Chris Matthews almost got another tingle up his leg on national television Tuesday talking about how wonderful Barack Obama is. So did Salon’s Joan Walsh, In the opening segment of “Hardball,” the host and his perilously liberal guests concluded by trying to figure out why conservatives don’t like the current White House resident. In the end, and sadly predictable, the conclusion was the color of Obama’s skin. But before that, the sycophantic praise and exultation for the object of their affection was literally breathless (video follows with transcript and commentary): CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: It’s about being an American, and the wonderful thing about this country is you can grow up to be basically what, you know, it’s a Great Gatbsy country, you can actually create your own identity and become a person. This guy Barack Obama, not to get too basic about it, did everything right. JOAN WALSH, SALON: Yes. MATTHEWS: He studied hard in school. He obeyed the law. He raised a family. He took care of his family. He was an excellent student. He was on the Harvard Law Review. He did everything. He went through the democratic process. He didn’t go out and make a lot of money on Wall Street. He gave himself to his community. This guy is almost pluperfect and they don’t like him. WALSH: He is the American dream. He lived it, he embodies it, and somehow he did something wrong, I don’t know what it is, but it is a little to do with the color of his skin. MATTHEWS: He didn’t show up at Glenn Beck’s House of Love, or whatever it is. BOB SHRUM: They might have made him sit in the back row. Did you hear Matthews almost panting when Walsh called Obama the American dream? Makes you wonder if studio assistants had to come in and give him a sponge-bath during the commercial break.
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Chris Matthews – ‘Obama is Almost Perfect’; Joan Walsh – ‘He’s the American Dream’
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Tagged Barack Obama, chris-matthews, commercial, conclusion, great-gatbsy, Hollywood, msnbc, obeyed-the-law, salon, white
The Washington Post put Glenn Beck on the front page again Tuesday with the headline “Beck’s marriage of politics and religion raising questions: Commentator may be unlikely leader for conservative Christians.” Post religion correspondent Michelle Boorstein underlined why: Beck’s Mormonism. He sounded like an evangelist at his rally, and “Yet the Mormon convert seems an unlikely leader for conservative Christians, many of whom don’t regard Mormonism as part of their faith.” It’s clear that the Post editors are furious that Beck questioned Barack Obama’s claim to “committed” Christianity, so they are turning the tables. That theme runs through the whole Boorstein story, which raised the question if Beck had “seized the mantle of the religious right.” Salem Radio hosts and executives clearly aren’t a stable of Beck fans: “Politically, everyone is with it, but theologically, when he says the country should turn back to God, the question is: Which God?” said Tom Tradup, vice president for news and talk at Salem Radio Network, which serves more than 2,000 mostly Christian stations. “How much of this is turning to God? How much is religious revival and how much is a snake oil medicine show?” Boorstein also quoted Salem host Janet Mefferd, who was just picked up nationally by Salem in March. (Beck’s radio show is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks.) Boorstein left the Salem affiliation out of the Mefferd quote. She didn’t like his talk of divine destiny: “I’m a little nervous about that kind of talk,” said Janet Mefferd, a nationally syndicated Christian talk show host who said most callers Monday wanted to talk about Beck. “I know he means well and loves this country, but he doesn’t know enough about theology to know what kind of effect he’s having. Christians are hearing something different than what he thinks he’s saying.” Mefferd’s website also links to an article insisting if Beck truly embraces Mormonism, he is not a Christian. The Post’s On Faith blog was explicit in a headline: Is Obama a Christian? Is Beck? Glenn Beck, a Mormon, says Obama is not a Christian. It’s not uncommon for Christians to question Mormon theology. What’s uncommon is a liberal newspaper like The Washington Post suggesting someone’s not Christian enough for the Christian right. It’s like letting abortion advocates pick who leads the pro-life movement. The first Christian leader featured in the story was Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, who found Beck’s attempt to get the blessings of religious-right leaders “extraordinary…I’ve never heard a cultural figure of that popularity taking that overtly about his faith. He sounded like Billy Graham.” Boorstein later added: Although he doesn’t consider Mormons to be Christians, Land said he agrees with Beck’s basic premise that American society must be “rebuilt from the bottom up.” Land accepted an invitation to be part of a group of more than 200 clergy members whom Beck calls his “Black Robed Regiment,” a reference to pastors from the Revolutionary War who stirred up opposition to colonial rule. Asked who would be considered conservative Christian leaders today – with Graham in his 90s and the recent death of Jerry Falwell – Land said that “leaders are leaders because people follow them. Obviously, Glenn Beck is a leader. He’s in a category by himself. He’s not a minister, he’s not a politician.” The most ridiculous sentence in Boorstein’s story is yet another lame definition of “liberation” theology: To those who embrace it, liberation theology is a means to empower the poor, the weak and politically oppressed. The term became politicized during the 2008 presidential campaign because it is used by Obama’s controversial former pastor, Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. As Stanley Kurtz noted, “Theologically,” Wright’s theological hero James Cone affirms, “Malcolm X was not far wrong when he called the white man ‘the devil.'” Cone also wrote : “If God is not for us and against White people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of Black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the Black community … Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy.” But The Washington Post thinks all the religious controversy belongs with Beck, not Barack Obama’s longtime pastor.
