Archive for May, 2008

The money trail between Obama and Pfleger

Published
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HawkEye
on May 30, 2008
in 2008 Presidential Election
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We are getting a clearer picture today on how Obama is tied to the controversial Catholic Priest, Father Michael Pfleger and surprise, surprise, it involves money flowing in both directions.

The Chicago Tribune ran a story today titled “Cardinal George weighs in on Pfleger flap” reporting that the Cardinal of Chicago, Francis George, announced that Pfleger has agreed not to campaign from the pulpit for the remainder of this election year. But you have to read a little farther to get to the meat. Toward the end of the article the following is written:

In a Tribune story a year ago, Obama defended special budget earmarks for his district while he was a state legislator, including ones that went to programs associated with Pfleger’s church.

Pfleger gave Obama’s campaigns $1,500 between 1995 and 2001, including $200 in April 2001, about three months after Obama announced at least $100,000 in grants to St. Sabina programs.

So as a state senator, Obama helped secure money for Pfleger. That’s at least $100,000 for Pfleger’s work according to the Chicago Tribune. This only manages to strengthen the entanglement in which Obama finds himself in regarding the controversial priest who crafted the inflammatory sermon that was delivered to Trinity Church.

It only gets worse for Obama. While it’s well reported that Pfleger has helped the disadvantaged, it is also quite clear now that Pfleger is a well known proponent of Nation of Islam leader Luis Farrakhan and the love is apparently mutual. Watch for yourself:

I wonder how Pfleger felt when Obama rejected the endorsement of Farrakhan?

Also, it’s almost surreal that the rookie senator from Illinois that is trying to become the leader of the United States of America has called Pfleger as one who helps Obama keep his “moral compass.” The following is written in a 2004 Chicago Sun Times article:

“The biggest challenge, I think, is always maintaining your moral compass.”

Friends and advisers, such as the Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church in the Auburn- Gresham community on the South Side, who has known Obama for the better part of 20 years, help him keep that compass set, he says.

We have a 20-year relationship between Jeremiah Wright and Obama and a 20-year relationship between Michael Pfleger and Obama. Obama’s campaign has already started to try to erase his connection with Pfleger. Unfortunately for them, there is this little persistence problem for them with the journalism in Chicago that has accurately chronicled a long and likely politically important relationship for Obama with Pfleger.

Holy Dejavus! Obama disappointed in yet another spiritual leader in his life, Catholic Priest Michael Pfleger

Published
by
HawkEye
on May 29, 2008
in 2008 Presidential Election
. 0 Comments

The main stream media will attempt to gloss over the crazy rhetoric delivered by Trinity Church speaker and Catholic Priest, Father Michael L. Pfleger directed at Hillary Clinton this weekend, but it can’t be good for the rookie senator from Illinois to have to issue yet another public statement of disappointment over sermons delivered from his chosen house of worship for over twenty years, Trinity Church in Chicago. Obama today issued the following statement stating his disappointment:

As I have traveled this country, I’ve been impressed not by what divides us, but by all that that unites us. That is why I am deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger’s divisive, backward-looking rhetoric, which doesn’t reflect the country I see or the desire of people across America to come together in common cause.

We’ll we are starting to get the idea of how Team Obama will spin the mean spirited “preaching” from Pfleger. Didn’t this happen before with another important figure in Obama’s spiritual life? It’s a pattern for sure, and it will have ramifications for the rookie senator with voters concerned about Obama’s judgment over the associations that he has chosen to develop from Wright to Ayers to now Pfleger. And those are reasonable concerns to have over such an inexperienced politician.

In his politicized sermon, Father Pfleger uses his position as a priest to publicly accuse Senator Clinton of felling entitled to the nomination because she is white and influential. How does this possibly speak to the Gospel of Christ and why would Pfleger feel so comfortable in coming into Trinity Church to deliver this type of racial and political smear attack? Could it be that Pfleger has witnessed this type of message delivered at Trinity before?

I’m not sure, but watch for yourself and ask yourself the following: why does Pfleger appear so incredibly comfortable delivering this smear attack and also why is it so well received by the congregation in attendance?

