How is that sentence racist Mouse? I don't agree with everything in the above post, but what makes that sentence ignorant and racist?

"And so what if he's part Arab? You really think that him being Arab has any sway on his views?"

Well, yes. We're all affected by our upbringing. Inferring that he could be a radical terrorist due to his heritage is pretty racist, but Obama's speeches are all about his background and heritage and how he's part of a race who's been oppressed. He likes to emphasize the 'victim' part to his advantage. Someone who hangs wih billionaires and flies G5's is hardly a victim.

I don't think he's the anti-Christ, more likely he's the character from that Grisham novel - nice, and speaks well, but an empty suit - he's done nothing, accomplished nothing, but speaks well and there's an awful lot of white guilt carrying him forward. What sealed it for me was catching Corbin Bernsen on the Tonight Show a few months back - he was talking about how he usually voted republican, that he voted for Bush the last 2 elections, but he saw this election as a way to finally fix all the oppression that blacks have suffered over the years. It had nothing to do with Obama's accomplishments (there aren't any unless you count getting elected) and there's no substance to his vision, but Corbin saw voting for Obama as a way to make up for his guilt about slavery. That by itself puts millions of black Americans down by saying they don't have anyone with qualifications but we'll vote for whoever you put up so we can feel better.

Right now we're seeing the results of millionaires and billionaires and their propaganda machines on both sides. Get used to it because we'll be seeing a lot more of it in the next 3 months.

LOL!

My understanding of one of the points of the article is that Obama is representing himself as the candidate for the African American, the one who knows and understands their oppression, beginning with slavery. What I believe Dr. Wheeler is suggesting is that Obama's roots are mostly middle eastern, not African, and by his own admission not caucasion; so his first hand perspective and knowledge of African American enslavement isn't any keener than that of the white man's (slave owner to slave owner).

Another aspect is the fact that Rev. Wright was his pastor and long time friend of 20 years. Wright hates the white race and this country. I find it difficult to believe that the widely publicized sermon was the first of it's kind. Yet, Obama sat in the pews of that church for years and never admonished his pastor until it became a factor affecting his campaign.

The last thing I would add is Obama's elequence as a speaker. I am certain that he changed thousands of votes during his acceptance speach. But here's something that I found hugely interesting: I read an article ages ago, and I can't reproduce it now, but it was about two American GI's that were in Germany and witnessed first hand one of Hitler's speeches. The people came in masses to hear him and they said that he was such an incredible speaker that by the end of the speech, they were raising their hands saluting a "Heil Hitler" alongside the Germans. It's a pyschological response, it's emotional and in business it's called "groupthink", where you go along with the crowd instead of voicing your own opinion. Charisma truly carries a very long way. Not to mention that Obama has made history.

There's an underlying feeling of mistrust that I get when I listen to him, but I can't put my finger on it. And I certainly couldn't vote for a man whose wife would barge into my house in my dream and demanded a flavor of teabag that I didn't have in my cabinet. That is just plain rude...

OOPS:

Former Texas Rep. Charlie Wilson -- yes, that Charlie Wilson -- was speaking at an anti-war rally when he, um, flubbed a line:

"We should be led by Osama bin Laden," he said, then quickly corrected himself. "I mean Obama and Biden."

You know, Ted Kennedy made a similar slip.

I thought Fred Thompson and Joe Lieberman were good last night, but Rudy and Sarah are knocking it out of the park! They make me proud

This could possibly be the end of Sarah once the media gets hold of it, but I am SOOOOO excited and thrilled about it...

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1766638341

Not quite a Rev. Wright video, eh?

New Presidential Candidate... It's someone we know!

There's an effort to elect an unknown random person as President... and it's someone we know! Watch this online video about the surprising new nominee:

http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=46832&altf=Fncjf&altl=Tdbjb

BARACK OBAMA'S EMAIL HACKED! Here's a screenshot.

anyone else besides myself, and probably joel, wish it would have been a mccain/romney ticket?

