Obama campaign creates Web site to debunk rumors

[Tamikosmom]

Kermit, first I read Obama's book, the original version, the uncut, undoctored version of "Audacity of Hope..."  and I do opposition research. 

 

Tylergal ... the orginal 1995 DREAMS FROM MY FATHER has also been "revised" a few times ... the latest was 2007. 
The original can be purchased on EBAY ... $1800.00 - $2300.00.  I speculate that the Obama camp is snapping them up.

Janet

[Kermit]

I am glad to see tylergal posting again. I don't know how long you have posted at SM caseu but those of us who know tyler, also know her depth and scope of understanding within politics.

I honestly think it's naive for any US voter to believe point-blank, that our politicians aren't a melting pot to some degree -- Obama could nearly be termed as a highly unusual in that he experienced divorce and to some degree abandonment by his father, as well as being a bi-racial child, and born into the muslim religion. I think that can work for good and for worse within any human being, those are significant issues in the life of any human in relation to current US culture.

That being said I would not believe from the mouth of Obama or his wife any longer, simply due to the spin and turnaround with the Trinity Church. I want answers, I want to know how if a church can be your spiritual resevoir and guide (as well as it's minister) for many years - how you can just say it's a non-issue now?

I'd feel exactly the same way toward any candidate who built much of their campaign of support via their church as Obama did, and then walks away and expects it to fade away with no questions asked.

I think that debates are going to hurt Obama too, he's not strong in the debates and my sincere hope is that he will be forced to respond to serious questions without his strategists there to spin how to respond with emotional send-up's to appeal to the masses as opposed to direct and solid answers.

We shall see.

As a sidenote, I stopped to pick up the Vanity Fair with the Clinton expose in the airport yesterday, found it compelling reading and I also don't believe 100% of any such article is purely true -- but if even half of it's true, it's a real eye-opener.

I think you brought up a very good point.

How does a person leave a church where they gained their spiritual information and perhaps beliefs and for others to not expect others to think you don't adhere to those beliefs that are spouted from the Reverend whom in this case Obama was friends with.

I can only speak from my own personal experience. I was raised in a particular church where Blacks were not allowed to hold or participate in the priesthood and many other things that the church did. White men could. Asian men could, but not Blacks. (years later they have changed that, but when I attended that is what they taught us children)
Now, I left that church and all their beliefs. So does that mean I'm indoctrinated and only believe what I was taught as a child? The truth is - no.

Sometimes it takes a major upheaval as truth is revealed to open a person's eyes.
I like to think, such as myself, things happen for a reason and we are better people for it.
I can't speak for Obama or his wife, but one would hope he learned because he did resign from that church.

I am not only referencing Obama in this, but also McCain. He has made mistakes and regretted them.



Clinton is a sex addict. For people to *think* he changed - well ...................

[Tamikosmom]

<snipped>

As for Obama, he was not aware of the Rev. Wrights complete beliefs until that old codger exposed himself and at first, as you well know, he defended the man whom he considered a friend and good person, but then when Rev. Wright continued his tribe, Obama left/resigned from that church. I'm sure you have had issues at your church where they did some things you found out later were not of your beliefs and you separated as quickly as possible from that.

I always look at both & all sides before judging a man.

Obama lied to the American people at the end of April when he implied that he was unaware of Jeremiah Wright controversial ministry ... the ministry of the church he had been a member of for over twenty years.

Janet
_________
 
Obama Rips Rev. Wright
April 30, 2008

"I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992, and have known Reverend Wright for 20 years," Obama said. "The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago."

http://cbs2chicago.com/campaign08/obama.rips.wright.2.711401.html

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IN HIS OWN WORDS - DREAMS OF MY FATHER

Audacity of Barack Obama and Rev. Wright
March 18, 2008 01:00 PM EST
 
In Senator Obama's first book, titled Dreams of My Father and published in 1995 (after he had been elected president of the Harvard Law Review but before he had been elected to public office), Senator Obama wrote at length about Rev. Wright and his moving "Audacity of Hope" speech.
 
In Dreams, Senator Obama explained how he met Rev. Wright, whom he mentioned had been "dabbling with liquor, Islam, and black nationalism in the sixties."
 