Michelle Malkin has coverage that includes the endorsement from Pfleger that Team Obama has removed from Obama’s campaign site. She has also transcribed Pfleger’s pathetic sermonizing. (Here is the cached version.) Here is the Pfleger endorsement of Obama that has been removed:

Father Michael Pfleger
Senior Pastor, St. Sabina Church, Chicago, IL
I’m concerned by issues of poverty and issues of justice and equal access and opportunity especially when dealing with children and education and healthcare. Also, the war in Iraq is non-negotiable: end it! The faith community has to be a prophetic voice to bring us to where we ought to be as a country. Its voice should call every individual to be their best and not assimilate into anything less. Obama is calling back those who have given up and lost hope in the political system both young and old in the belief that we can fix it. He has the intellect for the job and I haven’t heard anyone since Robert F. Kennedy who is causing such an emotional and spiritual awakening to the political possibilities.

Why would Obama’s campaign staff feel compelled to remove the Pfleger’s endorsement over the “disappointing” comments? To me it would seem to indicate that Obama’s campaign is painfully aware of the real damage caused by Obama’s close personal relationships with the likes of Wright, Pfleger, and Ayers. While the rhetoric of these associations speak loudly, the actions of Obama’s campaign team speak even louder.

They are in emergency mode. They know that voters can tell the difference between the controversial endorsements that Senator McCain has recently denounced and those received by Obama from individuals with whom Obama has developed long and standing relationships. The relationships were good for Obama when they were helping get into Chicago politics as an outsider, but now Obama is reaping what he sowed to rise to the top.

Must Read: Hillary and the politics of sissyism

Published
by
HawkEye
on May 28, 2008
in 2008 Presidential Election
. 0 Comments

I’ve been on vacation so this is extremely late. Readers of mine will know that I have on occasion praised Senator Hillary Clinton for her toughness, and to this day, I still believe that the dumbocrats are making a serious blunder in apparently choosing the rookie senator from Illinois to run against Senator McCain in the general election. And of course, I’m fine with that.

Given my admiration for Clinton’s grit, I’ve also been disappointed in her reliance of late on playing the the sexism card. The great Peggy Noonan nails it on the head with her excellent article for the Wall Street Journal titled “Sex and the Sissy.”

In her commentary, Noonan compares Clinton to Golda Meir, Margaret Thatcher, and Indira Gandhi. She concludes that none of those great female political leaders would compliment Hillary on playing the sexism card. She goes on to write the following:

It is sissy. It is blame-gaming, whining, a way of not taking responsibility, of not seeing your flaws and addressing them. You want to say “Girl, butch up, you are playing in the leagues, they get bruised in the leagues, they break each other’s bones, they like to hit you low and hear the crack, it’s like that for the boys and for the girls.”

And because the charge of sexism is all of the above, it is, ultimately, undermining of the position of women. Or rather it would be if its source were not someone broadly understood by friend and foe alike to be willing to say anything to gain advantage.

The Conservative Pulse: Other possible female VP nominees for Obama, and more

Published
by
HawkEye
on May 28, 2008
in The Conservative Pulse
. 0 Comments

I’ve been on vacation this week in Texas visiting family, and that explains my lack of posts lately. I’m writing this from Joplin, MO on my way back to St. Louis.

  • Planned Parenthood is being sued for $50 million for an abortion that left a 13 year old girl infertile. [Source: Michelle Malkin]
  • A look at some spinning being performed by Obama about himself in a commencement address. [Source: Power Line]
  • Apparently, Scott McClellan had some issues with the way he was treated in the Bush Administration and it’s now payback time. My only question for him would be why did he stay in the administration so long if he had problems with of this magnitude with President Bush and his cabinet. Did he know that a “tell all” would be extremely profitable later? [Sources: Newsmax and Townhall]
  • Wouldn’t it be grand if Obama chose McCaskill as his VP running mate and still failed to carry Missouri in the fall? Living in Missouri, I can venture an educated guess that many Democratic Missourians wouldn’t vote for the rookie senator because of good old Claire! [Source: Politico]
  • Why would Obama turn down a trip to Iraq to visit with our brave troops with Senator McCain? Could it be that he feels awkward meeting with those who he would command if he became POTUSA? [Source: Redstate]
  • Democrats are concerned with McCain’s popularity with Hispanics and they are trying to address that. [Source: Pajamas Media]

