Quit Hillary, Just Quit!

It's Over Hillary! It's over!

Your running out of money, time, luck and most importantly, the Black Vote. You barely won in Indiana and Obama blew you out in North Carolina. There are only six contests remaining and your hopes of getting the nomination are gone. It's time for you to go Hillary. Just Go!

Hillary, You threw the kitchen sink at obama, including color aroused campaigning. Despite it, Obama is still standing and your beginning to look like a women scorned. Hillary you considered yourself the come back kid, but Obama seems to be the come back man.

You raised $10 million in 24 hours. and its probably gone. Your campaign is broke again. Like your hopes of winning. It's time to quit. No one is hearing you. Your done, its over.

Live Blogging with African American Political Pundit

Handkerchief Head? Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Race Traitor?

AAPP: I'm with Brown Sugar who says:

"Sigh. I'm done. I'm so tired of Black folk with slave mentality's I don't know what to do. This is just ridiculous. I supposed if Clinton had called her a Nigger to her face she'd still be talking about, "She is able to look through complexion and see community."

AAPP: Yes, Maya Angelou is a great poet and a aging house negro icon who feels her new calling is to be a 21st Century Handkerchief Head for Hillary and Bill.

OK, she is 80 years old, Icon in the black cultural movement, but I know some 80 year old woman who will not disgrace our people, and they are not Icon's.

Yes, she has a right to endorse anyone she wants too. I only wish she used the common sense of Tom Hanks.

Video of Tom Hanks Endorsing Barack Obama

Tom Hanks delivers one of the best endorsements of this Political Seasons. Check it Out: H/T Black Women In Europe

Hillary Can't Win In The Fall Because of "BlackLash" by Black Voters

Since January, the Clintons have pummeled Barack Obama with racially tinged comments and questions about his character.

That is not my words. That's the words of the NY Times. The NY Times endorsed Hillary Clinton.



Since January, the Clintons have pummeled Barack Obama with racially tinged comments and questions about his character.

BlackLash

Hillary Clinton has questioned why he didn’t walk out on the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.; why he “denounced” but didn’t “reject” Louis Farrakhan; and whether he is too chummy with the former radical Bill Ayers. She chastised his characterization of white working-class voters as being highfalutin and chided him for not agreeing to a street-fight-style debate.

Bill Clinton has called Obama’s stance on the war a fairy tale, dismissed an early primary win as mere Jesse Jackson redux and recently claimed that Obama was playing the race card against him. Some of this is valid, the result of Obama’s own missteps, but some of it is baffling.

The rhetoric appears to be trafficking in old fears and historic stereotypes. The unspoken (and confusing) characterization of Obama is that he’s militant yet cowardly; uppity yet too cool for school.

The question is this: Have white Democrats soured on Obama? Apparently not. Although his unfavorable rating from the group is up five percentage points since last summer in polls conducted by The New York Times and CBS News, his favorable rating is up just as much.

On the other hand, black Democrats’ opinion of Hillary Clinton has deteriorated substantially (her favorable rating among them is down 36 percentage points over the same period).

While a favorable opinion doesn’t necessarily translate into a vote, this should still give the Clintons (and the superdelegates) pause. Electability cuts both ways.

If Hillary Clinton should defy the odds (and the current math) and secure the nomination, she would be hard-pressed to defeat John McCain without the enthusiastic support of black voters, stalwarts of the Democratic base.

More HERE

AAPP: If Hillary got the nod from the Superdelegates and became the Democratic Nominee she would be hard pressed to get 80% of the Black Vote this fall. Many blacks will be pissed an register as Independents. Black voters will remember her comments about Martin Luther King versus LBJ. Black voters will remember that Since January, the Clintons have pummeled Barack Obama with racially tinged comments and questions about his character.

Many black voters may stay home if the Superdelegates steal the election from Obama. Black folks will remember the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, "I'm are sick and tired o being sick and tired."

But I'm not the only one thinking Some blacks may stay home if Obama not on ballot. As Ken Herman at Cox News Service noted Clinton may see black backlash if Obama loses.

God Damn The Black Community

AAPP: H/T Brother Peace Maker - Check out afrospear member Brother Peace Maker's most recent post of the Afrospear's blog. He has a lot to say about the Rev. Wright situation and what black folks should be saying and doing. He has an interesting perspective that needs to be part of the conversation. Check out his post:

God Damn The Black Community

by brotherpeacemaker

“God helps those who help themselves!” – Benjamin Franklin

Reverend Jeremiah Wright is in the news again and is said to be a distraction to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, by far his most famous former parishioner. Reverend Wright has spent the last week or so giving his side of the story. Mr. Wright feels that he has been personally attacked and also feels that the institution of the black church has been attacked by the dominant American culture. He’s been referred to as a kook and described as trying to knee cap Mr. Obama’s presidential bid. Mr. Obama tried to minimize his relationship with his former pastor. But when that didn’t put the issue to rest, Mr. Wright conveniently comes back on the scene to give Mr. Obama a second chance to sever the relationship cleanly in the public’s eye.