I really can't vote republican this time around because of palin. if the gop is hoping for her to run for president after mccain that would an instant loss.

kind of sucks though. I think mccain could have won with romney

I like Romney, but I don't see an issue with Palin. Do you really think the people who are skewering Palin for her Christian views would have went any lighter on Romney and his Mormon views?

Palin brings a lot of excitement to the ticket that was boring up until now... they were already cuing up the snore jokes on TV prior to the convention. I think McCain/Romney would not have been much better than Dole/Kemp - they got their clocks cleaned in '96.

It should be quite interesting to see how Thursday night turns out

palin is severly inexperienced. also, she has a whole lot of scanal following her. the mess with the trooper, her comments on russia, her stammering for a response with katie couric, everything leads me to believe that she will be a disaster in the white house.

???

She has as much/more experience as/than Obama, who's running for president (and who has MUCH more scandal following him, doesn't know how many states are in the U.S. and stammers for a response just about every time an unscripted question is asked of him). Biden is a walking gaffe-factory himself - he has blasted their own commercials more than once in the last 2 weeks

It will definitely be interesting Thursday night, I believe she'll more than hold her own

I'll wait until Thursday to reserve my final judgment. I'm just saying that McCain could have had a much more qualified running mate than Palin. She's too extreme on too many subjects for my liking.

I'm not sure what would considered wierder about Mormons than about Palin attending a church that proclaimed Alaska as some sort of refuge from the apocalypse. We don't drink coffee? is that wierder?


Other election year issue... do your pastors, preachers whatever take any political stance from the pulpit? In the LDS church there is a statement of political nuetrality that is issued every election cycle. Most topics from the pulpit revolve around every day Christian living and how we can be more like Christ very little that could be borderline political is ever even broached. As a result I find this current debate to be puzzling. I guess I've never experienced a highly politicized church environment.

By IRS statute/rule, politics can't be preached from the pulpit if they are to maintain their 501(c)(3) status - I understand ~30 pastors defied that this past Sunday and sent their transcripts to the IRS. The pastors are saying that IRS rules do not trump the Constitution. Lots of other non-profits can say whatever political speech they want and do not have limits placed on them by the IRS.

Palin - I understand they were saying something like "when the apocalypse happens, we're in the perfect location to be a refuge for other Christians who need a place to go" - sanctuary. The weirdness of it fluctuates depending on your beliefs of A-Millenial, Pre-Millenial and Post-Millenial. It really isn't that weird, especially in the light of people being proud of where they are from. "Refuge from the Apocalypse" doesn't even come close to the weirdness that was Rev's Wright and Fleugler.

If that is the worst the thousands of media hacks that are digging through Palin's trash can find, then she doesn't have much to hide. Please don't rely on SNL for your political news.

I like the SNL Palin even better than the real thing.

My other point was this, although the LDS church has made statements regarding it's support for anti-abortion legislation or in support of traditional marriage, I've never sat through a sermon about it.

Mostly the topics at church are much more mundane...
"How to be a better dad by applying Christ-like principles"
"The importance of serving others as Christ did"
"The restoration of the gospel of Christ"
"Love your neighbor"
"Keep the commandments"
"Keep the Sabbath Day Holy"


And it seems to me that if our churches nationwide would stick to that sort of stuff, we wouldn't ever need to talk about the other. Any thoughts?

I don't see how talking about that list of things would negate the need for political discussion - in moderation, I'm sure, but it's definitely helpful. Our elected officials could decide if we get to gather at all - it's not much of a leap from talking about "bitter people clinging to their guns and religion" to legislating our rights away.

Fred Thompson on Palin vs Biden's qualifications :

"Governor Palin’s every comment was scrutinized by the media and judged against what Jefferson or Lincoln might have said. Never mind that her counterpart, the 30-year-Washington-veteran Joe Biden, apparently is unaware that America relies upon coal for a lot of its electricity or that he recently referred to a top level U.S. official’s visit to Iran that never happened. That’s just Joe being Joe – protected by the sheer number of his gaffes and the fact that he is Barack Obama’s running mate."