David Duke

The Clinton campaign says it has no comment on the remarks Clinton fund-raiser Niall O'Dowd made to an interviewer on Irish radio comparing Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, to white supremacist David Duke.

O'Dowd said "I think the issue that the Clinton campaign has seized on is that Barack Obama, you know, never once raised his voice to his pastor and said, `I think your language is quite extreme here, and I think you language is probably wrong.' Because let's turn this around. If this was David Duke and he was preaching on behalf of, and Hillary Clinton was in the pew, there would be outrage about this. And there can't be this double standard. Barack Obama has used race where it suited him, but when it doesn't suit him he backs away from it."

O'Dowd's comments surfaced on a day when Clinton herself answered a question about what she would have done in Obama's place, by saying of Wright, "He would not have been my pastor." She added, "We don't have a choice when it comes to our relatives. We have a choice when it comes to our pastors and the churches we attend."

She hasn't said yet whether she has brought up the issue of Obama's relationship with Wright in conversations with superdelegates.  read more »

Sorry writers and readers, I'm still trying to get up to speed on comment problems.

Here are 2 guys who couldn't be hear thru normal channels. The first was in response to the issue of censoring comments, something I just started doing.

Phil: I agree with KoboldBlew. I know it's just another piece of drudgery to have to monitor babies like those who spew hate here in yr comments threads & elsewhere on the web. But you really need to do it for the rest of us who're interested in both what you have to say & what intelligent folk on either side of the debate have to say. I believe in free speech. But hate speech either against groups or individuals doesn't deserve the same respect." Richard Silverstein

Tikun Olam (And I urge readers to look at Richard's latest, on a favorable review of Carter's book by Yossi Beilin)

And this was from Brad, responding to my statement about wanting to have it out with the neocons, within the Jewish community. His post follows the last one there now, Beth Waterberg's comment mocking me:

Dear God, Phil - Seriously - Have you lost your senses? It's one thing to critique Israeli policy, it's another thing to actively foster the type jew hatred that was predominant in the 30's and 40's. I'm not writing this to be rude. I'm seriously concerned. I am a liberal Jew who does not subscribe to AIPAC and has worked for years to build bridges with Arabs and work for a 2-state solution, so don't write this off as the rantings of an angry right-wing zionist. Working towards a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict does not require one to parrot David Duke and Pat Buchanan. Brad

The Frenchman was urgent.  read more »

We've been sent a copy of a flyer that will be circulating at the mayoral forum at the Gay Center tonight. Freddy rebutted the controversy over his 1986 votes pretty convincingly last week.

This time, Freddy's endorsement of anti-gay State Senator Ruben Diaz last year is the issue. Outrage! is the general theme.

Freddy is quoted as saying, "When it's between him and a former criminal defendant who was charged with ripping off people including people with AIDS in the Bronx, easy for me, easy for me."

Now we have some sympathy with Freddy here. He and Diaz are hardly pals, and he's taken real shit from Diaz for backing gay rights.  read more »

Still, corruption isn't always a good enough reason to oppose someone. Remember when David Duke ran against Edwin Edwards for Governor of Louisiana? The Edwards bumper stickers said, "Vote for the crook. It's important."