The overwhelming majority of America never knew Mr. Wright prior to the networks airing of the infamous recording of Mr. Wright saying that god should be damning America instead of blessing America. People refer to Mr. Wright as a blatant racist although he never once said white people were the problem. Mr. Wright said black and white people are different with neither one being better than the other. But this is too racist a concept for most. White and black people are actually saying that Jeremiah Wright is the problem. No one of any prominence has given Mr. Wright any understanding or support, with the possible exception of Bill Moyers when he hosted Mr. Wright on his PBS show Bill Moyers Journal and allowed the former pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ to defend himself without adding fuel to the fire of controversy. Mr. Moyers doesn’t have a political agenda to push so it is no surprise that he isn’t condemning Mr. Wright the way that the typical network pundit would.

But nevertheless, for the most part, when it comes to the black community, Mr. Wright is standing alone. Other than Mr. Moyers, I have yet to see any high profile support. Where are the leaders of the black community? Where are the people who claim to the welfare of the black community a top priority? It is a given that white people would want take the five or ten minutes of Mr. Wright’s sermons that have captured America’s attention. When Mr. Wright says god should damn America white people take this personally for America is white America. America is baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet. America is the corporate environment where white people rule the upper management, white people make up the vast majority of middle workers, and black people make up the bottom rung of the corporate ladder in janitorial services and the mailroom. To say America is messing up is to say that white people are messing up since they are the ones in control of 98% of America’s institutions. And these corporate institutions are using their resources to pick Mr. Wright apart and make him an example of what happens when you bad mouth America.

And with an election coming, and with the chance that a black man could actually obtain the highest office in America’s land, America will push with all of its corrupt corporate capitalist might to find anything and emphasize anything to keep Mr. Obama from obtaining the title of President of the United States. It is truly understandable why the dominant community would work so hard to keep the status quo of white only from being broken. Black man might become president and try do something positive for the black community. White America just can’t take that chance. So I can understand why the Tucker Carlsons and Sean Hanitys and Pat Buchanans of the world to persecute Mr. Wright, and therefore Mr. Obama by association. These are the type of people who would be content to see the despair of the black community continue without end. But where are the people who say that they have a vested interest in the uplift of the black community?

Where are the people who are more likely to defend Mr. Wright? Barack Obama tried to distance himself from Mr. Wright without outright rejecting him and it nearly cost him his lead in the presidential nomination race. There is too much to lose. So regardless of what Mr. Obama says to the contrary it is relatively easy to see how his highly visible divorce from Mr. Wright can be considered politically advantageous. So it doesn’t take much of a brain to see that there will be no comfort there. Where are the other high profile blacks who sit in black churches on a weekly basis and can relate to what Mr. Wright says about being black in America? Are we in the black community are supposed to believe that Jeremiah Wright is a lone exception with a totally unique perspective of the relationship between America and what she has done for and what she has done to the black community? Are we to believe that no other black high profile black celebrity has any idea what he is referring to? Comment and Read More HERE

The chief white woman in this country

More Color Aroused Campaigning

Jealous Negro Syndrome

Rev. Wright diagnosed with Jealous Negro Syndrome

Keli Goff

H/T The Daily Voice.com

Instead of celebrating the fact that there is an entire generation that has been able to attend, compete, and succeed in some of the nation's most elite institutions, there is a quiet resentment that the Barack Obamas of the world are reaping the benefits of their generation's hard work, and it's just not fair. More HERE

Cheating Black Men? Is Barbara Walters A High Price Madam?

Sen. Edward Brooke - Then



Former Sen. Edward Brooke - Now

Former U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke declined to comment Friday about whether he had an affair with Barbara Walters in the 1970s.

"I have had a lifetime policy and practice of not discussing my personal and private life, or the personal and private lives of others, with the notable exception of what I wrote in my recently published autobiography, `Bridging the Divide: My Life,'" he told The Associated Press in a phone interview from Miami.

A relationship with Walters wasn't mentioned in his book, the 88-year-old former senator from Massachusetts told the AP.

His memoir was published in 2006.

In an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" scheduled to air Tuesday, Walters shares details of her relationship with the married Brooke that lasted several years in the 1970s, according to excerpts of the show provided to the AP.

A moderate Republican who took office in 1967, Brooke was the first African-American to be popularly elected to the Senate. Walters said he and she knew that public knowledge of their affair could have ruined their careers.

At the time, the twice-divorced Walters was a rising star in TV news and co-host of NBC's "Today" show, but would soon jump to ABC News, where she has enjoyed unrivaled success. She said her affair with Brooke, which never before came to light, had ended before he lost his bid for a third term in 1978.

Brooke later divorced, and has since remarried.

Walters, 78, will appear on Winfrey's show to discuss her new memoir, "Audition," which covers her long career in television, as well as her off-camera life. On "Oprah," Walters recounts a phone call from a friend who urged her to stop seeing Brooke.

Barbara Walters, new role model for adultery

By Gary Rotstein, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Oh, you Barbara Walters. Always titillating us. Always dishing the good dirt while amusing us with your funny R's. Always getting people to confess their little secrets like they're just among old friends, and not with millions of strangers watching. How very naturally curious and devilishly ditzy you are, besides being one saucy media mama with a very open view of love and romance and adultery and all that good stuff.

