1. Wright's anti-semitic, anti-American, hardcore Marxist radical hatred was entirely occluded from Obama, the world, and most especially the NYT until yesterday. It came as a complete shock to one and all, and no one should hold it against Obama that he cultivated a mutually advantageous political partnership with a Nazi for 20 years. Now he's "repudiated" the Nazi, and we all know that you can consort with Nazis for almost all of your adult life and then simply "repudiate" them at a press availability and the issue goes away entirely.

2. Obama's 20 year political partnership with Wright may raise questions about his judgment, but it is wrongful for his political opponents to raise such questions in campaign ads. Some questions, it seems, are properly raised, but silently, in deep personal meditation, perhaps on an alpine hill while reading Rilke. Certainly we do not need to audibly ask questions about a presidential candidate. That's just hurtful and corrosive of our political process, which relies, at its core, of utter trust in our political leaders without question.

3. Not only does Obama's very late-inning "disowning" of Wright completely insulate him from questions about their 20 year history together, it actually transforms Obama into an anti-Wright, the good, cleanshaven mirror-universe good version of the goateed evil version Wright. Whether or not a transporter malfunction is partly responsible for this is anyone's guess.

4. Obama gets to decide when the Wright issue is not legitimate. He mentioned it being legitimate the other day, now he rules it out as legitimate, stating he didn't want the press to associate him with Wright anymore. As will soon be apparent, Obama gets to decide on behalf our our independent media when an issue is and is not worthy of public discussion.

5. When Obama felt that Wright was defensible "in the context" of racial divides and the black church, he was defensible in the eyes of the MSM. When Obama felt he was no longer so defensible, the MSM agreed he wasn't.

6. In any event, it's time to MoveOn (TM) from this distraction, just as it was time to MoveOn (TM) from this distraction each time Obama, and his Liberal Media Spirit Squad, pronounced it so. Except this time, they really mean it. Case closed, "distancing" achieved, nothing to see here folks, move along.

7. There was nothing wrong with Wright's anti-American Marxist racist hatred until he paraded it in front of the public, with "context" provided by he himself, and thus threatened the Liberal Media Spirit Squad's boyfriend's chances of being elected. That, and that alone, was Wright's sin. And the one he must be repudiated for. Wright is guilty of preening, thinking it's "all about him," knifing his friend in the back, raising questions when Obama could least afford them, taking Obama off message, hurting Obama's political viability, etc. Wright's sins, in short, are your sins: Not caring enough about the political fortunes of one Barack Hussein Obama. And for those sins, we must all repent.

8. And this has nothing at all to do with Obama. Did I mention that?

Meanwhile, in an alternate universe, Adolf Hitler is "distancing" himself from Josef Goebbels, telling the German media that despite Goebbels' long-time position as Minister of Propaganda, the anti-semitic Goebbels "habt sprechen fur mich nicht" and that he no longer wants any questions about Goebbels' loose talk about a "Final Solution."

"Distancing." That's all it takes. Run a poll, decide someone is now a political liability, cut him loose, and you hit the reset button. You are no longer answerable at all for the lack of "distance" -- nay, the very real political and spiritual closeness -- with a lunatic racist you cultivated all of your adult life.

Video available from the Slublog Masterpieces Collection

Just Got An Email From OJ Simpson! He says he wants to "distance himself" from the Rockingham murders, and that he also would like no longer to be asked about them. He says he "repudiates" those murders and finds them "shocking."

He also says he's running for sheriff and doesn't want any of these "distractions" to affect his chances.

Wow! This is Awesome! I just vote to Visa and Verizon and told them it was my wish to "distance myself" from any debts I may have incurred and strongly wished to "no longer be associated with them" nor "asked about them." Furthermore, I strongly stated these niggling questions about what I may have done in the past were "distractions" from my life's ambition of building a Robot Dog who catches Frisbees and solves crimes.

Posted by: Ace at 08:27 AM | Comments (75)
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And not, technically, a recession.

