Murphy: Desperation leads to a new double standard

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What wonderfully short memories we Americans have! Obama is in the hot seat over remarks made by his long-time preacher, which the mainstream news media have decided were scandalous signs that perhaps Obama was some sort of closet-case America-hater.


In reality, no one should be shocked that Obama's primary spiritual advisor suggested that some of the inequities between whites and blacks in this country were damnable sins and that 9-11 was a result of American foreign policy gone wrong, because the facts fully support him. Bin Laden has stated that 9-11 was retaliation for America killing Palestinians and Iraqis by the hundreds of thousands, and no sane person can argue that the playing field between blacks and whites in America has been fully leveled and the past put completely behind us.


But forget for a minute that preacher Wright was correct and think back just a few short years to when the last Nixon tapes were released. American icon Rev. Billy Graham was heard on the recordings urging Nixon to bomb the dikes and dams of North Vietnam in order to win the war, a plan which Nixon reckoned would kill a million civilians.


Graham went on to complain that the country was going down the drain due to the Jewish "stranglehold" on the media, and even blamed the "Satanic" Jews for pornography! Graham backed the war to the end, and never offered an explanation as to why a man of God would advocate for the mass-murder of innocents or why he secretly hated Jews, and yet he's still revered by many.


So the new standard is that if you say Palestinians should get a fair shake you're an anti-Semite, but if you blame Jews for virtually every societal evil under the sun you're not got it? Such is the logic in the right wing radio/FOX News echo chamber and the Clinton campaign, which has dragged much of the public along for the ride as well. This time the double standard is likely more a product of desperation than racism, because the Republicans and Clintons know that Obama is poised to trounce them both, and the time for little lies had passed.


If courage wasn't in such short supply in the Democratic Party the party heavy-hitters like Al Gore and John Edwards would have stepped in and told Hillary to go home, or at least would have told Bill to tell Hillary that it was time to call it quits for the sake of the party's obvious choice.


Or we'd have Hillary super delegates like Mike Thompson realize that many Californians voted weeks before the election when Obama was still a long shot, and now with his momentum and exposure many Hillary voters would change their vote to Obama, along with Edwards and Kucinich voters.


If Thompson wasn't thinking more about his own future than the country's he'd have realized his district will see a strong Nader effort if Hillary is the nominee, and the Republicans will be revitalized as well. Obama will have the opposite effect, but Thompson doesn't have the guts to face the old guard party bosses like Feinstein and tell her he's jumping ship in order to try to stop a convention train wreck.


Hillary can only win by destroying the party, and she seems inclined to do just that, unless she runs out of mud to throw or grownups step in to restore order in the Democratic Party.


But don't hold your breath waiting for common sense to prevail, as we are talking about Rush Limbaugh and the Clintons here, AGAIN!


Phil Murphy lives in Finley.


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