Promoting her new autobiography, Ms. Walters is a guest of Oprah Winfrey's tomorrow. Because we are psychic -- and also have a copy of an Associated Press article, based on a transcript of the pre-taped show -- we predict she will discuss her hay-rolling done three decades ago with Edward Brooke. Mr. Brooke was a moderate, African-American, Republican U.S. senator back when that combination was atypical. (What, you mean it's still rare? Who knew?)

Mr. Brooke had one trait that was more common: He was married at the time of an alleged affair that Ms. Walters is now happy to tell the world about. We say alleged because Mr. Brooke declines to dignify her girly gossip by confirming it, and for all we know she's making the whole thing up, like people in the media are so fond of doing. (But am I telling you the truth when I tell you the media try to deceive you? Since I'm in the media, you don't really know, do you? Ahhh, such a tangled web Morning File weaves.)

In any case, Barbara tells Oprah -- I think we girls can all be on a first-name basis here -- that the then-senator was "exciting" and "brilliant" and she was "infatuated." But she and Mr. Brooke were crossing moral, ethical and racial lines that could have caused them plenty of headaches at the time. Media types, for one thing, shouldn't sleep with the people they cover.

If Baba could have infatuated herself with other sexy, exciting men (I'm thinking Eric Sevareid here, but if you want to picture her instead with Harry Reasoner, be my guest), everyone would have been better off. More HERE

AAPP: Is Barbara Walters A High Price Madam? Or was Edward Brooke just another Pol who could not keep his pants on?

Wheelchair-Bound Black Woman Dies After Being Tasered 10 Times To Death, Family Files Suit

"My aunt was basically tortured like an animal or something." Delafield's nephew, Ryan Delafield, told First Coast News months ago. More HERE

As reported by many News Outlets and USA: Amnesty International Nine months after Emily Delafield, 56, died after being tased by police, her family has few answers about the events that led to her death. "This has been a very tragic and sad situation," nephew Ryan Delafield said. According to Green Cove Springs Police, the wheelchair-bound Delafield was arguing with family members and swinging knives and a hammer when they arrived at her home. Ryan Delafield says he is his aunt’s personal representative. In the weeks after her death he needed a death certificate for matters of her estate. "May, June, July... it was three months before we got the death certificate," Delafield said.

On the death certificate, the Medical Examiner cited that the death was a homicide. To get more answers, Delafield says in the fight to get information, he was passed from department to department.

"I called the State Attorney's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement - Jacksonville Regional Office, the Medical Examiner… and the City of Green Cove Springs Police Department," said Delafield. More HERE

AAPP: Where is the NAACP and other Civil Rights group with this situation?

Emily Delafield

Ryan Delafield

Law Suit

UPDATE: MyClaySun.com: Woman's family suing Green Cove over Taser death

More on the case below:

Wheelchair-Bound Woman Dies After Being Shocked With Taser 10 times

Democratic Underground - Police knew Emily Delafield and had been ...

My Disability Blog: Tasering the Mentally Ill

Newsvine - 56-Yr Old Woman in Wheelchair Tasered to Death by Police

Epidemic Of Police Brutality Sweeps America

Check out the Blog Tasered While Black for more information on
Tasering Incidents Involving black people

Don't forget to link to the Tasered While Black Blog

Detroit City Council Out of Control - Black Youth Can Educate Black Adult Politicans On HowTo Be Civil

Hat Tip "Jack Turner" — Jack and Jill Politics Blog

Monica Conyers (wife of John Conyers) should consider resigning.



Monica Conyers seems to have threatened a number of people.




So, what do you think folks?

The Color of Change: Black Activism On The Internet

Critics of Old Guard Take Black Activism Online

The Color of Change, The Afrospear and black bloggers are highlighted in a Washington Post article written by Darryl Fears, Critics of Old Guard Take Black Activism Online, which highlights how black bloggers are taking on Old Guard like the NAACP. It Highlights one of my favorite activist bloggers, Gina McCauley, at the blog What About Our Daughters and the internet based activist group, The Color of Change. Check out the article HERE

The article highlights how a growing cadre of young black activists are using the Internet in an attempt to reengage and sometimes eclipse traditional civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and hit the refresh button on the civil rights movement.

Big Hat Tip to Mr. Fears who writes, "Bloggers with names such as the Cruel Secretary, and blogs called What About Our Daughters? and the African American Political Pundit, have railed against groups in the "black-o-sphere,"

Note from AAPP: I Think Fears may have meant to say "blogosphere."

saying they do not understand young black Americans, are behind the times and react too slowly to incidents involving the younger generation.

The leaders of the fledgling movement -- Van Jones and James Rucker of ColorOfChange.org -- may not be familiar to many, but their work is. They circulated a letter and a petition last week promising that the Democrats will pay a "political price" if they overturn the will of black and young voters and choose Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y) as the party's nominee over Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.).

Jones and Rucker were also the first to successfully raise awareness about the cases of six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder for beating a white classmate in Jena, La. The campaign led to one of the largest civil rights marches in the South in recent years.

