mccain might not have a “pastor” for 20 years

but

mccain himself said “i hate gooks”

out of his own mouth

so its ok for the candidate mccain himself to be racist
but its not ok for obama’s pastor to say some racist things.
not obama mind you, obama has never himself said anything close

but mccain… wow “gooks” “tar babies” obviously is against homosexuality and voted against the ability to fight for equal wages

sounds like a great leader for america

You’re almost as bad as Wright!

“none”, falsely suggesting that McCain has only spent an hour, total, with his religious extremist supporters doesn’t exactly inspire me to believe that you are interested in the facts. You’re aware that Rod Parsley is McCain’s spiritual advisor, aren’t you? Or don’t you care? Hagee? That endorsement was actively solicited. McCain’s been making overtures to him for at least a year.

There is a difference, of course, with attending a church where the minister periodically says absurd and inflammatory things over the course of two decades, and actively soliciting the endorsement of an extremist minister whose record you know from day one. Who is of the type you have previously condemned as an “agent of intolerance.” In the former context, you may come to understand the minister as man and to appreciate his other teachings, even as you reject his extremism. In the latter case, you walk in with your eyes wide open. In the former case you may at some time feel you have to move on from your church, or you may decide that the minister’s positive side and your participation in the church community outweigh the negative. In the latter case it’s the minister’s large fan base, a population that largely accepts and endorses the extremist message, that makes the minister attractive – and that’s all you care about.

There is no indication that Wright was seeking to aggrandize himself, profit, or inject his views into public policy through his association with Obama. There’s every indication that ministers like Robertson, Hagee and Parsley not only want that, they make it a prerequisite for their support.

Even if we hold the statements of Obama’s minister equivalent with those of the likes of Hagee, Robertson and Parsley, by what measure wouldn’t McCain’s choices reflect far worse judgment than Obama’s?

And same goes for black racism. The point isn’t that there’s some sort of equivalence between white on black vs. black on white racism, in terms of harm done. But what are you really saying? That until we equal the score we can’t get over racism? No, the point is that racism doesn’t cure racism- it has to stop, on both sides. If Obama and his supporters won’t hold blacks accountable for that, then there’s absolutely no way that we’re ready for a postracist society.

I don’t know what history you think I’m talking about, but whatever. Of course white racism caused millions of human beings to be held in slavery. Did I somehow argue otherwise? I don’t have a problem with history as it was, both ugly and at times good. Human beings have been, over and over again, extremely nasty and brutal to each other, regardless of race, religion, tribe, nationality, etc I might add. Nor will I pretend that it doesn’t matter today..to an extent. I should hasten to add that whites did a remarkable job throughout history in enslaving other whites as well. Slavery was not solely a white-black affair. The Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Persians come to mind, among many many others. And the African slave trade would not have been so successful without the eager aid of Africans themselves btw.

But you know what? It wasn’t me that enslaved millions of other human beings including blacks, other whites or miscellaneous. The year is 2008. From my perspective, the idea of judging another human being solely on the basis of his skin or any other characteristic determined by his genetic makeup is completely and utterly nonsensical and illogical, not to mention disgusting and vile. It makes no friggin’ sense to judge someone on things (inherited physical characteristics for example) that they had absolutely no control over. That includes their sexuality btw.

Now if we are to say that indeed we are striving for a real post racial world, then every human being should be judged by the same standards, by his/her actions, his/her words, his/her deeds regardless of race, gender, religion, color, etc. And you don’t do that by using one standard for whites, another standard for blacks, another standard for browns, another one for friggin red, blue and green people for all I care.

I don’t friggin care that Obama is black. I really don’t, other than it would be really cool that an American who happens of black descent (and hopefully Hispanic, Asian or whatever down the line) is running for POTUS and has a real chance to win. It would be also cool if, sorry *when* that eventually happens in Canada, provided he/she deserves the job based on merit.

