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By Elliot D. Cohen
$39.10
By David Mamet
$40
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After laying low for some time, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright has been speaking out about the controversy that has tarnished his name. The minister seemed to enjoy this encounter with the media, too many elements of which relied on YouTube to lay out the facts of their stories.
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www.flickr.com/photos/emilymills
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By Bill Boyarsky — When looking at Sen. Barack Obama’s primary election results, I always check the white vote first. I imagine many Democratic National Convention superdelegates do, too. The reason is obvious: Obama is the first African-American with a strong chance of winning the presidency, and his prospects depend on whether whites will give him a vote.
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By Eugene Robinson — Who picked this movie? A few months ago, the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination looked as if it would be the feel-good political campaign of the decade, if not the century. Instead, we’re having to endure an endless loop of “Alien vs. Predator.”
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Perhaps it was inevitable: The Democrats’ battle for the presidential nomination has now led us into the thicket of race and religion.
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Lesser journalists continue to characterize the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s sermons as hate speech, without ever having heard more than snippets of them. As Wright tells the great Bill Moyers, the meaning of his sermons has been deliberately distorted to achieve a political goal, and it worked. Updated.
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By Marie Cocco — The Pennsylvania Turnpike was a highway to nowhere for Barack Obama.
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Flickr / o2ma / ninjapoodle
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The United States of America holds nearly one-quarter of the world’s prisoners. That’s because of an alarmingly high incarceration rate—the highest by far in the world—that strikes some as tough and others as simply barbaric. About one in every 100 adult Americans sits behind bars. Oh, and it’s a racist system, to boot. Take that, China!
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By Ellen Goodman — Whether Democrats view Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton as the ideal change agent comes down to how they think change is made.
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Agence France-Presse
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By David Sirota — Hillary Clinton’s win over Barack Obama Tuesday highlights the racial motivations of at least some Pennsylvania voters.
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The New York Times editorial board, which endorsed Hillary Clinton early and enthusiastically, has had enough of negativity in the race for the White House: “It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election.”
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wyff4.com
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Pastor Roger Boyd claims he just wanted to get folks thinking last Thursday when he chose a controversial message to run on the sign in front of the Jonesville Church of God in Jonesville, S.C.: “OBAMA OSAMA HUMM ARE THEY BROTHERS?”
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Flickr / Photo Mojo
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Speaking over the phone to Philadelphia’s WHYY, Bill Clinton defended his controversial comments following the South Carolina primary, saying the Obama campaign had played the race card against him. After the interview, apparently neglecting to hang up, the former president could be heard using language not normally aired on public radio: “I don’t think I should take any s—- from anybody on that, do you?” Update: Denial.
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johnmurneysblog.blogspot.com
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For presidential candidates, celebrity endorsements can be a mixed bag—especially when the star in question is a polarizing figure, as is the latest famous figure to give the nod to Barack Obama: audacious auteur Michael Moore.
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msnbc.com
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As the race for the Democratic nomination slogs ahead, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Barack Obama with a 10-point national lead over Hillary Clinton, with the added insult of six in 10 voters seeing Clinton as neither honest nor trustworthy.
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wikimedia.org
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U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis of Kentucky has asked Barack Obama’s forgiveness for a racially charged comment about the candidate’s readiness to handle national security. Davis told a group of fellow Republicans Saturday, “That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button.”
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By Eugene Robinson — Oh please oh please oh please. I know it’s undignified to beg, but please let John McCain pick Condoleezza Rice as his running mate.
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Flickr / Joe Crimmings Photography
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By Bill Boyarsky — Real politicians don’t quit. They are defeated, indicted, jailed, die or, in some jurisdictions, ousted by term limits. So don’t expect Hillary Clinton to surrender just yet.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — In 1968, American liberalism suffered a blow from which it has still not recovered.
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By Eugene Robinson — Much has changed in the years since Martin Luther King Jr.‘s death, and yet many black Americans struggle now more than ever. We must acknowledge progress if we are to take up the work that is left incomplete.
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By Ellen Goodman — Many families are split when it comes to the race for the Democratic nomination, and that says something about the dialogue between generations.
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Flickr / Llima
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A new poll shows Barack Obama taking a lead over Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania for the first time. His two-point advantage marks a shift of 28 points from the last Public Policy Polling survey, which was conducted just before Obama’s race speech. Other polls show Clinton holding a lead, though by diminishing margins.
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By Amy Goodman — It has been 40 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tenn., while standing on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Even Obama has said his rival should stay in the race, but how will she campaign? Negativity has hurt the once-mighty Clinton brand.
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By Marie Cocco — Have you noticed something similar about those Obama campaign surrogates and the media soothsayers who have started a drumbeat to force Clinton out of the campaign? Hint: They tend to share a certain anatomical attribute.
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AP photo /Tony Avelar
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By Bill Boyarsky — More than a quarter of a century before Barack Obama made his name with a speech at the Democratic National Convention, another African-American politician, Willie L. Brown Jr. of San Francisco, did the same—but under much different circumstances.
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By Eugene Robinson — Talk about not being able to catch a break. To pummel a boxing metaphor, it was Barack Obama who got tagged with a roundhouse right, flush on the chin—but it was Hillary Clinton, from early indications, who ended up nursing a sore jaw and wondering what it was that hit her.
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By David Sirota — Since the 1960s, bigotry has undergone an aesthetic makeover. Today, the most pernicious racists do not wear pointy hoods, scream epithets and anonymously burn crosses from behind masks. They don starched suits, recite sententious bromides and stage political lynchings before television cameras.