Blogger Gina McCauley, 32, who is organizing the first conference of nonwhite bloggers this summer in Atlanta, said that what Jones and Rucker have started "can potentially become a new Niagara movement," a reference to the small contingent of black intellectuals, including W.E.B. Du Bois, who met near Niagara Falls in 1905 to form an organization to oppose segregation. The organization eventually became the NAACP. Check out the full article HERE

Out Of Control Hillary ready to Make Iran another Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Hillary looking forward to another bombings like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. She is starting to sound like John bomb bomb Iran McCain.

Instead of looking for steps towards peace, an Out of Control Hillary Clinton wants to obliterate Iran. Check out how she defends 'Obliterate Iran' Comment

Obama Calls It Bush-Style 'Cowboy Diplomacy'

Meanwhile, Tom Hanks Endorses Barack Obama

Hillary. Black Voters and A Divided Democratic Party?

On Thursday Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew announced he has switched his allegiance from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama and is encouraged fellow superdelegates to make their choice for a nominee soon. (AP Photo) On Friday some folks did. With former DNC Chairs for Clinton sending a letter of support for Hillary Clinton, writing in the letter:

"Those of us who support Hillary Clinton for president do so with the knowledge that she, just like us, has dedicated her life to improving the standard of living for others, and she has worked to make our Party the strong force that it is today. Her values are our Party’s values. Her record of fiscal prudence is matched by her commitment to social responsibility. Her accomplishments in the area of strengthening America’s security are a matter of public record.

Hillary has run one of the most formidable campaigns in the history of our Party. Her wins this primary season are significant – Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas. Her base of support includes women, Hispanics, seniors, Catholics, middle and low income Americans, and rural, suburban and urban voters. That’s a formidable coalition tailor-made for victory in a November general election."

AAPP: You notice any groups missing from the statement above? Ooops Black folks...
I guess black voters are not important to the Democrats? - For that matter to Hillary Clinton. Did you notice her base of support is not African Americans vs Baracks base of support in many states, has been broad, and includes, blacks, women, latinos, seniors, Catholics, middle and low income Americans, and rural, suburban and urban voters.

What are your thoughts? Is it a divided Democratic Party? Or should we all sit back and let Superdelegates do what Earl Ofari Hutchinson and other Clinton supporter types, would have us do. I guess my good brother Earl Ofari Hutchinson would have the Color of Change and his hundreds of thousands of members to "sit on the back of the bus like good negroes, and not engage in the Democratic process of discussion and debate."

Is the Congressional Black Caucus Letting Down Afro-Colombians?

Check out the blog post: Letting Down Afro-Colombians

The Shameful Failure of the Black Congressional Caucus

By Nikolas Kozloff

As the debate over the U.S.-Colombian free trade deal heats up in Washington, Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has grown concerned. On the Hill, the deal faces an uncertain future. Many Democrats have opposed the initiative because Colombia’s labor and human rights record continues to remain atrocious. Currently, the agreement is in a state of legislative limbo as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has moved to postpone consideration of the deal.

In order to ram through his free trade agreement, Uribe must win over key African American legislators in Washington. In the unfolding debate over free trade, the Congressional Black Caucus could play a key role. Founded more than 30 years ago, the group of legislators seeks to achieve greater equity for people of African descent through domestic and international programs and services. What’s at stake with the Colombia trade deal, and why have African American legislators showed an interest in the issue?

Afro-Colombian Communities Displaced by War

Colombia is a country with the hemisphere’s third largest population of Afro-descendants, one million more than Haiti’s approximately 8 million predominantly African descendants. While Afro-Colombians make up more than 25 per cent of Colombia's population, they are disproportionately affected by the ongoing violence in the Andean nation.

Indeed, approximately 40 per cent of Colombia's 3.8 million internally displaced persons are of African descent. Whether they are caught in the crossfire or specifically targeted, Afro-Colombians are frequently forced to abandon their communities and ancestral lands.

Alba María Cuestas Arias, a displaced Afro-Colombian and board member of AFRODES (or the Association of Displaced Afro-Colombians), has said that displacement is used as a weapon of war. “Towns are destroyed, lives are destroyed,” she remarked. “The social fabric is also destroyed. People are forced to leave that which they have been constructing for years and years.”

Aerial spraying of coca leaf, backed by the Bogotá government and Washington, has posed another thorny problem for Afro-Colombians. “Plan Colombia,” started in 1999 under Bill Clinton, was launched to stop cocaine production by supplying the Colombian government with helicopters and other aircraft to spray fields. Unfortunately, the U.S., which gave $2.5 billion of aid through the program, only hastened the displacement of Afro-Colombian peoples.

The reason is clear to see: coca fumigation has destroyed many of the food crops traditionally grown by Afro-Colombians.

Fighting for Their Ancestral Lands

Nevertheless, Afro-Colombians have achieved some notable victories in recent years, including passage of the so-called Law 70. Enacted in 1993, the measure validates Afro-Colombians’ right to their historical territories. Under the law, communities must be consulted and must first give their approval prior to any new projects planned on their land.

Having a law on the books however is one thing and enforcing it is another.

