WASHINGTON (AP) - Alabama Democratic Rep. Artur Davis today criticized organizers of a planned commemoration of the Selma civil rights march for inviting former Chicago pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Davis said in a letter to organizers that the pastor's divisive rhetoric is inconsistent with the theme of the event and President Obama's message of unity. Obama left Wright's Chicago church last year.
The National Voting Rights Museum and Institute hosts the memorial march each year.
Officials with the museum did not immediately return phone messages Friday afternoon.
Davis also argued that Wright's presence - particularly any speaking role - could drive away other prominent invitees.
What divisive rhetoric Artur? What prominant invitees will Wright drive away? Who are you to criticize the organizers of the event? Who are you speaking for?
Organizers, please tell Artur where to go and how to get there. Please.
Redeye tiptoeing away from the computer before I start using cuss words.
I was both pleasantly surprised and delighted to see a commentary by George E. Curry in today's print edition of The Huntsville Times. My delight became disgust when I read the title of the commentary, Beyond the Spin; Obama is right on Warren. Why is it the only time African American opinion is welcome in the media is when it justifies the conservative point of view? But I digress.
I was especially pleased to see George E. Curry's byline because he is a respected voice in the African American Community, a Tuscaloosa, Alabama native, a product of the Tuscaloosa City school system, and someone whose opinion I am usually in complete agreement.
Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Curry graduated from Druid High School of that city and attended Knoxville College in Tennessee, Harvard and Yale. At Knoxville, Curry was editor of the school paper, quarterback and co-captain of the football team and a member of the school's Board of Trustees. In 1986, he wrote and served as chief correspondent for the widely praised television documentary, “Assault on Affirmative Action,” which was aired as part of the "Frontline" series on PBS. He was featured in a segment of "One Plus One," a national PBS documentary on mentoring that was first televised in 1989.
This time we part company. As a matter of fact Curry was on Rev. Al Sharptons radio show recently talking about this issue and recieving heat from callers for his position.
President-elect Barack Obama is taking a lot of heat for selecting the Rev. Rick Warren, an ardent opponent of abortion rights and same-sex marriage, to give the inaugural invocation next month. Obama differs with the evangelical preacher on abortion and many other social issues, but he did not let those differences prevent him from extending the invitation.
It was a courageous decision. It was also the correct one.
Of all the tests Americans take each year, It's time to throw out the most narrow-minded kind: the litmus test. The left and right are equally guilty of administering these political pass/fail quizzes.
I wasn't able to get a call in to the radio show, so I will use this diary to explain why I disagree with Curry below the fold.
Aunt Jemima's Revenge says BishopCharles Ellis of Detroit, MI should either resign or be fired for politiking from the pulpit:
If Bishop Ellis and Greater Grace Church want to get into public policy, then they should do their homework. If the auto industry gets their bailout, they are going to FIRE thousands of workers in order to survive just a little while longer until they need another taxpayer bailout. Bishop Ellis and his flock needed to hold a prayer service for new jobs in Detroit outside of the auto industry and for training and educational programs to re-direct displaced auto workers to new professions. Pray for something that will actually help your church members, not something that will keep white auto industry executives collecting bonuses for failing at their jobs!
How much will Barack Obama's economic recovery plan cost? Brown Man Thinking Hard says it will cost 2 Trillion Dollars.
We have already charged $700 billion to the Credit Card of the USA. Whether we have already drawn down the remaining $350 billion is not a matter of if, but when it will be spent. If $350 billion is only a stopgap measure, designed to gain a little breathing room until somebody in charge figures out what to do, another $350 billion on top of that won't go much farther.
Second Report confirms a lack of minority college head football coaches.
Within 10 days after the United States elected its first black president, two reports on coaching diversity have called attention to the shortage of black coaches in college football. Following the dismissals, effective at the end of the season, of Washington’s Ty Willingham and Kansas State’s Ron Prince, there are just four black head coaches remaining in the 119-team NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A).
Thanks to Crooks and Liars I have an overview of what the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads were "discussing" today. Of course it was All Reverend Wright All The Time, UNfair and UNbalanced. I mean who cares about the war, or our troops, or gas prices, or the economy, or health care when we've got Reverend Wright to bash and smear?
Rangel: It’s disgraceful that he has to make any explanation for anything. The intrusion of the media and Republicans into the sacred relationship that worshipers have with their spiritual leaders I think is going to come back to haunt us. To think that we have to go into the lives and the beliefs of Rabbis and Priests and ministers and Imams is absolutely ridiculous. We’ve got a war on. We’ve got an economy that’s splintered. I think the media should be more responsible and start dealing with those issues. I don’t think many people care what reverend Wright thinks and I don’t see why any candidate should have to explain what ..