The Conservative Pulse: Hillary feels the heat, Post-Christian America, and more

Published
by
HawkEye
on May 23, 2008
in Give Me Liberty
. 0 Comments
  • Hillary has just learned what it’s like to “step out of line” in the opinion of the Obama loving main stream media. [Source: Little Green Footballs]
  • John McCain’s wife Cindy has finally released her 2006 tax returns and she has promised to release her 2007 returns as soon as they are finished — she filed and received an extension from the IRS. This is more than John Kerry’s wife Teresa Heinz Kerry ever released. [Sources: Hot Air and Redstate]
  • McCain as expected has become a stinking turd of a nominee for conservatives. If I vote for him, I’ll have to hold my nose and keep saying that he’s marginally better than a socialist. I hope Senator McCain can do something to change my opinion. [Source: Right Wing News]
  • Pat Buchanan looks at the overturn of the gay marriage ban by the activist California Supreme court and what that means for “Post Christian” America. [Source: Townhall]
  • Despite my personal misgivings about Senator McCain, some GOP insiders are projecting a large victory for the Arizona senator in the fall and there seems to be confirmation in the polls that Obama could have serious problems with the electorate. [Source: Politico and Newsweek]
  • Federal prosecutors sentence 297 illegal immigrants on charges that include identity theft. [Source: NY Times]
  • Bush is feeling extreme pressure from pro-life activists to cut federal funding to abortionists. I hope they are successful.

McCain flip flops on amnesty for illegal immigrants — that didn’t take long

Published
by
HawkEye
on May 22, 2008
in Stop Illegal Immigration
. 1 Comment

John McCain’s masquerade as a conservative is over.

After securing the Republican nomination, the Sacremento Bee is reporting that John “Straight Talk” McCain has backed off his campaign promises to be tough on illegal immigration. This reinforces my concern that McCain only talked tough on immigration to get the the vote of conservatives during the primary season and now he’s back to his maverick ways.

Unfortunately, he is making it very hard for anyone who respects the laws and sovereignty of our country to stay committed to voting for him. Can he be trusted anymore on the immigration issue? Of course he can’t. He’s not a conservative and I’m beginning to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to let Obama win in the fall. At least Obama makes no secret that he is a Democrat. The Bee reports:

Asked by Silicon Valley panelists on what he would do to grant more visa for skilled technology workers, McCain broadly advocated the comprehensive immigration reform plan he had backed with Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy in Congress.

The same issue brought McCain intense criticism during the Republican presidential primary from conservatives who assailed him as soft on illegal immigration and an advocate of amnesty.

But today McCain, the now presumptive GOP presidential nominee, said an immigration program is needed that protects America’s borders and national security. While he called for punishing employers who hire illegal immigrants, he also advocated a humane approach that treats illegal workers as “God’s children.”

Michelle Malkin has extensive coverage on the disappointing news. She wisely doubted McCain back in January when McCain claimed that he understood that conservatives want the borders enforced:

For all his supposed, newfound enlightenment about what most Americans want—protection against invasion, commitment to the rule of law, meaningful employer sanctions, an end to sanctuary cities, enforcement-by-attrition plus deportation reform, and an end to special illegal alien benefits that invite more law-breaking–The Maverick remains a Geraldo Rivera Republican. Like the ethnocentric cable TV host who can’t string a sentence about immigration together without drowning in emotional demagoguery, McCain naturally resorts to open-borders platitudes when pressed for enforcement specifics.

While I’ll never vote for one of the socialists running on the Democratic side, McCain is making increasingly difficult to be able to vote for him either. He is not a conservative and I’m not sure that he can be trusted. McCain would be wise to stop hanging around with pseudo Republicans like the governors of California and Florida and start reconnecting with conservatives and the base of the Republican party. Obama isn’t the only one who is demographically challenged.

The Conservative Pulse: McCain rejects Hagee, Obama’s Jewish problems, and more

Published
by
HawkEye
on May 22, 2008
in The Conservative Pulse
. 0 Comments
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