According to Nicole Lee, Executive Director of TransAfrica Forum, the Colombian government “has used every ploy to cheat Afro-Colombians out of their traditional titled territories” since the passage of Law 70. Fundamentally, Afro-Colombians’ lands are valuable, and powerful people want to get their hands on the prime real estate. Read More HERE

5 black leaders who want Barack Obama to lose

Some time ago I wrote a post about Black Leadership Self Hatred and The Obama Campaign.

Since the clowning of Rev. Wright, I have decided to take a look backwards at a few of the black folks who have worked non stop to destroy Barack Obama's opportunity of being President of the United States. Check out the list and let me know if I'm right? Is there any that should not be on this list? Are there any that should be included? if so why? Here is my list of 5 Blacks in leadership who have attempted to destroy Barack Obama's attempts to be President.

# 1 Rev. Wright



# 2 - Bob Johnson
You remember Bob Johnson, the guy who said, Geraldine Ferraro was right. There is a reason why Hillary lost the black vote. It was wa because her and her ignorant color aroused husbands campaigning, and Bob Johnson.




# 3 Andrew Young




# 4 Tavis Smiley,

You know Tavis Smiley, the guy who refused to allow Sen. Barack Obama wife to speak at the State of the Black Union event that provided a platform for Tavis to speak out against Barack Obama. There is talk of hater, sellout and traitor within black communities regarding Tavis Smiley and his comments regarding Barack Obama. I agree, he is a hater and sellout regarding Barack. But that is just my opinion. Check out this brothers opinion, below:



#5 Maya Angelou a women who I deeply respect as a poet, yet I am disappointed with in terms of her old, "yes um" politics of the past. Her support of Hillary is a contradiction of her poetry. Now Hillary is adding Maya Angelou as CNN noted recently, first releasing an open letter touting the New York senator’s character and now staring in a new 60 second television ad.

Leonard Pitts Analysis of Rev. Wright - Is On Point

Leonard Pitts just wrote a great article The messenger who killed the message. He writes about Rev. Wright this week, and has captured much of my feelings regarding this whole issue. Great article Leonard Pitts!



He writes about Rev. Wright's "demeanor in the two speeches he gave: smug, mugging for the cameras, signifying, jive talking, acting the fool. Did he really say an attack on him was an attack on the black church? Did he really make those faces and throw that silly salute? Why didn't he just slap his hands together, yell, "Dy-no-mite!" and be done with it? Wright came across like drunken Uncle Buddy at the Thanksgiving table, the one who doesn't know he's not funny and won't shut up. More to the point, he did not come across like a reverend. Or even a Christian. The heck of it is, he had insightful things to say about culture, about difference, about reconciliation. But the messenger killed the message. It was bad enough that Obama was finally forced to sever ties with him. Bad enough that conspiracy theorists wondered aloud whether Hillary Clinton had a hand in setting up the speeches. Which is crazy, but you understand where it's coming from. Wright is this year's Willie Horton. Except that where George H.W. Bush made Willie Horton, Wright made himself. He had his chance to walk on water but - sorry, cousin - he fell in instead. The only remaining question is whether he will pull Barack Obama down with him. Read More HERE

Leonard Pitts Jr. won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2004. He is the author of Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood.

The Democrats Own Willie Horton Event; Rev. Jeremiah Wright

OK, I don't always agree with Colbert I. King at The Washington Post. But I must say, I agree with most of his recent post when he writes, " Some events in a presidential campaign turn out to be so pivotal that they can end up influencing the outcome." He points out examples like:

· The televised debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon in 1960.

· George McGovern's decision to drop Tom Eagleton from the Democratic ticket in 1972.

· Gerald Ford's famous declaration in a presidential debate on Oct. 6, 1976, that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe and there never will be under a Ford administration."

· Jimmy Carter's Iranian hostage crisis in 1980.

· The 2004 book "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak out Against John Kerry."

And let's not forget the use in 1988 of political advertising featuring the black felon Willie Horton.

Comes now the latest presidential campaign development of possible historical significance: the arrival on the scene of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor.

The Chicago pastor's incendiary remarks about America, which have played endlessly in video loops, and then with his mocking, flippant, and frankly jaw-dropping performance at the National Press Club this week, have earned him a permanent place in presidential campaign folklore.

"Here stands Jeremiah Wright," reads the entry, "the preacher who single-handedly altered the course of Sen. Barack Obama's run for the White House."

AAPP: As colbert King points out, "That takes some doing." Read more of his post HERE

You can also read more of on how the Rev. Jeremiah Wright issue is playing out below:

National Press Club Articles

on the Web H/T The Washington Post - for the Link.

