Clinton fundraiser: Obama "worshipped" Wright

It should be clear, if it wasn't already, that the Clinton campaign has decided that it needs a diversion from Hillary's lying about Bosnia and Obama's release of his tax returns, and that that diversion is their using Sean Hannity's talking points to smear Obama with Wright's comments.  Not only did Hillary Hannity push the smear twice today, but it turns out that a member of Clinton's finance committee even went further over the weekend in an interview on Irish radio, including the despicable use of the false equivalence between Wright and David Duke.

The comments from O'Dowd -- who's long been close to both Clintons, having served as a key adviser on Irish affairs to Bill Clinton and hosting a big fundraiser for Hillary last year -- go farther on Wright than Hillary and her supporters have thus far.

O'Dowd said that the Wright comments raised "a legitimate question" and observed that "it's interesting that Barack Obama sat in the pews while all this was going on, and never once in any of his books or anything else" did he denounce Wright, adding: "He worshipped this man."

O'Dowd also compared Wright to Duke and inadvertently said that the Hillary campaign is actively making an issue of the Wright controversy, something the campaign (Hillary's comments today notwithstanding) has been careful to avoid doing. O'Dowd said:

"I think the issue that the Clinton campaign has seized on is that Barack Obama, you know, never once raised his voice to his pastor and said, `I think your language is quite extreme here, and I think you language is probably wrong.' Because let's turn this around. If this was David Duke and he was preaching on behalf of, and Hillary Clinton was in the pew, there would be outrage about this. And there can't be this double standard. Barack Obama has used race where it suited him, but when it doesn't suit him he backs away from it."

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpoi...

Apparently, the Clinton campaign has gone nuclear, believing the only way they can win is to swift boat Obama before the general election.  They apparently have decided that if they can't have the nomination this year, they will make it so that it's not worth having.

•  Well

  Heap a little more scumbaggery on Scumbag Mountain, I guess.

  by The Termite on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:08:02 PM PDT

•  my relay call to the Clinton campaign

  slinkerwink: 703 469 2008
  SIPRelay: Welcome to Sorenson IP Relay. A Relay Operator will be with you shortly.
  SIPRelay: This call is not encrypted.
  SIPRelay: Sorenson IP Relay does not accept international calls.
  SIPRelay: Call start time: 13:27:12 Mountain Daylight Time calling: 7034692008 Welcome to Sorenson IP Relay. I am CA2310(M). Please hold while I connect your call...
  SIPRelay: [Dialing...]
  SIPRelay: [Ringing...1...]
  SIPRelay: (2...)
  SIPRelay: (3...)
  SIPRelay: (4...)
  SIPRelay: (5...)
  SIPRelay: [Automated Menu]
  SIPRelay: [Female voice]
  SIPRelay: (Collecting information... please hold)
  SIPRelay: Thank you for calling Hillary Clinton for president.
  SIPRelay: We are happy to assist you with comments, questions, and concerns.
  SIPRelay: If you know your parties extension, please dial one at anytime, or for the dial by name directory, press nine.
  SIPRelay: To make a contribution to the campaign, please press two.
  SIPRelay: If you'd like to volunteer, please send an e-mail to [e-mail] or please stay on the line
  SIPRelay: and leave your name, phone number, and the state you wish to volunteer.
  SIPRelay: An organizer will contact you with more information.
  SIPRelay: To request a meeting or speaking appearance of Senator Clinton, please fax a request to 703-962-8607.
  SIPRelay: If you have a message of support, or comment or suggestion for the campaign, please press three.
  slinkerwink: press 3
  SIPRelay: (Pressing 3)
  SIPRelay: (Collecting information... please hold)
  SIPRelay: [Automated female voice]
  SIPRelay: Please hold while your call is transferred.
  SIPRelay: [Ringing...1...]
  SIPRelay: (2...)
  SIPRelay: (3...)
  SIPRelay: (4...)
  SIPRelay: (5...)
  SIPRelay: (6...)
  SIPRelay: [An answering machine has picked up.]
  SIPRelay: [Female voice]
  SIPRelay: (Collecting information... please hold)
  SIPRelay: Thank you for calling Hillary Clinton for president.  Your comments are very important to us.
  SIPRelay: Please leave a message at the tone.
  SIPRelay: [Automated female voice]
  SIPRelay: This mailbox cannot accept messages, because it is full.
  SIPRelay: For further assistance, press zero
  slinkerwink: press 0
  SIPRelay: (Pressing 0)
  SIPRelay: (Collecting information... please hold)
  SIPRelay: [Male voice]
  SIPRelay: [Explaining Relay...]
  slinkerwink: This is Adam. I'm calling through relay because I'm deaf.
  SIPRelay: Okay.
  slinkerwink: I read your candidate's interview in the newspaper today but hearing Hillary Clinton attack Obama like that made me mad. How can she do that? It's an attack on my church! I belong to that faith, the united church of christ!
  SIPRelay: What is the specific article?
  slinkerwink: I'm mad! I am going to tell everyone I know to vote against Hillary.
  SIPRelay: I do not know the specific article.
  slinkerwink: She said she would leave the church if her pastor said stuff she didn't agree with. It's in the richard scaife owned newspaper
  SIPRelay: So I can't really comment on anything, I don't know which article you're referring to.
  slinkerwink: this is the same newspaper that attacked hillary Clinton for vince foster back in the 90s. I can't take Hillary Clinton's damaging the Democratic Party anymore.You can forget about my vote in the general election!
  SIPRelay: OKayl.
  SIPRelay: xxx Okay.
  slinkerwink: tell Hillary she needs to drop out NOW.
  SIPRelay: The thing is the Reverend Wright deal is she really does have a good point.
  slinkerwink: no, she doesn't. I belong to that faith
  SIPRelay: If the pastor is racist or anti-American, then having going to that church for more than 20 years
  slinkerwink: I know the Trinity Church is nothing like that
  SIPRelay: You should be able to figure out that you should go to another church.
  slinkerwink: I have friends in Chicago. they go to that church. They're mad as hell about how three minute clips out of 10 years of videotaped sermons are being taken out of context. Your candidate Hillary invited Reverend Wright to the White House
  SIPRelay: Well, the only thing that we know about the church is what we have heard from the media and other people.
  slinkerwink: back in 1998
  slinkerwink: It was fox news that pushed this, remember? they're the ones that went after the Clintons. so why would you take a video clip edited out of context at its word from fox news?
  SIPRelay: It was in the 90s and Bill Clinton has meant tens of thousands of people.
  slinkerwink: why are you repeating right-wing talking points? I used to support bill clinton
  SIPRelay: There is a lot of situations where he is shaken hands with a million to 2 million people.
  SIPRelay: It is impossible to know everything about the people that go to the White House.
  slinkerwink: but I don't support him when he's race-baiting. Oh, please, Wright was invited TWICE to the White House
  SIPRelay: However these comments were made in June and November of last year not 10 years ago
  slinkerwink: If he was good enough for the white house back then. if he was good enough to have bill ask him for forgiveness for cheating on hillary....then why are they throwing reverend wright, a man they asked for forgiveness, under the bus?
  SIPRelay: Hillary and Bill did not go to the church for 10 years.
  slinkerwink: It's in the new york times article
  slinkerwink: It's an attack on my faith
  SIPRelay: It's a completely different story.
  slinkerwink: IT's an attack on people of fait. no, it's not. You guys are attacking the black church. that's why you're losing african american votes. do you know the damage your candidate is doing to the democratic party?
  SIPRelay: Well, I really can't comment beyond your opinion.
  slinkerwink: she might as well become lieberman
  slinkerwink: Of course you can't. What's your name?
  SIPRelay: If you fill it was an attack on your faith, and we do apologize for that, because it wasn't meant to be like that
  SIPRelay: .  These comments were made by Reverend Wright.  He is known to make comments like this quite often.
  slinkerwink: It's how people in the United Church of Christ are taking it.
  SIPRelay: We are stating the facts.
  slinkerwink: They are taking it as an attack on their faith.
  slinkerwink: THe facts you cite are based on a grossly misedited sound bite pushed by fox news.
  slinkerwink: I'm glad you spoke to me.
  SIPRelay: Well I can't comment on anything beyond that.
  slinkerwink: I know the truth now and I will publish this relay conversation and share it with my friends in Pittsburgh. thank you for showing your true colors. You are no democrats.
  brapolitics: end call operator
  SIPRelay: [Your call has been disconnected.]
  SIPRelay: [Thank you for choosing SIPRelay. Would you like to place another call?]
  SIPRelay: [Your session has been completed.]
  SIPRelay: Thank you for using Sorenson IP Relay. Your call has been disconnected. To place another call, please enter the phone number you would like to call (including area code).