He acknowledged that Rev. Wright immediately had given him fair warning that he was controversial, by quoting Rev. Wright as having said: "Some of my fellow clergy don't appreciate what we're about. They feel like we're too radical. Others, we aren't radical enough. Too emotional. Not emotional enough."
 
He also acknowledged that Rev. Wright let him know at their first meeting that he looked unfavorably on America and expected to continue to do so, by stating, "Life's not safe for a black man in this country, Barack. Never has been. Probably never will be."
 
Senator Obama left with one of Rev. Wright's "Black Value System" brochures.

When Senator Barack listened to Rev. Wright's "Audacity of Hope" sermon, September 11, 2001 was years away, but, Senator Obama admitted in Dreams, Rev. Wright castigated America.
 
Senator Obama put it this way: "Reverend Wright spoke of Sharpsville and Hiroshima, the callousness of policy makers in the White House and in the State House. As the sermon unfolded...the stories of strife became more prosaic, the pain more immediate...."

So it's hard to believe that Senator Obama was not familiar until very recently with Rev. Wright's position on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
 
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/

[nonesuche]

Kermit - I feel sure you know I respect your opinion - my one concern is the plethora of press around Wright's inflammatory sermons, some even exact excerpts that exist on the web for review -- please source some of this and read it.

Wright's true intent is not something new here, this isn't new rhetoric, not at all. I'd source some for you if I didn't have some pressing issues to tend to with work.

[Tamikosmom]

As for Obama, he was not aware of the Rev. Wrights complete beliefs until that old codger exposed himself and at first, as you well know, he defended the man whom he considered a friend and good person, but then when Rev. Wright continued his tribe, Obama left/resigned from that church. I'm sure you have had issues at your church where they did some things you found out later were not of your beliefs and you separated as quickly as possible from that.

I always look at both & all sides before judging a man.

Obama Explains Why He Quit Church
June 01, 2008 4:54 AM

ABC News' Sunlen Miller Reports: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., held a long press availability in Aberdeen, South Dakota Saturday night to discuss his resignation from Trinity United church.

"Michelle and I told Rev Otis Moss that we were withdrawing as members of Trinity. It's a decision that Michelle and I had discussed for quite some time after the National Press Club episode. I had discussed it with Rev. Moss. We had prayed on it. We had consulted with a number of friends and family members who are also connected to the church. And so this is not decision I come to lightly, and frankly it is one that I make with some sadness," Obama said in prepared remarks.

Obama praised the current pastor of Trinity, Rev. Moss and said that he continues to admire the work that Rev. Jeremiah Wright did in building up the church.

He insisted that Trinity itself is not a church worth denouncing. "I'm not denouncing the church and I'm not interested in people who want me to denounce the church, because it's not a church worthy of denouncing

More:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/06/

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PASTOR JEREMIAH WRIGHT'S RACIST, ANTI-AMERICAN, ANTI-ISRAEL WORDS AND THE AFFIRMATION OF MEMBERS TUCC

Best of Jeremiah Wright's Sermons Pt. 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=617eK2XIaLk

Best of Jeremiah Wright's Sermons Pt. 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaNBzU6iryo

[Tamikosmom]

Clinton is a sex addict. For people to *think* he changed - well ...................

Kermit ... I believe that people's hearts can change in regards to in every aspect of their lives.

However ... when you consider the racist, Marxist, anti-American, anti-Israel (pre-Palestinian) ideology of the individuals and organizations that Obama has associated himself with over the past twenty years and ... only disassociated himself when it was exposed during his campaign makes me very skeptical regarding his underlying motives.

Janet

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Obama Sought Endorsement of Marxist Third Party in 1996
May 29, 2008

By Warner Todd Huston

Here is some interesting as well as character confirming info about one of Barack Obama’s former runs for office. Apparently, Obama actively sought and received the stamp of approval of a Marxist third party that operated briefly in Chicago between 1992 and 1998. The group was called the “New Party” and was started in 1992 by Daniel Cantor (a former staffer for Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign) and Joel Rogers (a sociology and law professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison).

The New Party was a Marxist political coalition whose objective was to endorse and elect leftist public officials — most often Democrats. The New Party’s short-term objective was to move the Democratic Party leftward, thereby setting the stage for the eventual rise of new Marxist third party.