"Nothing to crow about," the administration says.

The bruised economy limped through the first quarter, growing at just a 0.6 percent pace as housing and credit problems forced people and businesses alike to hunker down.

The country's economic growth during January through March was the same as in the final three months of last year, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The statistic did not meet what economists consider a definition of a recession, which is a contraction of the economy. This means that although the economy is stuck in a rut, it is still managing to grow, even if slightly.

Many analysts were predicting that the gross domestic product (GDP) would weaken a bit more -- to a pace of just 0.5 percent -- in the first quarter. Earlier this year, some thought the economy would actually lurch into reverse during the opening quarter. Now, they say they believe that will likely happen during the current April-to-June period.

"The economy is weak but not collapsing," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America's Investment Strategies Group. "A recession can't be ruled out, although the stars are not lined up at this point to definitively say one way or the other."

Thanks to dri.

Posted by: Ace at 07:35 AM | Comments (86)
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Was this guy really that impressive? I always thought he was pretty damn boring.

But I never really followed the Flash, and I've always had this bias against blond male superheroes.

Yes, including Captain America.

Posted by: Ace at 07:17 AM | Comments (21)
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A fifteen year old girl. For God's sake.

I wonder if his story will change from "I didn't do steroids and/or HGH" to "I did so much steroids and HGH I went out of my mind and so I'm not responsible for my actions."

Drugs, including alcohol, are being used as a scapegoat for an awful lot of pathologies lately. Do something wrong, say it was the drugs acting, go to rehab, go on Oprah, the redemption is complete.

What do you do if you're not on drugs or alcohol but just do something awful? What if you are, as Bill Cosby said, just basically an asshole? Where's your reset button then?

I always got the impression that Michael Richards was something of a straight-edge health-nut. Not sure if that's accurate. But it's too bad he wasn't a drunk or drug-user, at least for his career. He could have blamed the N-word tirade on smack or something.

Posted by: Ace at 06:51 AM | Comments (32)
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ThereÂ’s a lot of speculation about why Rev. Wright went on his 4 day Sink Obama Tour.

Some speculate it was a set up to give The Obamassiah his Sister Souljah moment.

Now one source who claims to know whatÂ’s going on says itÂ’s a genuine rift between the two men over ObamaÂ’s decision to distance himself from Wright and the church he built.

The Post has learned. "After 20 years of loving Barack like he was a member of his own family, for Jeremiah to see Barack saying over and over that he didn't know about Jeremiah's views during those years, that he wasn't familiar with what Jeremiah had said, that he may have missed church on this day or that and didn't hear what Jeremiah said, this is seen by Jeremiah as nonsense and betrayal," said the source, who has deep roots in Wright's Chicago community and is familiar with his thinking on the matter.

Â…The source noted that the roots of Wright's disillusionment with Obama began last year after the Illinois senator unexpectedly yanked him from participating in the public announcement of his presidential campaign.

"That's why Jeremiah revealed . . . that he had actually been at the [announcement] hotel and prayed privately with the Obama family before the official declaration," the source told The Post.

"Rev. Wright, as well as other senior members of his church, believe that Obama has betrayed over 20 years of their supposed friendship."

The story is written by Fred Dicker who covers NY State politics for the NY Post and is generally considered a very solid reporter. ThereÂ’s probably someone working at the Capital in Albany with Chicago ties who is feeding him this.

It’s interesting that the Dicker’s source is quoted as saying that ‘he (Obama) may have missed church on this day or that’ and therefore didn’t hear some of the crazier shit.

I really wonder if there is video of Obama sitting there listening to some of the stuff he denies having heard in a draw in WrightÂ’s desk.

Even if there isnÂ’t video of him, I donÂ’t think ObamaÂ’s problems with Wright are done. Sure the media will tell us to move on but what if Wright doesnÂ’t stop? With the liberals in the MSM go all out to destroy Wright for Obama?

I donÂ’t know about you but I need some more popcorn.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:06 AM | Comments (81)
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Irony, thy name is irony.