Rev. Wright Launches Own 24-Hr. Channel; All Wright, All the Time, Preacher Promises(Yahoo! News) 5/3/2008

The Wright stuff (Seattle Times) 5/3/2008

National Press Club to Host 'NEWSMAKER' Media Briefing on Iraq's Economic Surge (Examiner) 5/2/2008

Readers' Wright arrogant, combative (Deseret News) 5/2/2008

National Press Club to Host 'NEWSMAKER' Media Briefing on Iraq's Economic Surge(Yahoo! News) 5/2/2008

Guinness Draft Creates Washington Buzz: (StreetInsider) 5/2/2008

National Press Club to Host 'NEWSMAKER' Media Briefing on Media Freedom in Afghanistan With Saad Mohseni, Chairman, Moby Media Group (StreetInsider)

Daybook (Washington Times) 5/1/2008

National Press Club Statement on Errol Louis Story in NY Daily News (FindLaw)4/30/2008

Rev. Wright Revs Up Press Club Crowd (Roll Call) 4/29/2008

National Press Club Blogs

on the Web

Perspective, Please (MoJo Blog) 5/2/2008

Federalist Society Conference on Consumer Credit Regulation: (The Volokh Conspiracy)5/2/2008

New American Arsenal (Outside the Beltway) 5/1/2008

Wright from the Left (NRO: The Corner) 5/1/2008

"Vicious Truths" (The Daily Dish) 5/1/2008

National Press Club Video

on the Web

Roiled Obama Rips Rev. Wright (CBS News Video) 5/2/2008

Reverend Wright: White People Got No Rhythm (EVTV1 Video- News) 4/30/2008

Obama Reacts To Wright's Comments (NBC 10 Video - Local News) 4/29/2008

Washington Sketch: How to Sabotage a Presidential Campaign (Washingtonpost.com Video) 4/29/2008

Rev. Wright 'Lowered Himself' (CNN Video) 4/29/2008

National Press Club Audio

on the Web

Louisiana leader looks to the future (Minnesota Public Radio) 5/2/2008

Analysis: Rev. Wright's Comments on 'Black Church' (NPR Politics & Society) 4/29/2008 8:49:25 AM

Wright Decries 'Out of Context' Criticisms of Sermon (NPR US News) 4/28/2008

Rev. Jeremiah Wright speaks out at the National Press Club (Minnesota Public Radio)4/28/2008

Is Rev. Wright Helping or Hurting Obama? (NPR Politics & Society)

Election 2008, Breaking News: Hillary Campaign attempted to mold black political blogger support

AAPP: Black Political and Internet Activist Francis L. Holland breaks his silence with a blogging post titled Billary & Me: Time to Break the Silence. This is a must read post that exposes how critical Hillary and her team thought the black vote would be (early in the campaign) and wanted black bloggers like Francis Holland to blog in support of her campaign. Francis was a die-hard supporter of Hillary for some time. I respect Francis L. Holland for breaking the silence.

This is the seal I designed
to show my blog's support
for Hillary's candidacy.

Back when I was infamous in the anti-Clinton whitosphere for my tireless and infuriating diaries in support of Hillary Clinton, and before she announced her candidacy for the presidency, I got an e-mail and then a telephone call here in Brazil from Peter Daou, Hillary Clinton's Internet coordinator. Peter asked me to blog for Hillary Clinton's presidential candidacy, and I agreed to help in any way that I could. He asked me not to divulge Hillary's decision to run for the presidency before it was officially announced and I kept my promise not to do so.

I took a look at Hillary's new beta site for blogging, but I quickly decided that expressing my firebrand opinions there would do her more harm than good. Moreover, I decided that my loyalty lay with the Black People and the development of our AfroSpear, not with any particular presidential campaign.

Peter Daou never offered me employment with recompense and I never request or accepted any.

When Barack Obama joined the race, I immediately perceived that this could cause problems for Hillary. Within days of Hillary's announcement of her candidacy, I sent the following e-mail to Peter Daou, warning him (and Hillary's campaign) that if she took the color-aroused scorched earth approach to Barack Obama that she is presently taking, then she would lose all hope of winning the Black vote. Well, apparently they ignored me, and it's about time I told the public about it.

Here's the e-mail I sent to Peter Daou on Wednesday, January 17, 2007, because I foresaw and wanted to help Clinton avoid the very troubles with the Black electorate that have prevented her from winning the nomination: More HERE

Election 2008, Hillary Clinton would lose the general election due to lack of black support

"Compared with previous Democratic nominees, Clinton seems poised to do historically well among women and less well among blacks."

Lydia Saad at the Gallup organization provides interesting data on American attitudes and opinions regarding Hillary and Barack. She writes: While the broad outlines of voter support for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are highly similar -- both candidates attract traditional Democratic constituencies -- there are some differences that could be important in assessing which of the two has the better chance of beating McCain. Clinton’s vs. Obama’s Strengths in the General Election

A Mostly Traditional Democratic Coalition for Clinton

According to an aggregate of Gallup Poll Daily tracking from April 21-27, including interviews with more than 6,000 registered voters, a Clinton-McCain race looks highly typical of recent elections, with the Democrat widely favored by women, blacks, adults under 30 years of age, Easterners, low socioeconomic Americans (those with low incomes and low education), Catholics, Hispanics, secular Americans, unmarried adults, and Democrats.