Most New Party members hailed from the Democratic Socialists of America and the militant organization ACORN. The party’s Chicago chapter also included a large contingent from the Committees of Correspondence, a Marxist coalition of former Maoists, Trotskyists, and Communist Party USA members.

The New Party’s modus operandi included the political strategy of “electoral fusion,” where it would nominate, for various political offices, candidates from other parties (usually Democrats), thereby enabling each of those candidates to occupy more than one ballot line in the voting booth. By so doing, the New Party often was able to influence candidates’ platforms. (Fusion of this type is permitted in seven states — Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Mississippi, New York, South Carolina, and Vermont — but is common only in New York.)

Though Illinois was not one of the states that permitted electoral fusion, in 1995 Barack Obama nonetheless sought the New Party’s endorsement for his 1996 state senate run. He was successful in obtaining that endorsement, and he used a number of New Party volunteers as campaign workers.

In 1996, three of the four candidates endorsed by the New Party won their electoral primaries. The three victors included Barack Obama (in the 13th State Senate District), Danny Davis (in the 7th Congressional District), and Patricia Martin, who won the race for Judge in the 7th Subcircuit Court. All four candidates attended an April 11, 1996 New Party membership meeting to express their gratitude for the party’s support.

The New Party’s various chapters similarly helped to elect dozens of other political candidates in a host of American cities.

One of the more notable New Party members was Carl Davidson, a Chicago-based Marxist who became a political supporter of Barack Obama in the mid-1990s.

In 1997 the New Party’s influence declined precipitously after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that electoral fusion was not protected by the First Amendment’s freedom of association clause. By 1998 the party was essentially defunct. Daniel Canto and other key party members went on to establish a new organization with similar ideals, the Working Families Party of New York.

This news pretty much confirms that Barack Obama is at the very least a neo-Marxist and also confirms the claim that he is one of the most far left leaning Senators we have in office today.

This man is no “new” politician, no “centrist,” and not interested in ever “reaching across the aisle.” This whole “new way” line of bunkum is all smoke a mirrors.

http://conservablogs.com/publiusforum/2008/05/29/obama-sought-endorsement-of-marxist-third-party-in-1996/

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DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA (DSA) - CHICAGO BRANCH

Thursday, February 14, 2008
Change Obama can believe in: Socialism?
By Cliff Kincaid

Campaign workers for Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama are under fire for displaying a flag featuring communist hero Che Guevara.

But Obama has his own controversial connections. He is, in fact, an associate of a Chicago-based socialist group with ties to the Socialist International, access to millions of labor union dollars and connections to expert political consultants, including a convicted swindler.

Obama’s socialist backing goes back at least to 1996, when he received the endorsement of the Chicago branch of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) for an Illinois state senate seat. Later, the Chicago DSA newsletter reported that Obama, as a state senator, showed up to eulogize Saul Mendelson, one of the “champions” of “Chicago’s democratic left” and a long-time socialist activist. Obama’s stint as a “community organizer” in Chicago has gotten some attention, but his relationship with the DSA socialists, who groomed and backed him, has been generally ignored.

http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/ss_politics_02_14.asp


DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA (DSA)
The Organization

We are socialists because WE REJECT AN INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ORDER SUSTAINED BY PRIVATE PROFIT, alienated labor, race and gender discrimination, environmental destruction, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo.

We are socialists because we share a vision of a humane international social order based both on democratic planning and market mechanisms to achieve equitable distribution of resources, meaningful work, a healthy environment, sustainable growth, gender and racial equality, and non-oppressive relationships.

http://www.dsausa.org/about/index.html

[Tamikosmom]

Think about it.  Something is not right.

 
 
Obama's campaign workers!!!  Obama's precienct captain!!!  The head of Houston Obama Leadership Team!!!
______________

Obama's leadership teamObama Workers Sporting Che Guevara Images
Thursday, February 14, 2008 8:35 AM
By: Humberto Fontova
 
During recent interviews of Obama campaign workers on Houston's Fox TV station, the offices of two Texas Obama campaign volunteers (including a precinct captain and head of the "Houston Obama Leadership Team") were found prominently decorated with Che Guevara images, against the backdrop of Cuban flags.

Two days after the Fox TV airing the Obama campaign finally went on record and in a terse statement described the Houston office posters as "inappropriate."

