Rev. Jeremiah Wright is not an anti Semite!
I am sure many of us saw the exchange earlier today between Rick Sanchez and Micheal Goldfarb. Goldfarb was of course trying to smear Barack Obama with his ties to Rashid Khalidi who is a well respected Palestinian American College professor. Now as the interview went on and Rick Sanchez pushed back Goldfarb made the statement that Barack Obama hangs around with anti semites with an s. Leaving aside the fact that from all reports Khalidi is not in point of fact an anti Semite Sanchez pushed him to name even one other anti semite that Obama hangs around with. Goldfarb's response that "you know" has drawn some conclusions that I think should be challenged. On both Politico.com and ThinkProgress.org the assumption has been made that he was referring to Reverend Jeremiah Wright and the inference is that Rev. Wright is in fact a anti semite but because of McCain's muzzle Goldfarb couldnt mention him. Our very own TPM also has a post up about the exchange and they invoke the name of Rev Wright as well.Well I am calling BULLSHIT. If some how in the last five days the McCain campaign is able without even mentioning him to be able to transform Rev Wright into an anti Semite ALONG WITH an anti American it can severely hamper Obama's strength with Jewish voters in Florida which is truly a battle grown state
Now look I am not a Reverend Wright apologist. I do believe that his sermons were taken out of context in order to maximize the shock factor as well as to make him seem like the boogey man. Now I don't think that he IS the boogey man but some of the stuff he has said is in fact indefensible. So if you dont like Reverend Wright and what he has said then trust me we are on the same team. But if we allow this meme to pick up steam that Rev. Wright is an anti Semite then it is going to truly hurt Barack Obama in this election and I don't think any of us want that. Now as far as I know the websites that are trying to paint him as anti semetic can only point to his giving Louis Farrakhan an award. Now for those that don't know Farrakhan has a very complex relationship with the black community. There are a lot of things he has done in our community that no one else has such as stepping in to quell the east coast west coast rivalry that happened due to rappers Tupac and Biggie. Such as organizing the million man march. Now on the other side of the coin he has made some of the most inflamatory statements about Jewish people and Israel that can be imagined. But to say that Rev Wright shares his views on Israel just because he prsented him with an award is patently ridiculous. Again maybe there is some hidden youtube video of Rev Wright preaching against Israel or saying bad things about Jews but I believe I have seen all of the offensive you tube stuff and unless I missed it theres no fire to that smoke.
I am asking all that will to email jonathan martin of Politico.com here
jmartin@politico.com
And to send an email to thinkprogress.com here
thinkprogress@americanprogressaction.org
And ask them both to take down their commentary stating that Goldfarb was referring to Rev Wright and publish a correction OR to add the disclaimer that the allegation of anti Semitism towards Rev Wright is unfounded. I would also ask that you go to the post on TPM and leave a message or email our very own David Kurtz and ask him to put a disclaimer on the post that states that there is no evidence that Rev Wright is an anti Semite.
Again I am not doing this for Rev Wright. I am doing this for Barack Obama. We are fighting for every single vote and we don't need something like this distracting voters who are on the fence especially with John McCain throwing out the kitchen sink at Obama every single day.
Thank you in advance to those who will respond.
Extended version of interview.
Politico article
From Think Progress.org
This afternoon, CNN's Rick Sanchez confronted the McCain campaign blogger Michael Goldfarb about its hypocritical criticism of Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) links to Rashid Khalidi. After Sanchez noted that McCain, as chairman of the board at the International Republican Institute, had also given Khalidi nearly $500,000, Goldfarb brushed him off, saying that Obama had a "long track record of being around anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and anti-American rhetoric":
GOLDFARB: Look you're missing the point again Rick. The point is that Barack Obama has along track record of being around anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, and anti-American rhetoric.
SANCHEZ: Can you name one other person that he hangs around with who's anti-Semitic? ... We got Khalidi on the table, give me number two. Who's the other anti-Semitic person that he hangs around with?
GOLDFARB: Rick, we both know who number two is.
Goldfarb could not or refused to name the individual whom he was referring to, despite Sanchez's repeated inquiries. Watch it:
Goldfarb may have been dancing around naming Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Obama, however, has disavowed Wright's extreme views, and McCain supposedly banned his campaign from using Wright's record against Obama.
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