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WaPo Front Page Implies Beck Can’t Lead Christian Right: He’s Not Really a Christian
Posted in Hollywood, Hot Stuff, News
Tagged Barack Obama, black, Breaking News, conservative, Crowd, faith, food, Hollywood, kids, Love, Obama
This is one story that U.S. News & World Report’s Washington Whispers might want to keep to a low whisper or risk even more ridicule than what they are already receiving. Paul Bedard, writing in Washington Whispers, quotes Kennedy’s biographer and former girlfriend who claim that Ted was really an innocent victim of the Chappaquiddick accident. Here is Kennedy biographer Burton Hersh making the case for Kennedy as merely a lousy driver: Now, a year after Kennedy died, his lifelong biographer Burton Hersh, armed with fresh interviews with Kennedy’s mistress at the time, tells Whispers that the whole July 1969 episode should have been handled as a simple crash, leaving the senator’s legacy untainted. “It was a car accident,” he says. “Ted was a terrible driver. He never paid much attention to where he was going.” “He took a tremendous blow on the head,” says Hersh. In interviews following the crash, Kennedy displayed confusion and amnesia, he says. Wasn’t Ted married to Joan Kennedy at the time of the accident? No matter. Perhaps his biographer figures it is better to show that Kennedy was unfaithful rather then culpable in Mary Jo Kopechne’s death. In any event, loyal lifelong biographer Hersh continues to play a sympathetic note on his violin: “If the thing had been handled properly, the first thing they would have done is put him in a hospital. Then they would have said he was a victim of an auto accident and didn’t know what he was doing and couldn’t be held responsible for anything that happened really after that, which would have been a fair explanation,” says author-journalist Hersh, who knew Kennedy since they were classmates at Harvard. “But instead, he felt terribly guilty about the whole thing … tried to take responsibility and … just confused the issue.” Darn that mighty Ted Kennedy moral compass. That is what got him into so much trouble. Oddly enough, despite his laughable defense of Kennedy, Hersh admits that his type of woman is a…bimbo: As for Kennedy being interested in the straight-laced Kopechne, Hersh says that was highly unlikely. “She wasn’t Ted’s kind of babe. She was a long way from being a bimbo.” Most of the Washington Whispers readers don’t seem to be buying this bizarre rewrite of history judging from their posted remarks : If I had done the same thing I would have gone to jail for 4 years for manslaughter. Trying to rewrite Teddy’s shameful acts won’t cut it. Read “Senatorial Privilege” published shortly after the accident and inquest. Provides an hour by hour investigatorial record. ‘Nuff said. I wish every reader of this article had a personal army of lackeys like the Kennedy’s do to come up with trash like this to protect them. Yeah, so confused he swims back to his hotel, goes to his room and gets some sleep before reporting the accident. He knew what he had done and what he was doing. Anyone with honor would have admitted his transgressions. In my neighborhood, and absent political connections, we call this tragic event failure to render aid, driving while intoxicated, leaving the scene of a felony accident, and he should have been charged with murder. And now the bonus comedy punchline from the article to explain away Kennedy’s dissolute activies: He also brushes off tales that Kennedy was a playboy more than a lawmaker. “Kennedy’s central project was accomplishing as much as he could in public life. And all of the things, including the drinking, the women, and the rest, were sort of supportive activities. They were amusements.” Burton Hersh: historical airbrusher with the special comedic touch.
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Washington Whispers: Ted Kennedy an Innocent Chappaquiddick Victim
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