"The U.S. is the great enemy of mankind!" raved Ernesto "Che" Guevara in 1961. "Against those hyenas there is no option but extermination. We will bring the war to the imperialist enemies' very home, to his places of work and recreation. The imperialist enemy must feel like a hunted animal wherever he moves. Thus we'll destroy him! We must keep our hatred against them [the U.S.] alive and fan it to paroxysms!"

http://www.newsmax.com/fontova/obama_campaign/2008/02/14/72655.html

+++++++++

Obama Campaign Flies Cuban/Guevara Flag

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VRCeBSOOEM
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCja99KpjWU
 
 

[Tamikosmom]

 
What would JFK do?
By Jeff Jacoby
Globe Columnist / February 17, 2008

IN 1963, John F. Kennedy was murdered in Texas by a fervent admirer of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. In 2008, a large Cuban flag emblazoned with the image of Che Guevara, Castro's brutal henchman, is prominently displayed in a Barack Obama campaign volunteer office in Houston.

Obama has been widely compared to JFK, most notably by the late president's brother and daughter.  President Kennedy, a stalwart anticommunist, despised Castro and his gang of totalitarian thugs. But when word broke last week that Obama's supporters in Houston work under a banner glorifying Che, the campaign's reaction was to brush it off as an issue involving volunteers, not the official campaign. After two days of controversy, the campaign issued a statement calling the flag "inappropriate" and saying its display "does not reflect Senator Obama's views." Would JFK have reacted so mildly?

In December 1962, Kennedy offered a blunt summary of the Castro/Che record. "The Cuban people were promised by the revolution political liberty, social justice, intellectual freedom, land for the campesinos, and an end to economic exploitation," he said. "They have received a police state, the elimination of the dignity of land ownership, the destruction of free speech and a free press, and the complete subjugation of individual human welfare." Eleven months later, in a speech intended for delivery on the day he was assassinated, Kennedy regretted that Castro's "Communist foothold" in Latin America had "not yet been eliminated."

Were he alive today, it's hard to imagine JFK feeling anything but contempt for those who extol a dictatorship that has been crushing freedom and human beings for nearly 50 years. And it would surely pain him that so many of the cheerleaders are members of his own party.

The lionizing of Che, a sociopath who relished killing and acclaimed "the pedagogy of the firing squad," is not just "inappropriate." It is vile. No American in his right mind would be caught dead wearing a David Duke T-shirt or displaying a poster of Pol Pot. A celebrity who was spotted with a swastika-festooned cap or an actress who revealed that she had gotten a tattoo depicting Timothy McVeigh would inspire only repugnance. No presidential campaign would need more than 30 seconds to sever its ties to anyone, paid staffer or volunteer, whose office was adorned with a Ku Klux Klan banner. Yet Che's likeness, which ought to be as loathed as any of those, is instead a trendy bestseller and a cult favorite.

A few years ago the New York Public Library gift shop sold Che wristwatches. These it described as "featuring the classic romantic image of Che Guevara, around which the word 'revolution' revolves." But Che's idea of revolution was anything but romantic. What he cherished was hatred and murder: "Hatred as an element of struggle," he wrote in 1967, "unbending hatred for the enemy, which pushes a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him into an effective, violent, selective, and cold-blooded killing machine." It was a sentiment he expressed repeatedly - and lived up to.

With Che at his side, Castro toppled Fulgencio Batista in January 1959. "As soon as they had seized power," notes "The Black Book of Communism," a magisterial survey of communist crime in the 20th century, "they began to conduct mass executions inside the two main prisons, La Cabana and Santa Clara." As chief prosecutor of the new regime, Che oversaw the bloodbath, ordering hundreds of executions in the first months of 1959. Those he killed, "The Black Book" records, included "former comrades-in-arms who refused to abandon their democratic beliefs."

Like totalitarians of every stripe, Che didn't scruple at the death of innocents. "Quit the dallying!" he ordered Jose Vilasuso, a conscientious government lawyer who was seeking evidence against several prisoners. "Your job is a very simple one. Judicial evidence is an archaic and secondary bourgeois detail. This is a revolution! We execute from revolutionary conviction."

Time magazine once called Che the "brain” of the Cuban Revolution, and saluted his "icy calculation, vast competence, high intelligence, and . . . perceptive sense of humor." A better description comes from journalist Humberto Fontova, who observes in "Exposing The Real Che Guevara" that Che was for Castro what Heinrich Himmer was for Hitler and Lavrenty Beria for Stalin - "the snarling enforcer." Fittingly, a massive drawing of Che adorns the headquarters of Cuba's secret police in Havana.