Two important differences from recent general elections are Clinton's especially strong performance among women, and her relatively weak performance among black Americans. Her 12-point advantage among women over McCain (52% vs. 40%) contrasts with single-digit advantages among women for John Kerry, Al Gore, and Bill Clinton in the previous three presidential elections. And her 78% level of support from blacks contrasts with more than 90% support among blacks for those candidates. The latter clearly highlights the risk the Democratic Party faces with blacks (the overwhelming majority of whom are Democrats and who support Obama for the Democratic nomination) should Clinton win the nomination on the basis of the superdelegates or some other means that Obama's supporters perceive as unfair or undemocratic.

Also, only 82% of Democrats currently say they would vote for Clinton in the fall, whereas recent Democratic presidential candidates have received no less than 89% of the vote from their party.

Obama Charting a Different Course

An Obama-McCain race differs from a Clinton-McCain race mainly in terms of degrees of support for the Democrat. Obama beats McCain among nearly all of the aforementioned core Democratic constituencies. But his margin of support is lower among women, Easterners, low-income Americans, Catholics, Hispanics, and self-identified Democrats. (Obama also does less well than Clinton in the South, although both lose to McCain in that region.)

Obama largely offsets these losses by doing better than Clinton among blacks and high-income Americans. He also does slightly better among the one-third or so of voters who consider themselves political independents. Obama's near-universal support among blacks is the more typical pattern for a Democratic presidential candidate than is the lower support Clinton receives.

The accompanying table summarizes the differences in support for Clinton and Obama among these groups, highlighting that Clinton performs especially well relative to Obama among Americans of lower and lower-middle incomes, lower education (no college experience), and among Democrats, seniors, and Hispanics. Obama's distinguishing strengths are his stronger performance among blacks and higher-income Americans, although he also performs slightly better among independents.

The most recent weekly aggregate of Gallup Poll Daily tracking finds Clinton doing just as well as Obama among voters aged 18 to 29. However, this is a sharp reversal for Clinton, who had been trailing Obama among young voters for most of March and April, so it is not clear whether the current data are an anomaly or a dramatic shift in younger voters' preferences.

Obama Falls Short Among Conservative Democrats

Given the apparent willingness of many blacks to forsake Clinton in November if she is the Democratic Party's nominee -- either by voting for McCain or not voting at all -- it may seem surprising that Clinton still outperforms Obama among Democrats (82% vs. 74%). The reason for this is Obama's relatively poor performance among conservative Democrats.

Only 62% of Democrats who describe their political views as "conservative" choose Obama in a race between Obama and McCain. By contrast, 74% of conservative Democrats would vote for Clinton in a Clinton vs. McCain race. Obama does just as well as Clinton among liberal Democrats, and nearly as well among moderate Democrats. His great weakness is, and has been since early March, among conservative Democrats.

Bottom Line

These observations are made as the protracted battle for the Democratic nomination gets increasingly contentious, and before the eventual nominee has had the opportunity to heal party wounds. Much could change. At present, it seems both Clinton and Obama would win the support of traditional Democratic constituencies in the fall election if they are nominated for president. However, compared with previous Democratic nominees, Clinton seems poised to do historically well among women and less well among blacks. Obama could have trouble holding blue-collar and conservative Democrats, but could make that up if he maintains his strong appeal to blacks and upper-income Americans, and continues to go toe-to-toe with McCain among political independents. More HERE

"Theft - By -Taking" - Don't Let the Clintons or The DNC Superdelegates Steal this Election

Dear African American Political Pundit readers:

Some leaders in the Democratic Party are playing with fire. They think
that they can betray the will of millions of voters--and choose Hillary
Clinton as the nominee, regardless of whether or not she is the choice
of the voters. We can't let this happen. It would be the largest
disenfranchisement in modern history, and it would mean the Democratic
Party giving their stamp of approval to a clear and consistent pattern
of race-baiting by the Clinton campaign.

If we make our voices heard, we can stop it. Please join us in signing
an open letter to leaders in the Democratic Party -- DNC Chair Howard
Dean, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, and all superdelegates -- demanding that they reject an outcome
that involves trampling voting rights and legitimizing the politics of
division and fear:

http://www.colorofchange.org/dems/?id=2054-503311

By the time the last vote is cast on June 3rd under the rules of the
Democratic Party, it's unlikely Hillary Clinton will beat Barack Obama
among voters. But there's a chance that superdelegates will hand
Clinton the nomination anyway.

This would be a shocking attack on democracy, and it would destroy the
Democratic Party's credibility on protecting the right to vote. Black
people have a long history of fighting against voter suppression, and
now the Democratic Party will be the enemy in that fight. As bad as
that would be, there's another reason that a coup by party insiders
would threaten racial progress.

Senator Clinton's plan to have superdelegates hand her the nomination
doesn't make sense without a parallel strategy -- she has to stoke
enough division and race-based fear among Democratic voters to
convince superdelegates that white voters will not vote for Senator
Obama in the general election. One of Clinton's key arguments to
superdelegates is that America won't elect a Black man, and therefore
she's the better choice for Democrats to beat John McCain. While
she makes that argument in private to superdelegates, in public
Clinton's campaign and her surrogates are doing everything they can to
damage Barack Obama by ginning up fear and division and playing to the
worst instincts of our society. It's an insult to Black people and
all Americans, Obama and Clinton supporters alike.