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AP photo / Brian Kersey
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The Rev. Madison Shockley, who presides over a congregation of the same denomination as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, joins a panel of Truthdiggers to investigate the controversy surrounding Barack Obama’s church. How can a predominantly black church be described as separatist and hateful, Shockley asks, when it is part of an overwhelmingly white denomination?
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Fox newsman Chris Wallace just bit the hand that feeds him talking points. While a guest on “Fox and Friends,” Wallace took his colleagues to task for their coverage of Obama and race, accusing them of both belaboring and distorting the story.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Let’s ask the hard question about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright: Is he as far outside the African-American mainstream as many of us would like to think?
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By Eugene Robinson — Barack Obama tells the columnist why he chose to ignore the collective political wisdom and confront the issue of race head-on. Having survived the encounter, his speech on the subject could change the way Americans understand one another.
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As the controversy over remarks by his former pastor continues to get play in the media, Barack Obama escalated the damage control by giving a major speech on the subject of race and politics. His ability to distill the conflict and character of America into moving rhetoric is as impressive as ever, but will it be enough to weather this storm?
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The “Daily Show’s” senior black correspondent, Larry Wilmore, wants to make sure blind people don’t get any ideas about laying claim to New York’s new governor, David Paterson: “He’s one of ours. ... He’s only 90 percent blind, but he’s 100 percent black.”
Posted on Mar 18, 2008
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By The Rev. Madison Shockley — Missing from the media hullabaloo surrounding the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright Jr.‘s now-infamous sermon (a particular sample of which is still playing in heavy rotation on countless broadcast stations) were some key contextual details about Wright’s church, black Christianity and Barack Obama’s personal history.
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flickr.com
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By Bill Boyarsky — Sen. Barack Obama’s latest, and possibly greatest, challenge is to overcome a simplistic view that the United States is hopelessly split by a racial divide that could badly damage his candidacy.
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Shortly before the Ohio and Texas primaries, Tina Fey offered a raucous endorsement of Hillary Clinton that ended with the slogan, “Bitch is the new black.” Her friend and colleague Tracy Morgan has a few things to say about that.
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Keith Olbermann usually reserves his scorn for the likes of George W. Bush, but, he says, “events insist” that he offer one of his “special comments” to Hillary Clinton over what he says appears to be a pattern of prejudice among her surrogates.
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youtube.com
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As Barack Obama supporters reacted angrily to her claims that the Illinois senator wouldn’t have gotten as far as he has in the ‘08 race if he was white or female, former VP candidate and Clinton fundraiser Geraldine Ferraro said her statements were taken out of context and warned that Obama “shouldn’t antagonize people like me.” Updated
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By Eugene Robinson — With arithmetic on his side, the Illinois senator still should be heavily favored to win the nomination. But he does have a problem: The world-class orator, attacked by opponents for being all talk and no walk, urgently needs to come up with a new speech.
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By Ellen Goodman — In the end, the most memorable line of the primary season may belong to Bill Clinton: “I’ve been waiting all my life to vote for an African-American president. I’ve been waiting all my life to vote for a woman for president. ... I feel like God is playing games with our heads and our hearts.”
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By Joe Conason — Whatever their true private beliefs, presidential candidates in America are constantly required to provide proofs of faith, often through their connections with various religious figures. Benedictions from the pulpit bestow an aura of righteousness—except, of course, when the pastor or minister is a disreputable kook whose endorsement should be an embarrassment.
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A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows John McCain losing to either Democrat—Barack Obama beats him by 12 points while Hillary Clinton wins by half that margin. According to the survey, McCain’s age is significantly more troubling to voters than either Obama’s race or Clinton’s gender.
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Truthdig wasn’t around in the year 2000, but if we had been, we probably would have posted this clip of John McCain blowing it in a big way. In light of the Republican Party’s racial sensitivity research, this seems timely, even eight years later—and how sad is that?
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weblogs.newsday.com
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Once again the candidates are headed toward what has been billed as a climactic showdown, but which is likely to turn out like the others before it: one more bump in the road.
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foxnews.com
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About a day after John McCain expressed his disapproval over the insensitive comments of a supporter, the candidate was once again forced to disown ignoble behavior, this time from an official part of his party. The Tennessee Republican Party issued a press release that featured a photo of Barack Obama wearing traditional African clothing, cited his middle name (Hussein) and attempted to portray him as an anti-Semite.
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By Eugene Robinson — How weird is this presidential election? So weird that I’m about to give a nod of appreciation (of sorts) to Geraldo Rivera, of all people—and also to, gulp, Fox News.
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nytimes.com
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The Politico reports that Republican strategists have been clandestinely polling and focus-grouping to determine how America might react to campaign attacks on an African-American or woman presidential candidate. As one strategist explained, “You can’t allow the party to be Macaca-ed,” a reference to former Sen. George Allen, whose use of a racial slur cost him certain victory in the last election.
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By Larry Blumenfeld — Ned Sublette’s remarkable new book tells an inspiring story of resilience and resistance by ordinary men and women who won’t cooperate in their own erasure.
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By Eugene Robinson — Humor me while we conduct a little thought experiment. Imagine that Barack Obama lost 10 states in a row.
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coloradoconfidential.com
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Truthdig political correspondent Bill Boyarsky weighs in on the state of the race and explains why, no matter what the pundits tell you, a showdown in Denver could be good for the Democrats.
Posted on Feb 19, 2008
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Real American Boy: How Our Byzantine Immigration System and Failed Economy May Have Made a Terrorist
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