That this sadistic thug's face also adorns the office of a US presidential candidate's supporters is appalling and disgraceful. That the candidate couldn't bring himself to say so is even worse.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/02/17/what_would_jfk_do/

+++++++++

Obama Campaign Flies Cuban/Guevara Flag

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VRCeBSOOEM
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCja99KpjWU

[Tylergal]

Oh, I bet all of you remember the Uncle Tom from the Bush administrations,Colin Powell, who supported the Bushes over the Clintons and John Kerry.  Well, now that he is supporting the brother, seems like there are a few things need to be said.

I knew Colin Powell when he was a young captain.  I respected him very much.  I viewed him as a patriot and yes, I was there during the Kennedy years and the Nixon years.  From the Pentagon, to the Congressional candidates and to the White House.  I can remember a lot.

Colin Powell was the brain child of Richard Milhouse Nixon.  Oh, yes, I know that to be a fact.  Been there, done that, was riding the high horse at that time.  He was promoted through all the following administrations, save Clinton's, for the genius he was although he was not a genius.  I know a little more about scores and how equal opportunity works. 

Well, now Uncle Tom has decided to support the brother.  I am just going to say neither is a brother, neither came from families who suffered slavery but the skin color is correct, so all things being equal, the brothers will stick together.

"If the winds shift and things get ugly, I'm sticking with the brothers."  Well, I don't know said that but I suspect it was said.  I do know who said, "If things get ugly and the wind shifts, I'm sticking with the Muslims."  That was Brother Obama.  I'd better learn the Koran too, gotta keep my bases covered.  A real patriot, this man. Not

[Tamikosmom]

YEAH HILLIARY!!!!

 

If you had continued to expose the Marxist friends and organizations that Barack Obama has associated with over the past twenty years ... you may now be contender for President of the United States of America.


BARACK OBAMA/BILL ARYES ASSOCIATION

April 16, 2008
The Pennsylvania Democratic Debate

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: … I want to give Senator Clinton a chance to respond, but first a follow-up on this issue, the general theme of patriotism in your relationships. A gentleman named William Ayers, he was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol and other buildings. He’s never apologized for that. And in fact, on 9/11 he was quoted in The New York Times saying, “I don’t regret setting bombs; I feel we didn’t do enough.”

An early organizing meeting for your state senate campaign was held at his house, and your campaign has said you are friendly. Can you explain that relationship for the voters, and explain to Democrats why it won’t be a problem?

SEN. OBAMA: … This is a guy who lives in my neighborhood, who’s a professor of English in Chicago, who I know and who I have not received some official endorsement from. He’s not somebody who I exchange ideas from on a regular basis.

SEN. CLINTON: Well, I think that is a fair general statement, but I also believe that Senator Obama served on a board with Mr. Ayers for a period of time, the Woods Foundation, which was a paid directorship position.

And if I’m not mistaken, that relationship with Mr. Ayers on this board continued after 9/11 and after his reported comments, which were deeply hurtful to people in New York, and I would hope to every American, because they were published on 9/11 and he said that he was just sorry they hadn’t done more. And what they did was set bombs and in some instances people died.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/04/the_pennsylvania_democratic_de.html

+++++++++++++

Why is Obama Hiding the Truth About William Ayers? Follow the Money
April 26, 2008 at 6:33 PM

In 1995, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was created to raise funds to help reform the Chicago public schools. One of the architects of the Challenge was none other than Professor Bill Ayers. Ayers co-wrote the initial grant proposal and proudly lists himself on his own website as the co-founder of the Challenge.
Barack Obama was the first Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. This appointment came at a crucial time in Barack’s life. He was on the verge of challenging longtime state Senator Alice Palmer for her job. When Barack decided to run, it is no surprise that he turned to William Ayers and his wife, Bernardine Dohrn for help in organizing the campaign and in hosting his first fundraiser in the district.

