memeorandum: Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11 (ABCNEWS)

3:00 PM ET, March 13, 2008

Top Items:

Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11 — Obama's Pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Has a History of What Even Obama's Campaign Aides Say Is ‘Inflammatory Rhetoric’ — Sen. Barack Obama's pastor says blacks should not sing “God Bless America” but “God damn America.”

Deacon / Power Line:

THE AUDACITY OF HATE — ABC News reports that Barack Obama's pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, says blacks should not sing “God Bless America” but “God damn America.” Wright thinks God should damn America for “treating our citizens as less than human” and “for [acting] like she is God and she is supreme.”

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Wright on film — Sure does feel like we're plunging into the abyss tonight. — Fox just posted a big Jeremiah Wright story, and the video is pretty gripping, and deeply racially confrontational. He begins by describing the Romans, who crucified Jesus, as Italians, and thus white, and more or less goes from there.

Discussion: The New Republic, Talking Points Memo, Tennessee Guerilla Women, JustOneMinute, Classical Values, Atlas Shrugs and Redstate

Mark Finkelstein / NewsBusters.org:

Obama's Spiritual Guide: ‘God Damn America’ — At the end of a Good Morning America segment today about Barack Obama's pastor, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., an Obama campaign representative complained that John McCain's pastor had not been similarly “vetted.”

Karl / protein wisdom:

Dems 2008: The Wright stuff — Given the buzz about the latest remarks from Barack Obama's spiritual adviser (and a member of Obama's African American Religious Leadership Committee), the Rev. Jeremiah Wright — that blacks should damn America and that the US was resposnible for 9/11 …

Ben Smith / The Politico:
Wright's committee — Jeremiah Wright, in the news today …

Discussion: Trailhead and The Democratic Daily

Fox News:
Obama's Spiritual Mentor May Put Church in Hot Water

Discussion: Stop The ACLU, The Colossus of Rhodey, The Confluence, Redstate, TigerHawk, Political Punch, Taylor Marsh, PoliGazette, Riehl World View and The Jed Report

Roger L. Simon:
Barack has some explaining to do

Discussion: The Opinionator

David Paul Kuhn / The Politico:

Support for war effort highest since 2006 — American public support for the military effort in Iraq has reached a highpoint unseen since the summer of 2006, a development that promises to reshape the political landscape. — According to late February polling conducted by The Pew Research Center …

Discussion: Jules Crittenden, Commentary, Open Left, The Carpetbagger Report, Donklephant, Real Clear Politics, Think Progress, Middle Earth Journal, Political Machine, Pat Dollard and Hot Air

Glenn Greenwald / Salon:
The Politico claims the Iraq war will help McCain

Discussion: USA Today and Wake up America

Karen DeYoung / Washington Post:
Study: Public unaware of Iraq toll

Discussion: Balloon Juice, The BRAD BLOG and JammieWearingFool

Karina / The Gavel:

House Democratic Leaders Respond to the President on FISA — Speaker Pelosi, Leader Hoyer and Whip Clyburn respond to President Bush's assertion this morning that the new legislation the House is considering this week to modernize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act “would undermine America's security.”

Discussion: Firedoglake and Think Progress

Brian Knowlton / New York Times:
Bush Warns House on Surveillance

Discussion: Associated Press, The Swamp, AMERICAblog, Threat Level, The Strata-Sphere and The Page

Daniel W. Reilly / The Crypt's Blogs:
Tempers Flare on FISA

Discussion: Wake up America and Daily Kos

Kenneth Thiesen / Berkeley Daily Planet:

Commentary: Why I Don't Support the Troops — In the recent political battle around the Marine recruiting station in Berkeley there has been much confusion around the concept or slogan of “supporting the troops,” but opposing the unjust wars of the Bush regime.

Discussion: Chicago Boyz, Hot Air, StephenBainbridge.com, Jules Crittenden, American Power, BLACKFIVE, Little Green Footballs, PoliGazette, Gathering of Eagles, Gateway Pundit, Pirate's Cove, A NEWT ONE, Right Wing News and Political Byline

Mark Murray / MSNBC:

FIRST THOUGHTS: THE GREAT '08 PARADOX — From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro — *** The great '08 paradox: Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the latest NBC/WSJ poll is the poor shape the GOP finds itself in today: The party's fav/unfav has increased (34%-49%) …

Discussion: MoJoBlog, The Huffington Post and marbury

Jackie Calmes / Wall Street Journal:
McCain, GOP May Have Cause for Hope

Discussion: Hot Air, Weekly Standard Blog, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Strata-Sphere, Macsmind and TownHall Blog

Michael Sneed / Chicago Sun Times:

It's not him — The Spitzer shocker . . . Just who is Client No. 10? — Who is the procurer of prostitutes from Chicago who is mentioned anonymously in an unsealed FBI affidavit filed by the feds detailing operations of the Emperors Club, a sex-for-hire shop that allegedly ensnared embattled New York.

Discussion: The Swamp and Real Clear Politics

Charles Babington / Associated Press:

Obama criticizes McCain on taxes — CHICAGO - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama said Thursday that Sen. John McCain reversed his position on President Bush's deep tax cuts in order to win the Republican presidential nomination, one of his sharpest criticisms yet of the Arizona senator he hopes to face this fall.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Stumper, Yahoo! News, MyDD, The Carpetbagger Report and Mercury Rising

New York Times:

Spitzer Fall Began With Bank Reports — Last July, the North Fork Bank raised a red flag about suspicious financial transactions involving Gov. Eliot Spitzer. But for several months, the electronic report languished unnoticed in a vast Treasury Department database in Detroit.

Discussion: Angry Bear, Firedoglake, protein wisdom and Rocky Mountain News

Balkinization:
The Spitzer Case and the National Surveillance State

Discussion: Firedoglake and Megan McArdle

Borys Krawczeniuk / The Times-Tribune:

Poll: Hillary's negative rating rivals Santorum's — New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has something in common with former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum. A large percentage of Pennsylvania voters dislike both of them. — In fact, greater percentages of voters here have consistently viewed …

Discussion: Trailhead

Cynthia Needham / Providence Journal:

Bill to close prostitution loophole — PROVIDENCE — With the nation's eyes trained on former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's alleged involvement with a prostitute, Rhode Island lawmakers are considering a bill that would close the loophole in this state's laws that makes prostitution legal if it occurs indoors.

Dr. Rusty Shackleford / The Jawa Report:

Hi, I'm from the NY Times. Your Daughter is a Whore. — Ashley Alexandra Dupré, worth $5 grand for sex? — I wasn't shocked that we found out who Spitzer's whore was, what did shock me was that it was the New York Times that outed her. Isn't this better left to the National Enquirer?

Discussion: Outside The Beltway

Jackie Kucinich / The Hill:

Liberal talk radio hires ex-con Ney — Former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio) has landed his first job since being released from prison last month. — Ney is working in Columbus, Ohio, for the Talk Radio News Service (TRNS), thanks to his longtime friend Ellen Ratner.

Discussion: Think Progress