 22, 2007, Rolling Stone published "Destiny's Child" by Ben Wallace-Wells (link). After first quoting an unnamed aide as saying that Barack Obama is not "wedded to any ideological frame" and quoting one of his friends calling him a "human Rorschach test", it includes this quote from Reverend Jeremiah Wright (now under BHO's bus):

"Fact number one: We've got more black men in prison than there are in college... Fact number two: Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run! ...We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the training of professional KILLERS. . . . We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God. . . . We conducted radiation experiments on our own people. . . . We care nothing about human life if the ends justify the means!" The crowd whoops and amens as Wright builds to his climax: "And. And. And! GAWD! Has GOT! To be SICK! OF THIS SHIT!"

The video of his speech is here.

The first fact may be correct. The second "fact" is only very slightly correct. The U.S. wasn't designed to be some sort of plantation; the use of slavery was an artifact of the age. And, those who are racists have very little power; those who have actual power in the U.S. are mainly interested in maintaining that power and in enriching themselves. I'll leave the guns and drugs bit to someone else if they want. The "killers" bit is probably a reference to the School of the Americas, but knowing Wright's other comments he could be referring to the U.S. military. Most of the rest is his opinion, and most Americans are going to strongly disagree.

In fact, even Rolling Stone admits he's an extremist:

This is as openly radical a background as any significant American political figure has ever emerged from, as much Malcolm X as Martin Luther King Jr. Wright is not an incidental figure in Obama's life, or his politics. The senator "affirmed" his Christian faith in this church; he uses Wright as a "sounding board" to "make sure I'm not losing myself in the hype and hoopla." Both the title of Obama's second book, The Audacity of Hope, and the theme for his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 come from Wright's sermons. "If you want to understand where Barack gets his feeling and rhetoric from," says the Rev. Jim Wallis, a leader of the religious left, "just look at Jeremiah Wright."

Comments

great the major media news blackout is crumbling rapidly

_The second "fact" is only very slightly correct._ More to the point, it's totally fucking irrelevant. The existence of slavery hundreds of years ago is in no way the, or even a, predominant factor in the problems of Blacks today in the US. And personally I've been fed up for a long time with the claim or suggestion that it is. It's a lot more complicated than that convenient excuse. Liberia has been an independent country since before California was a state; check out the conditions there. Or almost anywhere else in black-ruled Africa, for that matter. Haiti as well. BLACK CHILDREN FROM THE WEALTHIEST FAMILIES HAVE MEAN SAT SCORES LOWER THAN WHITE CHILDREN FROM FAMILIES BELOW THE POVERTY LINE. BLACK CHILDREN OF PARENTS WITH GRADUATE DEGREES HAVE LOWER SAT SCORES THAN WHITE CHILDREN OF PARENTS WITH A HIGH-SCHOOL DIPLOMA OR LESS. link [1]

Links:
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[1] www.lagriffedulion.f2s.com/testing.htm

I read this article at least a year ago and I thought, "This joker will never be President" and now look where we are. This odds of this making a ripple: zero. The press doesn't care at all, the left doesn't care at all, I can't quite figure out why the independents don't care. I guess it is a combination of the press covering for him and people hating Bush, Iraq, and Wall Street.

_...I can't quite figure out why..._ Think of it as political correctness on steroids.

Here is a report saying independents hate Obama and are voting for him anyway. What do you do about this? http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1008/Voting_for_Obama_anyway.html

"Feeling" and "rhetoric" are not the same as policy and politics. Ayn Rand got _all_ of her rhetoric from the COmmunists (e.g. "producers" and "parasites") but had very little in common with them except for an absolutist cast-of-mind. I got most of my rhetoric and way of looking at things from Robert "Bob" Heinlein, but I found much of his conclusions absolutely wrong. Please, ask yourself what you'd think if similar connexions were made between McCain and literal Nazis....