Obama served on the board for eight years until the Challenge ended in 2003. Bill Ayers was intimately involved in the Challenge over this same time period.

http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/04/26/why-is-obama-hiding-the-truth-about-william-ayers-follow-the-money/

+++++++++++++

Obama once visited '60s radicals
By BEN SMITH | 2/22/08 1:09 AM EST

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8630.html
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8630_Page2.html


From The Sunday Times
April 13, 2008‘
Terrorist’ link puts Barack Obama under fire
Another dubious contact is dogging the Democrat hopeful
Sarah Baxter

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3736043.ece


Obama’s Marxist Mentors
by: Ben Giles, May 28, 2008

http://www.campusreportonline.net/main/articles.php?id=2345

++++++++++

[Tamikosmom]

PART ONE

April 22, 2008
The Friends of Barack Obama, Part 1

When Illinois State Senator Alice Palmer decided to retire in 1995, she hand-picked local left-winger Barack Obama as her successor. In order to introduce Obama to influential liberals in the district, she held a function at the home of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. This was, really, the beginning of Obama's political career, and it linked him forever with Ayers and Dohrn, with whom, as his campaign has acknowledged, he continues to have a friendly relationship.

Ayers and Dohrn were famous radicals, and fugitives from the law, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Dohrn, actually, was the more famous of the two; she was the head, as I recall, of Students for a Democratic Society or one of its factions. Dohrn was crazy. She is the only public figure, to my knowledge, to approve publicly and enthusiastically of the Charles Manson murders.

Ayers was a would-be murderer of soldiers and policemen, but he wasn't a very good terrorist. He had the ill fortune to be the subject of a profile in the New York Times on September 11, 2001, in which he said that he didn't regret his attempted murders and only wished that he had planted more bombs.

In last week's Pennsylvania debate, Barack Obama was finally asked about his friendship with, and the political support he has accepted from, Ayers and Dohrn. Obama replied that Ayers had done reprehensible things forty years ago, when Obama was eight years old, and scoffed at the idea that Ayers's ancient history could be relevant. That was disingenuous, of course, given Ayers's 2001 regrets.

It turns out that we don't have to go back as far as 2001 to find that Obama's friends are as unrepentant as ever. Just last year, Ayers and Dohrn attended a reunion--no kidding--of what must have been the tiny remnant of SDS members who still haven't figured out that they were wrong about everything. Listen to what Bill Ayers, who hosted Barack Obama's first fundraiser, has to say about the United States. Not when Obama was eight years old, but in 2007:

At the same event, Obama's friend and supporter Bernadine Dohrn described the United States as "the monster." Obama was 47 years old at the time:

Barack Obama has declined to repudiate or distance himself from his neighbors, supporters and friends, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. There is a certain consistency of perspective among Obama's friends and mentors, which can be summed up in Jeremiah Wright's memorable phrase: "God damn America."

Listen to audio clips at:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/04/020358.php

+++++++++++

PART TWO

April 23, 2008
The Friends of Barack Obama, Part 2

Last night, in The Friends of Barack Obama, Part 1 I reviewed Obama's relationship with Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, who helped to kick off Obama's first political campaign and with whom Obama's campaign says he has a "friendly" relationship. Ayers and Dohrn were domestic terrorists in the 1960s and 1970s, and they are as radical now as they ever were, as evidenced by their own words. Obama emerged from the far-left fringe of Chicago politics, and his relationship with Ayers and Dohrn, like his relationship with spiritual mentor Jeremiah Wright, raises important questions about Obama's own political beliefs.

Obama has defended his relationship with Ayers and Dohrn by saying that Ayers did "reprehensible" things forty years ago, when Obama was eight years old. He says that Ayers and Dohrn are now respectable, mainstream figures in Chicago. But the reality is quite different; they, like Wright, are anything but "mainstream" in their views of America. The audio clips in which Ayers and Dohrn reveal their still-radical views were uncovered by Guy Benson, a recent college graduate who works for radio station WYLL in Chicago. Guy writes to introduce this series of clips:

In the process of doing some late-night research for both my own radio show and the program I produce, I stumbled upon a number of breathtaking videos featuring unrepentant terrorists William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. Both are now gainfully employed at major Chicago-area universities, and both have longtime connections to presidential candidate Barack Obama. The audio linked below falls into two categories: First, a number of "terror era" comments from Ayers and Dohrn from the late 1960s and 1970s emphasize how truly radical, violent, and virulently anti-American they were. The second batch comes from a recent reunion of aging radicals in November 2007. These clips show that Obama's pals are as unhinged as ever, and they severely undermine Team Obama's spin that Ayers and Dohrn are now "respectable" members of the political "mainstream."

