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Thursday, March 29. 2007"Say what, Barrack?"We missed this report, by Paul Hollrah from The New Media Journal:
"...something happened back here in
“When (black) men who had PhD’s decided ‘that's enough’ and ‘we’re going to stand up for our dignity,’ that sent a shout across oceans so that my grandfather began to imagine something different for his son. His son, who grew up herding goats in a small village in
“…So the Kennedys decided we're going to do an air lift. We're going to go to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country
“This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose great great-great-great-grandfather had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that, (in) the world as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in
Okay, so what’s wrong with that? It all sounds good…but is it?
Obama told his audience that, because some folks had the courage to “march across a bridge” in
Obama went on to tell his audience that the Kennedys, Jack and Bobby, decided to do an airlift. They would bring some young Africans over so that they could be educated and learn all about
The problem with that scenario is that, having been born in August 1961, the future senator was not conceived until sometime in November 1960. So, if his African grandfather heard words that “sent a shout across oceans,” inspiring him to send his goat-herder son to
Obama’s speech is reminiscent of Al Gore's claim of having invented the Internet, Hillary Clinton’s claim of having been named after the first man to climb Mt. Everest…even though she was born five years and seven months before Sir Edmund climbed the mountain, and John Kerry's imaginary trip to Cambodia.
As one of my black friends, Eddie Huff, has said, “We need to ask some very serious questions of the senator from
It appears that Senator Barrack Hussein Obama, Jr. is not a “fresh face,” as media sycophants like to describe him, he’s just another in a long line of Democrat snake oil salesmen. Paul R. Hollrah is a freelance writer. He is a member of the Civil Engineering Academy of Distinguished Alumni at the Trackbacks
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FoxNews covered that gaffe a day or two back, and reported that the Obama campaign had issued an explanation: he was speaking of the civil rights movement as a whole, rather than the bridge incident per se. Yep--gotta parse the Dems--it's a sympton of the overall problem that they happen to be objectively wrong on the issues.
I can almost hear Frank Sinatra singing in the background, "Fairytales can come true, it can happen to you". /s
Problem is, the Dems could run Anna Nicole Smith's toy poodle, and still get half the votes.
BL, not if the Republicans find somebody with a decent personal life who will actually take a stand on illegal immigration and excessive transfers to the feckless classes. I find it insulting to be told to vote for the lesser of evils. Just because the Democrats are a bunch of loathsome beasts, doesn't mean that we should have to grit our teeth over the Republican candidates.
I don't care about party labels, as both have abandonned the cause of ordinary working Americans. Am not interested in fawing on the superrich or pirates or entertainment or athletic types. Someone who has served in the military, has run their own business or worked hard as a professional,who didn't inherit wealth, and has managed to treat their family well, that kind of person would interest me as a candidate. Pretty sad that one has to settle for so little, and know that there won't be a candidate like that... Don't throw rocks at me, but I actually like Webb except for his many marriages and his past views on women in the military and the recent weird shenanigans on Capitol Hill. At least he's brave, served his country, is a fantastic speaker, and appears to care about ordinary Americans. But with my unerring knack for picking a rascal, he will probably shortly confess to some dreadful addiction or run off with a page or otherwise turn out to be a bounder.... Retriever,
Webb may or may not be a rascal, but he appears to be a bit of a demegogue, a blow-hard who also plays fast and loose with facts and truth. He appears to be playing the part of the great angry populist. I'm always wary of the 'populist'. Anonymous, I hear you. Sure gave a good speech after the State of the Union, tho. I agree with you about the fast and loose with facts...the weird ramblings about the gun business made me wonder...
Better populist than panderer to pirates... Nobody I'd vote for so far. I will vote, because it's important to set a good example to the young, but it will be holding my nose. Hung up on the Giuliani fundraisers calling tonight before I could make snarky comments about adulterers...He who is faithful in a little is faithful in much and all that... By WillowGr
The article you copy from and ask about is a right-wing hit piece designed to make Obama look bad. They are trying to chip away at our guy in any little way they can. The article you cite is an example of that attempt. Obama is a brilliant writer and orator. Brilliant writers and orators use metaphors to make their points. Obama was using "Selma" as a metaphor for the entire civil rights movement. "Crossing the bridge" was a very concrete image to use to represent the civil rights struggle. Women refusing to take the bus was a metaphor. Educated black men standing up and demanding their dignity was a metaphor for the struggle. Obama was using all of these things to represent the entire civil rights movement which gave his parents -- one black and one white -- the hope that their relationship might be possible. Since Obama was referring to the entire movement as the inspiration for his parents, it is petty and irrelevant to say that he was concieved before the bridge-crossing at Selma. Obama is a very educated man, using the tools of an educated writer and speaker to make his points. Those who would pick at those tools -- the metaphors -- to make Obama look dishonest, show only their own ignorance. Regarding Obama's statement that his father came to the United States on a scholarship funding by the Kennedys, it is entirely accurate. Before John Kennedy was elected president, the Kennedys were sponsoring scholarships to bring Africans to America to be educated here. Obama's father got one of those scholarships. It is because of the Kennedy's that he was here. This was before Kennedy was elected president. I once had a URL I could provide for to show the historical accuracy of the Kennedy scholarships, but I have lost track of it and do not have time to search for it now. If I can find it later, I will post it in another comment. Or perhaps you can find it. I hope this has been helpful. |