  by slinkerwink on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:09:47 PM PDT

  •  Diary

    This needs it's own diary!

    Make sure it gets seen by more people.

    by Fawkes on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:14:44 PM PDT

    •  I already used my diary today

      by slinkerwink on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:27:11 PM PDT

•  I Don't Understand

  how any Democrat could still support Hillary Clinton.

  It makes zero sense.

  by Fawkes on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:10:24 PM PDT

  •  A lot of people still...

    ....remember the Clintons fondly and haven't been paying as much attention as you and I have. But they'll come around, either now or in November.

    by metal prophet on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:48:22 PM PDT

•  I had not idea he was with her in Bosnia

  Avoiding all that sniper fire must be hard work.

  by dan667 on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:16:27 PM PDT

•  Where are Obama people

  Hillary is out there attacking Obama, her people are all over the news with their David Duke comments, No one is asking her who her pastor is? Does Obama have no one who can speak out for him?

  by buckeyemike on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:19:51 PM PDT

  •  We have to fight lies with the truth!

    The clips that you have seen on YouTube and on Faux News are edited snippets that completely distort what Rev. Wright was saying.

    For instance in the God Damn America speech (Full Story and sermon), he wasn't talking about America as a country or a people, but rather he was talking about the government and its policies that have been twisted to the detriment of many poor and oppressed people throughout the world. He wasn't just talking about what America has done to African-Americans. Even with that, the curse, just like those pronounced upon Israel in the Bible, was conditional:

    ... as long as she tries to act like she is God and she is Supreme.

    This, in turn, was in the context of a sermon that simply contrasted God with Government and illustrated how governments (even good ones) lie, change and fail, while God does not. There is nothing hateful or anti-white about the sermon at all.

    For the 9/11 speech when he said the "chickens were coming home to roost" he was not directly quoting Malcolm X. He was actually quoting Edward Peck, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and deputy director of President Reagan’s terrorism task force, who had appeared on FOX News a few days prior to the sermon.

    Don't take my word for it! Follow the links! Listen for yourself!

    by sly1171 on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 02:21:08 PM PDT

•  Glad she's making it obvious

  Absolutely obvious. So I don't want to hear anymore bullshit about 'voting for the Democrat'.

  I.am.NEVER.voting.for.her.

  by rikyrah on Tue Mar 25, 2008 at 01:43:07 PM PDT