The Top Five - THEN and NOW:

1. William Ayers Then: clip titled- Ayers fighting and upheaval

In 1970, the Weather Underground's top leadership was forced to go into hiding after three fellow weathermen accidentally blew themselves up while building an explosive devise in New York City. The bomb was intended to target a military dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey. While living in the shadows, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn participated in a series of short films. In this clip, Ayers explains how living underground served as a convenient "base" for his group's destructive plots.

2. William Ayers Now: - Ayers 2007 rebellion and Mao

Ayers addresses a Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) reunion in November 2007. He favorably quotes Chairman Mao's right-hand man while discussing the past and future roles of revolution.


3. William Ayers Now: Ayers on leftist strategy

Addressing the SDS reunion in 2007, Ayers outlines the Left's strategy for the future, which requires them to "speak in a language that is large, and generous, and encompassing…and then we have to act." (One wonders if a certain Left-blessed presidential candidate with a nice smile and a vague mantra of "change" might fit the bill perfectly.)


4. Bernadine Dohrn Then: Dohrn says "guard your children"

In this vintage recording (circa 1970), the voice of Bernadine Dohrn warns Americans that the Weather Underground is planning a series of violent attacks. She cautions her fellow citizens to guard their colleges, banks, and even their children. Dohrn explains that the revolution is designed to bring American society (or the "pitiful, helpless giant," as she so elegantly phrases it) "to its knees."


5. Bernadine Dohrn Now: US violent "monster"

At the same 2007 SDS reunion, Dohrn quotes Martin Luther King, Jr., referring to the US government as "the greatest purveyor of violence" in the world. She says she believes this sentiment to be true today. She tells the audience that living in America constitues living in "the belly of the beast" and "the heart of the monster."


* Also important, I think, is this 2007 clip in which Ayers describes his bizarre vision of contemporary America:

* There are many more. In this 2007 clip, Ayers describes the United States as an incipient fascist country:

* Here, Ayers recalls his own use of "guns and bombs" to try to destroy the government of the United States:

* In this recent PBS interview, Ayers talks about overthrowing capitalism:

* In this 2007 clip, Dohrn denounces capitalism and the American "empire:"

* A blast from the past: Dohrn declares "war" against the United States on behalf of the Weather Underground:

Listen to audio clips at:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2008/04/020362.php

[nonesuche]

kermit I think you and I were posting simultaneously prior, just wanted to let you know I appreciate your response and wish I weren't always so distracted when I post due to work demands - but I am.

The church I grew up in was at times, very old school and I too moved to other churches and being away in boarding school, we actually were allowed to visit any church on Sunday as long as we could walk to and from services. That opened my eyes too, for I had friends from different denominations and some of us switched off going to one's church one week, another the next? So even prior to going to college it afforded a fuller perspective.

What hasn't fit all along to me was in light of the educational credentials Obama has, that he would have ever been drawn into membership at a non-progressive church. I do view Trinity as a step back in time to fire and brimstone, as well as a group that has moved so far away from MLK's hope for peaceful protest, to an 'in your face' drive for reparations.

These are the pieces that I struggle with, I struggled a bit watching Michelle applaud Obama over and over on the podium the night he did win the nomination - not hugs or smiles but how she repeatedly held her clapping hands up nearly in his face. Maybe it's the way she responds to excitement or emotions, I don't know but what I do know is all of the puzzle pieces here are not lining up to a comfortable picture. One that I can make sense of and I think I am a very well-traveled and pretty enlightened human being. I've won awards for some of my work in diversity within the last decade so I think that's a non-issue for me.

It's how you use race or religion, if you see it as a part of what you are and not a tool to achieve with or worse, to use as a platform for your personal ambitions.

In a perfect world Obama is a mini melting pot - part black, part white, part muslim, part christian - that should work for many and not only black-americans or muslims.

There is a reason why that message of unity isn't resonating and as a result, I just cannot support him and hopefully all the pieces of the puzzle will come to the light eventually.

[nonesuche]

Tamikosmom- thank you for the links to Ayers and Dohrn, to say the least the abundance of dark corners in Obama's past trouble me more and more. I plan to listen to the radio links you provided this weekend.

