Bigotry

The Republican Party is proving increasingly anti-Catholic...or at least my knowledge of their anti-Catholic tendencies is increasing.

John McCain and Joe Lieberman embraced right wing pastor John Hagee. In fact, John McCain SOUGHT OUT Hagee's endorsement and McCain specifically said, "I admire and respect Dr. Hagee's leadership of the -- of his church." McCain went so far as to call Hagee his "spiritual guide." Only much later (long after Barack Obama had distanced himself from Reverent Wright) did McCain, under considerable pressure, abandon Hagee. According to a Catholic News Agency article:

It’s not hard to find evidence that Rev. Hagee does not think highly of Catholics or the Catholic Church. In a video discussing the biblical book of Revelation, John Hagee suggests the Pope is the anti-Christ, and that the Catholic Church is "The Beast" (17:30 and following) mentioned in the book.

McCain clung to Hagee for so long...despite the fact that Hagee attacked Jews, Muslims and Catholics. Hagee has been described as a bigot who "waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church." And McCain called him his "spiritual guide" and expressed admiration of this bigot.

Yesterday I wrote the following about Hillary Rodham Clinton :

Shameless.

Despicable.

Unfit to be President of the United States.

My words hit the front pages of both Daily Kos and The Moderate Voice. By evening Keith Olbermann had the following to say about Hillary Clinton's latest "gaffe" :

The most important part of the transcript is after the jump :

Shameless.

Despicable.

Unfit to be President Of The United States.

As it appears reported in the New York Post

Hillary Clinton today brought up the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy while defending her decision to stay in the race against Barack Obama.

"My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," she said, dismissing calls to drop out

To this blogger, Hillary Clinton has waged a campaign on bringing out the inner white supremacist out of many Americans who are frothing at the mouth over the prospect of having to vote for a black man. Of course, many other pundits and bloggers gave her the benefit of the doubt. Then her infamous, "white Americans" comment happened.

This after a long string of gaffes, innuendos and outright racist attacks that too many people in media decided to let pass and still give her the benefit of the doubt since many were coming from her own surrogates and even her husband.

Then Ketucky and West Virginia happened :

Are you telling me it is not in her mind that she has enough racists supporting her enough to go out and kill Obama for her?

Are you telling me this is not a shamelessly opportunistic moment of wishful thinking?

It is despicable and not only does it not have any place in this campaign. It has no place near the White House.

Hillary Clinton has demonstrated she is unfit to be President of the United States.

[ Editorial Note: Now we have the important part of the transcript. ]

This is one of those historic TV moments that people will be talking about for a long time. And let me tell you, I lost it as it was happening. Twitter or not, I was agog at the sight of David Gergen calling out Hillary and Bill Clinton on their racist strategy.

He even went as far as saying that there is a sense the culture is legitimizing the racist language and creating justifications that is allowing Clinton to base her electoral value on the racial composition of those of her voters who wouldnt not vote for Obama.

That's why it's particularly shocking to have seen David Gergen, a former communications advisor to Ronald Regan, say that racism is starting rear its head in ways we've never seen before; and to validate that for votes is counter to the ethos of the Democratic Party.

I mean, she's been talking about sexism in this race and she has complained about some in the last 24 hours.

You know race is really playing an increasing issue. And it also raises the question in my judgment of whether she shouldn't say, you know, if you want to vote against him because he's black, I don't want your vote. I don't want to win that way. This has no place in this primary.

She's raised the issue of sexism in this race and she's complained some about it the in the last 24 hours? Race is playing ... it's an increasing issue. That raises the question in my judgement, whether she shouldn't say, "You know, if you don't want to vote against him because he's black, then I don't want your vote."

And that's not even half of it. There is a powerful back and forth that is not included in this clip. Yet more importantly, CNN doesn't have neither a clip nor a transcript of this exchange (and the omitted one) on their site. There's the moments right before and after this exchange but no transcript for this important moment in US political history.

Goes to show how big media is at odds with it's own influence and power.

Watch this clip and see how David Gergen redeems the whole both republicans and the political analyst profession. To say this solidifies my admiration for him is to put it mildly : My admiration goes back to at least 20 years if not more of watching him do political commentary first on PBS and then on CNN.

WATCHI IT!

Hat Tip to Natalie (aka @natthedem) who twittered the video.

UPDATE!
Now with transcripts!

David and Michael have the uncanny ability to read my mind. David and I hadn't spoken in a while and yet the day he posted this photograph, I was toying around with a new banner for the front page with another photo of "Barackelle".

Yes, I've Brangelinaed Barack and Michelle, so sue me.

The front page image hadn't changed in a while not only due to the surprisingly long primary we're experiencing but because I have to code that particular part of the page by hand.

Not anymore, and not a moment too soon.

I've been DYING to use our galleries more and to be able to create impactful front page posts on the fly. Now we can. The image is being pulled from the a photo gallery called "Banner Posts". As long as the image is 660 pixels, we'll be able to have the site automatically pull a new image when a new banner post is created.

Awesomeness.

And I'm happy to test it with not only the woman who is our presumptive First Lady; but my namesake. You see, my full name is Liza Michelle Sabater Tirado.

Not only that, but Michelle reminds me a lot of my sister-in-law Milly. I spent quite a lot of time during my pre-teens with my oldest brother and his then fiancee.

This has been a primary rife with what I call The Opression Olympics.

Barbara O'Brien fisks Jonathan Martin and concludes that Obama won't get the racist vote anyway, why dwell on trying to win that constituency?

Well, because Racism, just as sex, is a currency that in this case, buys votes. A warning to racist mongers though. To quote the famous words of pop philosopher Justin Timberlake, what goes around, comes around.

Here is John Hagee twisting the Bible in order to justify the war in Iraq as a necessary war against Islam and one that has to be taken to its ultimate consequences --the elimination of Islam. Why? Well, they don't say it in the clip but to these people saving Israel is necessary so Christians can ultimately convert Jews and return Israel to the Christian Faith :

Here is Rod Parsley calling for the end of the "homosexual agenda" from McCain's "spiritual advisor" and a "strong, true, consistent conservative",

H/T To Duke over at Migra Matters.

Image Credit : BarackObama.com at Flickr

Michael has the whole text over at The Daily Gotham. The speech is flawless but this quote resonates with me as also a fellow "biracial American" :

I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton’s Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I’ve gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world’s poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners – an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

It’s a story that hasn’t made me the most conventional candidate. But it is a story that has seared into my genetic makeup the idea that this nation is more than the sum of its parts – that out of many, we are truly one.

All the Clintonistas of the blogosphere, as embodied by the likes of Talk Left and their cheerleaders, have their panties in a bunch because Michelle Obama dared to hesitate about supporting Hillary Clinton, if she were to be the nominee.

I want to make this clear right now :

Either reject the Clintons now or end up extending the Bush legacy with 4 years of Billary in the White House.

With Obama? Insiders would fight tooth and nail to maintain the status quo, but it would be harder to justify with a Presidency predicated on Change. Especially given what's he's built is not a campaign but a movement.

So to those who continue deluding yourselves saying any Democrat is better than any Republican, you would be wise to head over to Booman Tribune.

Martin Longman, Booman himself, has been the wild man in the desert, screaming the truth behind the "Hillary is as good as Barack" ruse. For him, it's simple : It's about integrity. It's about fighting the myopia that plagues liberals "with a stagering lack of sophistication". It'a about taking a stand and walking away from cowardice.