But I do care about what his policies are and I do think that his judgment, which he has made such an issue of, is even more important, given his very real inexperience, especially in governing. And don’t forget, if a Dem wins, he’s likely to have a fully Dem Congress. Given the disaster in the 6 years of full GOP governance and the disarray in the Dem primaries (which frankly should scare the crap out of anyone when these incompetents *try* to govern), a full Dem control of the government seems to me a disaster waiting to happen. And that judgment, given his long association with Wright, has, I’m sorry to say, been piss poor, at best. And you know what, he does use race to his advantage, even though he and his supporters pretend he doesn’t. And I find that unseemly, especially as his campaign is supposed to be post-racial and post-partisan. I call bullshit on that.

The fact remains that if he was white, and he had that kind of an association, he would be finished by now. Period. And God forbid if he was a conservative. The media and the liberal establishment would be crucifying him until he became political poison…and then some And you know what, rightly so. But because he is black, and because the media love the narrative, he gets a pass, and liberals, who have been busy demonizing conservatives for over a generation at the slightest bit of racism (whether real or not and I might add regardless of the context or circumstances) have been swooning all over him, marveling at his courage and bravery?!?! Seriously!?! It’s a load of shit, reeks of identity politics and is actually condescending to blacks as a whole, holding them to a lower standard than you would whites. It’s the soft bigotry of low expectations. Period.

“Racism, whether black or white is wrong. Period. But white racism was a centuries-long atrocity. Black racism is a tiny echo.”

Human beings are human beings, regardless of race, religion, language, whatever. At their core, blacks are no more or less racist than whites and vice-versa or anybody else for that matter. The determining factor is power (which virtually all human beings crave, regardless of race, religion, color, nationality) to feed their ego, their “immortality”. Self-preservation is at the core of every human being and the best way to enhance ones chances in life is through the achievement of power. It just so happens that Europeans were far more successful in achieving and maintaining power (for any number of reasons) than most of their contemporaries. The manner with which they did so appears barbaric to us, obviously, but that’s relative within the context of their eras. But, on the hole, they were no better and no worse than most of their contemporaries, only more successful. And they happen to be Caucasians, and like virtually all of their contemporary human beings at various stages in their history, thought that their beliefs, their “race”, their religion, their “tribes”, their ideologies were superior to everyone else’s (including between themselves; after all Europeans were most efficient in slaughtering their fellow Europeans). Universal human rights are a relatively recent, modern and I might add Western phenomenon, obviously.

So while black racism is an “echo” (primarily because blacks have never really been in a position of power relative to whites, historically, for any number of reasons), it doesn’t diminish its potential damage, nor does it somehow make it any less contemptible, poisonous and morally reprehensible than white racism or racism of any kind for that matter. Not too mention that the people it hurts the most are blacks themselves.

Sorry for the long post…

Presidential candidates meet many people in the course of campaigning for an electorate of 300 million.

McCain met with Hagee and Parsley for 1 hour

Obama met with Wright for 20 years

Judgement, not religion

White racism caused millions of human beings to be held in slavery. It caused them to be whipped, shackled, worked to death. It caused children to be torn from the arms of their mothers. It allowed rape on a wide scale of women who could not defend themselves.

Black racism has thus far caused . . . what exactly? Some discomfort?

Racism, whether black or white is wrong. Period. But white racism was a centuries-long atrocity. Black racism is a tiny echo.

Yes, a fringe figure who happens to be a vile, anti-American, anti-Semitic, racist demagogue, who teeny tiny detail also happens to be Obama’s chosen preacher/mentor for the past 20 years, a very influential figure per Obama himself. No biggie.

Nothing to see here, move along. Black racism ok, sorta (at the very least “understandable” dontcha know *wink, wink*)…white racism, especially coming from conservatives, The Greatest Evil In The History Of The Universe…off with their heads, no mercy.

Gotta love liberal hypocrisy and double standards. Liberal identity politics at their finest or worst.

“The Republican party is in hock to religious nuts. No equivalence at all.”

Of course, because it’s *known* that conservatives are racist at their core. It’s just a fact…as opposed to the innate goodness, love and brotherhood of liberals.

And you have the audacity to call Gershon a hack. Pot meet kettle.

Now McCain’s openly embraces the likes of John Hagee and Rod Parsley.

The Republican party is in hock to religious nuts. No equivalence at all.

McCain met with Falwell/Robertson/Hagee etc for 1 hour.

Obama met with Wright for 20 years.

It is not a question of religion, but of judgement.