[Tylergal]

It does not matter what happens, the Jewish community is bent on voting Democrat as they see FDR as their saviour and I agree that FDR deserves that credit; my family were totally in his corner but that Democrat Party represented by FDR and the GOP represented by Teddy Roosevelt are long gone and a new breed has taken over the patriotic, hard-working, middle-class, upper-middle class, downtrodden parties and now the Democrat Party is owned and operated by the most elite and richest people in politics.  More than 60% of the  Democrats in office are multi millionaires and their wealth far exceeds anything we have ever seen in politics before or hopefully that we will ever see again.

I am very scared to see Jewish leaders following this new Democrat nominee into what could be destruction by he is being promoted by some of the wealthy leaders in the community, many of whom are concerned about Lieberman campaigning for McCain.  Why would some Jewish leaders be ''concerned'' about Lieberman campaigning for McCain, since he more than anyone else is in touch with the heart and soul of the Senate and his own community, but more than for McCain, against Obama? The truth is the truth, irrespective of party and if they aren't willing to accept the truth about Obama from the things he's said and false promises he's made and already had to backtrack from, then they shouldn't be Jewish leaders. In fact, they show no leadership skills at all.

[Tamikosmom]

Tamikosmom- thank you for the links to Ayers and Dohrn, to say the least the abundance of dark corners in Obama's past trouble me more and more. I plan to listen to the radio links you provided this weekend.

You are welcome none.

I hope you are having a good week.

Janet

[Tylergal]

Obama is accusing Republicans of demonizing his wife.  After the Democrats finished with her in the primaries, I don't know that the GOP needs any help.  All one has to do is pull that little You Tube of her saying she was "I was never really proud of my country..." and "You don't need to get into the upper middle class, you need to stay down here and do the work that is needed."  Just where was she with her $4 million dollar salary, which rose by $3.5 million after her husband was elected to the Senate, when that advice was being doled out?  Huh, I think she was wanting "you" to take the low paying jobs because "she" wants the high paying jobs.  I think Mama Obama should practice what she preachers with her $2.15 million subprime loan that was obtained through James Johnson for that multimillion dollar house far away from "you" stay here crowd.

[caesu]

there is still a lot of debunking to do.
good that they put this site up.

the fact that such a site is needed shows that the GOP still thinks smearing instead of honest debates is more effective.
sad really, mccain himself was victim of the bush/rove-smear about the 'illegitimate black baby'. mccain should know better.
but apparently he knows he will lose in honest debating due to his closeness to bush.

[caesu]

"If the winds shift and things get ugly, I'm sticking with the brothers."  Well, I don't know said that but I suspect it was said.  I do know who said, "If things get ugly and the wind shifts, I'm sticking with the Muslims."  That was Brother Obama.  I'd better learn the Koran too, gotta keep my bases covered.  A real patriot, this man. Not

already debunked:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/therealquote
(last one)

try to get the facts straight. you seem to be in an alternative reality on all sorts of issues.

[Tylergal]

"If the winds shift and things get ugly, I'm sticking with the brothers."  Well, I don't know said that but I suspect it was said.  I do know who said, "If things get ugly and the wind shifts, I'm sticking with the Muslims."  That was Brother Obama.  I'd better learn the Koran too, gotta keep my bases covered.  A real patriot, this man. Not

already debunked:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/therealquote
(last one)

try to get the facts straight. you seem to be in an alternative reality on all sorts of issues.

I have my facts straight. I read the book where Obama said if things get ugly, he is sticking with the Muslims.  If you could only but read and comprehend English, you would know that what I said about "sticking with the brothers," was a play on words, second guessing the thoughts as to why Colin Powell is going with Obama.  You appear to be another uninformed Euro who has no business debating something of which you know zero since your newspapers are closed to truth.

[Tylergal]

there is still a lot of debunking to do.
good that they put this site up.

the fact that such a site is needed shows that the GOP still thinks smearing instead of honest debates is more effective.
sad really, mccain himself was victim of the bush/rove-smear about the 'illegitimate black baby'. mccain should know better.
but apparently he knows he will lose in honest debating due to his closeness to bush.

So how many votes do you Euros get in our election, or do you hold a dual citizenship?  Why your interest, our election is none of your socialist business.