February 27, 2008

by Bill Levinson

The common rat is very adept at dodging and evading, and it took the combined efforts of MSNBC’s Tim Russert and Senator Hillary Clinton to corner Barack Obama long enough to get him to use the word “reject” in conjunction with the endorsement of the prominent racist, anti-Semite, and Catholic-hater Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam. As reported by Byron York’s Obama and the Farrakhan Trap: The Democratic frontrunner stepped in it Tuesday night:

NBC’s Tim Russert asked, “Do you accept the support of Louis Farrakhan?” Obama might have said, “No.” But instead, he seemed to go out of his way to denounce some of Farrakhan’s statements while not taking on Farrakhan himself (and even using Farrakhan’s preferred honorific in the process). “You know, I have been very clear in my denunciation of Minister Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic comments,” Obama said. “I think that they are unacceptable and reprehensible. I did not solicit this support. He expressed pride in an African-American who seems to be bringing the country together. I obviously can’t censor him, but it is not support that I sought. And we’re not doing anything, I assure you, formally or informally, with Minister Farrakhan.”

…After his answer, Russert asked again, just as directly, “Do you reject his support?” Obama might have answered, “Yes,” but instead tried his best to stay away from anything so definitive. “Well, Tim, you know, I can’t say to somebody that he can’t say that he thinks I’m a good guy. You know, I — you know, I — I have been very clear in my denunciations of him and his past statements, and I think that indicates to the American people what my stance is on those comments.”

So far, then, Obama was asked twice to reject the endorsement of an individual who called the Pope the Antichrist while saying that white people are “potential humans” who “haven’t evolved yet,” and he twice refused to give a straight answer. We do not think that anything more should be necessary to convince decent voters that Obama has no standards, no ethics, and no character, and is therefore totally unfit to hold any position of public trust or responsibility. York continues,

And then Hillary Clinton — who must have enjoyed seeing her opponent take a rare turn on the hot seat — added, “There’s a difference between denouncing and rejecting…I have no doubt that everything Barack just said is absolutely sincere. [This is a polite way for a politician to say, "My opponent is an out-and-out liar who won't give us a straight answer."] But I just think, we’ve got to be even stronger.”

At that moment, Obama was in trouble. If he continued to repeat his I-have-denounced-Minister-Farrakhan’s-anti-Semitic-statements position, he would clearly seem to be avoiding a larger critique of Farrakhan. So he rather nimbly suggested that it was all a matter of semantics, and if Sen. Clinton liked, he would reject as well as denounce. “Tim, I have to say I don’t see a difference between denouncing and rejecting,” Obama said. “If the word ‘reject’ Sen. Clinton feels is stronger than the word ‘denounce,’ then I’m happy to concede the point, and I would reject and denounce.”

In other words, only when Obama was backed into a corner did he finally use the word “reject,” and he surrounded it with so many other words that it still must be regarded as equivocal. Res ipsa loquitur, the thing speaks for itself.

The National Jewish Democratic Council has been asked to join us in demanding that Barack Obama reject unequivocally and without reservation the endorsement of an individual who has made the statements shown below. We have yet to receive a reply or any action.

http://www.adl.org/special_reports/farrakhan_own_words2/farrakhan_own_words.asp

“Do you know some of these satanic Jews have taken over BET?… Everything that we built, they have. The mind of Satan now is running the record industry, movie industry and television. And they make us look like we’re the murders; we look like we’re the gangsters, but we’re punk stuff.”“Justifiable Homicide: Black Youth in Peril (Part 3)” speech at Mosque Maryam, 11/11/07

“Mr. Lieberman, as an orthodox Jew, is also a dual citizen of Israel.” Los Angeles Times, 8/12/00 [”Jew with divided loyalty” slur]

“They call them [Hezbollah] terrorists, I call them freedom fighters…No one asks why they would do such a thing. Why would they do such a thing? What has driven them to this point? That’s what the UN, the U.S. and Europe doesn’t want to deal with because the Zionists have control in England, in Europe, in the United States and around the world.” Speech at the District Council 33 Union Hall, Philadelphia, PA, 4/22/96

“White people are potential humans…they haven’t evolved yet.” Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/18/00

“The Jews have been so bad at politics they lost half their population in the Holocaust. They thought they could trust in Hitler, and they helped him get the Third Reich on the road.” Saviours’ Day Speech, Chicago, 2/22/98

“German Jews financed Hitler right here in America…International bankers financed Hitler and poor Jews died while big Jews were at the root of what you call the Holocaust…Little Jews died while big Jews made money. Little Jews [were] being turned into soap while big Jews washed themselves with it. Jews [were] playing violin, Jews [were] playing music, while other Jews [were] marching into the gas chambers…” Mosque Maryam, Chicago, 3/19/95

Farrakhan is also on record as calling the Pope the Antichrist.