Dean! Dean! He's our man, if he can't do it nobody can! Howard Dean blast Chris"Faux News" Wallace and calls them out for race baiting. I love Howard Dean. He is not afraid to tell it like it IS!
Wallace: Governor, are you suggesting that bringing up Jeremiah Wright is “race-baiting” and hate and divisive?
Dean:Yeah, I am suggesting that kind of stuff.I think when you start bringing up candidates that have nothing to do with the issues…uh when you start bringing up things that have nothing to do with the candidate, nothing to do with the issues, that’s race-baiting. And that’s exactly what it is.Just like Willie Horton was race-baiting so many years ago.I think we’re going to take…we’re going to turn the page on this stuff.I’ll tell you, there’s a lot of difference between the Republicans and the Democrats on issues, but the biggest issue of all is we don’t use this kind of stuff.We never have used this kind of stuff and we’re not going to start now.America is more important than the Republican party and that’s the lesson the voters are about to teach the Republicans.
*Snicker
Chris "Tweety" Matthews says who cares what the American people think, we, I mean the GOP are going to make Wright an issue. I guess the media is making Wright an issue so McSame and the GOP won't have to, you know, like fighting them over there so we won't have to fight them over here.
Matthews:Can a brilliant politician – Barack included, perhaps, perhaps – turn this around? Can he show that he’s different?So different from the Rev. Wright that he should be elected President?
*Guilt by association?
Bob Schieffer of Face the Nation is finally seeing the light, sort of:
But the $64,000 question that Schieffer refuses to address is how much responsibility should the establishment media take upon itself for unconditionally and unquestioningly putting out White House talking points with no context or independent fact finding. Where is the onus on the Fourth Estate?
*Where indeed?
Despite what the "Liberal" media would have folks people, Reverend Wright has support and supporters.
Like the so-called liberal ministers in Alabama who chastised Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as he sat imprisoned in a Birmingham Jail, these news pundits charge Rev. Wright, and by extension the black church, with "mixing politics with religion" and misleading "ignorant black people" into an adversarial relationship with "their government." And like those so-called "liberal" white preachers in Alabama who attacked Dr. King, several have even quoted various biblical texts as evidence that Rev. Wright, and Trinity United Church of Christ are not following Christian biblical principles.
*It's the media.
You won't see anyone from the PCUSA on TeeVee but thank God for the Blogosphere.
“Without strong theology, preaching becomes entertainment, and there is a tendency to make church life center around the preacher.”
*You think?
"...if by a 'Liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'Liberal,' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'Liberal.'" --- JFK, NY Liberal Party Nomination, 9/14/1960
I am happy to report that my Minister didn't say anything from the pulpit today that I might have to renounce, reject and repudiate if I ever decide to run for public office. He gave a very tame Palm Sundaysermon in which he talked about the story beneath the story of Palm Sunday. He told the story of the Palm Sunday parade and said we needed to decide if we were going to be participants in the paraded of life or spectators in the parade of life. He said we needed to decide if we were going to be on the side of Christ or be on the side of those that crucified Christ. He reminded us that Kings come to rule but Jesus came to serve. Kings ride in fancy carriages , but Jesus rode on a donkey (I knew Jesus was a liberal Democrat, but I digress). Jesus was a meek and humble servant. Reverend asked if we wanted to be flag waving Christians spectators, or do we want to serve Jesus. He said when we go home from the parades me must serve Jesus and not just be spectators. There was no cheering but lots of Amens and applause.
On the ride to church this morning I listened to a replay of Meet the Press on XM channel 132. Of course Tim Russert had to play the inflammatory clips from Reverend Jerimiah Wright then have his panel comment on them. Hopefully Obama's repudiation, renouncement and rejection of the remarks will be the end of story after today.
After church there was a replay of Fox News Sunday on XM 132 (It's all Obama's minister all the time, unfair and unbalanced, but I digress), Senator Chuck Schumer said that Obama had renounced and rejected the statements and that the media should just let it go. Of course Chris Wallace wasn't having any of that.
Do you think the media is afraid of African American miniters because they dare speak truth to power? I don't know how many of you remember Reverend Joseph Lowery's speech at Coretta Scott Kings' funeral, but here is the link via Think Progress.
Notice the similarities between what Reverend Joseph Lowery and Reverend Jerimiah are saying? Notice the similarities in preaching styles? Notice the similarites in the reaction of the audience? Be sure and read the comment section.
Here is something to cheer about, Obama's church is lashing out at the media per the poltical ticker at CNN.com
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