Fifteen descendants of John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil are calling for Exxon Mobil to make corporate governance changes and adopt a renewable fuels strategy blah blah blah.

Heard a Dallas talk show guy ponder about this yesterday, you know what would have been sweet when that moron Ed Markey was whining at the oil company execs about why they don't invest more money into alternative fuels? If just one of those guys had leaned into the microphone and replied "I'll tell you why congressman. Because we are a fucking oil company. We explore for, extract, deliver and refine petroleum. That's what we do. We don't make hamburgers. We don't deliver pizza either. Dipshit".

Ok the radio guy didn't say "fucking" and "dipshit", that's all me. I took a good idea and improved upon it a bit.

[Neva Rockefeller] Goodwin called on Exxon to reconnect with the forward-looking vision of her great grandfather.

"Kerosene was the alternative energy of its day when he realized it could replace whale oil. Part of John D. Rockefeller's genius was in recognizing early the need and opportunity for a transition to a better, cheaper and cleaner fuel."

Not exactly, dear. His genius was replacing whale oil with a product he just happened to produce and sell. Visionary.

UPDATE (from the sidebar): What could we do about it? We could hire China to explore in the Gulf for us.

Oh wait. Cuba already did that.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:17 AM | Comments (62)
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Kind of a false democracy where no one really votes but their "votes" are counted anyway, according to how Democratic bigs figure the public would have voted.

Clinton has argued that she should get 73 delegates based on the results of the Jan. 15 primary, which she won — 18 more than Obama.

Obama, who removed his name from the ballot, wants the 128 pledged delegates split evenly, 64-64.

The compromise, suggested Tuesday in a letter to Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer, fell halfway between the two proposals.

Still, it's probably close enough. And it would give Our Girl another six delegates. And she a-gonna need 'em.

Posted by: Ace at 04:56 PM | Comments (55)
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Premature, as Allah suggests. Obama is still the tougher candidate. Were Hillary somehow to manage to prevail, the Democrat Party would be so wracked and riotous that even Ron Paul could beat them.

Posted by: Ace at 04:29 PM | Comments (64)
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Well, the word on the street is that Barack Obama did not repudiate or further "distance" himself from Wright (who, by the way, he cannot "distance" himself from) last night, but rather waited until today, because he was polling on whether he should make the move all night.

That's the word on the street.

The word from Mary Katharine Ham's dad confirms that, as he, a North Carolina resident, did receive just such a poll last night.

Interesting Theory... sort of crazy, actually, but not entirely.

Who pushed ABCNews the Wright story last May 13th?

Maybe Obama himself, who was blown away that the media had not shown any interest at all in one of his biggest vulnerabilities, and needed the story out there well before the general election, but after he had all but locked up the nomination.

Crazy idea. But who knows.

Posted by: Ace at 01:53 PM | Comments (44)
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Of course not. Wright's sin in Obama's eyes wasn't holding a Marxist, lunatic vision of America the Evil. It was just that he didn't keep his mouth shut like a good soldier.

So everyone in the MSM will keep pretending that Obama was shocked, shocked to find radical black Marxist separatism among his radical black Marxist separatist advisers.

These Aren't the Marxist Liberation Theology Pastors You're Looking For: Obama's Jedi Mind Trick, claiming that Wright has "changed," doesn't fool the Weekly Standard.

A High Tech Lynching: At least according to the new pastor at Trinity, Barack Obama led the lynching party.

Everywhere Is Turning Up Marxists: Rick writes:

If I remember correctly Cornell West is a Black Liberation Theology advocate. I know heÂ’s written the first essay in Black Faith and Public Talk Critical Essays on James H. ConeÂ’s Black Theology and Black Power edited by Dwight N. Hopkins.

Rick does indeed remember correctly. You can browse through Amazon's excerpts from this book, where Cornell West heaps praise upon it, calling it "towering."

Posted by: Ace at 01:37 PM | Comments (45)
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