Try to remember that the point was that this is his spiritual guide, not just some preacher that endorsed him. Even if you don’t think that bond or distinction matters, plenty of people do.

And seriously, you need to get over this childish response all the time that this thing might be bad, but it’s not as bad as what your candidate did or said. If your guy is as good as you say and as different as he claims, he should be able to stand on his own, not just in relation to others’ shortcomings. Obama claims to be opposed to that kind of campaigning anyway.

Since I spend most of time studiously ignoring turds like Hagee, I’m not very familiar with his bloviations. The anti-gay/catholic/jewish stuff is fairly typical of evangelical Christian preachers-do you have an example of anti-black?

Can we get away from “who’s got the most bigoted friends/supporters/advisors/etc” to “which candidate is gonna fix this place better and faster?” Seems more worthy of debate, somehow.

I am loath to ascribe the beliefs or words of one person on another. No matter how tight the bond.

I need more time to think about this. I don’t think that the analogy between Wright’s church and the Catholic church holds, but I am having trouble forming a decent counter-argument.

Maybe it’s the scale? There’s probably 200 Catholic churches in the Boston area, making the scandal sort of distant. In other words, it happened in other parishes, or if it was our priest, he was only one of several. I’m also pretty sure that the parishioners, while still embracing catholicism in general, were disgusted by the actions of the individuals (perps and enablers alike) With the Obamas, there’s not that distance or scale-in this case the person being reprehensible is not from another parish, or far up the food chain, but he’s the guy that the Obamas see nearly every Sunday.

I’m also not trying to assert that I think Obama swallows everything this guy tosses out. I’m pretty sure his mindset isn’t God-Damn America, but I am starting to doubt that it’s really God Bless America. Is it somewhere in between? Or is this an area that he disagrees with Wright on?

For the record (if it even needs to be stated) I completely reject the notion of Obama as some sort of Manchurian candidate for any anti-American group.

Maybe I’m just reading too much into this? Maybe I’m just too eager to see the presumptive Democratic nominee fall flat? That could be why I’m leaning towards thinking that this is how the Senator thinks. I wish he’d come out and address this in a forthright manner.

That’s the standard, right? Whether or not the candidate repudiates the crazy preachers with whom they’re associated?

No, I haven’t heard everything Mr. Wright has said. I haven’t even heard everything the people I hold in that esteem have said, but LC put it best. These are some excerpts on what Mr. Wright himself is using to peddle himself. It sure seems like Mr. Wright is saying these are among his best. These do appear to give a darn good glimpse into what Mr. Wright believes and preaches and their not just on FoxNews because I cannot even tell you when the last time was I had that channel on. I know I did hear them today on NBC. ABC and CNN.

Have you heard everything Farrakhan has ever said? Are you so open-minded to dilute yourself into thinking those are just angry words and his followers don’t believe those things? You’re so quick to condemn so many preachers and their followers on the fringes of the right. Why are you always so selective with your judgments? I guess your mind only opens on the left side of things.

If you go beyond the individuals to hold the whole leadership accountable, then you must agree with me that people supporting the individual have to be at least tacitly supporting the actions. No other conclusion is possible from that point you offer. That blows your whole argument.

And is that the measure? Should we honor Farrkhan because no human was directly victimized by his words? I heard on NBC this morning someone making the point that Mr. Wright’s word about 9/11 victimized the victims and their families again. There, are you happy now? You have some vicitms. Besides, you’re an attorney. You don’t think that words have power or consequences?

And my examples usually aren’t what I “would” do. They’re things I have done to show that I’m not just blowing hot air. I’ve never said these are the only things that can be done. I’m just saying I’ve done it and someone like Obama should be able to do so much more.

And to your “Huh?” Obama has been telling us for months now that he’s different and we should expect more from all our politicians and especially from him, yet I’ve never seen any actions from him to back that up. I have seen plenty of opportunities for him, but never any actions. He sure seems like any other politician to me, just a little less accomplished at that level.