The pattern has been clear and consistent to some party leaders. Last
week, according to the Washington Post, James Clyburn -- who as House
Majority Whip remains neutral and is the highest ranking Black member
of Congress -- accused the Clintons of marginalizing Black voters.
Referring to this strategy in another interview, Clyburn said that
"Nothing in this campaign has been by accident."

Congressman Clyburn warned that "black people are incensed" over the
divisiveness of the Clinton strategy and that it threatens an
irreparable breach between Black people and the Democratic Party.
He's right. And if superdelegates hand Clinton a victory despite her
defeat among voters, they will be condoning and rewarding that
strategy.

Some party leaders have expressed strong concern about superdelegates
overruling voters. But as a whole, superdelegates have not made it
clear that they will respect the will of voters. Today, we want to
send a clear, unequivocal message to superdelegates and other party
leaders: Reject the idea that the nomination can be won with a
strategy that preys on racism, sows division, and disenfranchises
millions of voters.

Please join me by supporting the proactive actions of The Color of Change.

http://www.colorofchange.org/dems/?id=2054-503311

Thanks.

African American Political Pundit

60 percent of voters think Clinton is dishonest. - What Obama wishes he could say about the Clinton's

The folks at Politico have a great article on the Clinton's and What Obama wishes he could say. I'm with the writers, John F. Harris & Jim Vandehei who write, " All manner of Clinton controversies, Obama partisans argue, have not been fully ventilated. This includes old issues, like Hillary Clinton’s legal career, which includes lots of cases that never got much public attention even during the Whitewater era. It also includes new ones, like recent stories raising questions about the web of personal and financial associations around Bill Clinton. Since leaving the presidency, he has traveled the globe to exotic places and with sometimes exotic characters, raising money for projects such as his foundation and presidential library and making himself a very wealthy man.

Which gets us back to gall. In the fantasies of some of his high-level supporters, Obama would peel off the tape to say something like this: You want to talk hypocrisy? How about piously criticizing me for Jeremiah Wright when you have a trail of associations that includes golden oldies like Webb Hubbell? (‘90s flashback: He was one of Hillary Clinton’s legal partners and closest friends, whom she installed in a top Justice Department job before prosecutors sent him to prison.) It also includes modern hits like Frank Giustra. (In case you missed it: There was a January New York Times story, which did not get the attention the reporting deserved, highlighting how this Canadian tycoon and major Bill Clinton benefactor was using his ties to the ex-president to win business with a ruthless dictatorship in Khazakstan.)

Obama has never pressed Clinton to talk about Marc Rich, even though the former fugitive financier who won a controversial pardon from Bill Clinton gave money to her first Senate campaign.

He has never mentioned her brothers, even though Hugh and Tony Rodham once defied Bill Clinton’s own top foreign policy advisers by entering into a strange investment in hazelnuts in the former Soviet republic of Georgia (they later dropped the deal) and Hugh Rodham took large cash payments for trying to broker presidential pardons.

Obama is likewise galled to be lectured by Clinton for not being sufficiently committed to universal health coverage. Why is it, his team asks, that Democrats have done so little to advance a long-time progressive goal for the past 15 years? The answer has everything to do with Hillary Clinton’s misjudgments when she was leading the reform effort in 1993 and 1994.

Most irritating of all to Obama partisans is what they see as her latest pose: that she is selflessly staying in the race despite the long odds against her because of devotion to the Democratic Party and the belief that she is a more appealing general election candidate.

It is an article of faith among most people around Obama that the Clintons were a disaster for the party throughout the 1990s. When Bill Clinton came to town in 1993, Democrats were a congressional majority, with 258 seats in the House. When he left in 2001, they were a minority with 46 fewer seats. There were 30 Democratic governors when he arrived, 21 10 years later.

As for electability, the Obama side believes — for all his trouble winning lower-income whites in recent primaries — that it is ludicrous to believe she is the stronger candidate in the fall.

A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found nearly 60 percent of voters think Clinton is dishonest. Think about that: Only four in 10 voters do not think she lies when she needs to. A majority hold an unfavorable view of her.

Will those numbers improve if she wins the nomination and Republicans resurrect the scandals, the Bill Clinton sexual affairs and her Bosnia fib with the same intensity they brought to the Wright uproar? Unthinkable.

Now that the Democratic superdelegates are facing their moment of decision in this close race, you might think it would be time for politesse to give way to an unvarnished discussion about both candidates' real strengths and liabilities.

The Obama side is frustrated with the news media for not carrying more of its argument. His operatives thought a Newsday story looking exhaustively at her legal career — including the revelation that as a young lawyer she attacked the credibility of a 12-year-old rape victim — would provoke a herd of other coverage. It did not happen.

If he really wanted, Obama could generate all the coverage he wanted about Clinton’s past by leveling accusations in his own words. But that is not going to happen. More HERE


AAPP: These two Politico.com writers are right, Politically Barack Obama will be called out as a hypocrite if he practiced the conventional art of attack politics after preaching against it. But black bloggers can expose these folks for who they really are. Maybe, just maybe its time to take the sheets off of Hillary and Bill Clinton once and for all, and expose them for who they really are. What do you think?