Oh Noes! Charity in a Church!

Hugh Hewitt's lackey Duane Patterson has an odd post up introduced thusly:

This is from the "Pastor's Page" from the April 9, 2006, Trinity United Church of Christ bulletin. Barack Obama was a member of the church at the time. It is unknown if he attended services that day. Click on the image to enlarge.

You read that and you're expected to see some scandalous stuff. But what follows is incredibly unremarkable:

Yes, that's right, Pastor Wright tried to help one of his congregants get a kidney transplant and if you put his former parishoner Barack Obama in office, next thing you know churches all around the country will be, um, trying to help people. The same post also has this shocker:

Yep, there Wright goes again trying to help Katrina victims and help poor people receive the federal tax credits to which they're entitled. He's like the second coming of Elijah Mohammed, this guy. Can you imagine a white church being able to get away with engaging in charitable endeavors? Never!

This comes to me via an equally baffled Andrew Sullivan. Mostly these circular letters seem me to be a reminder of why one might have long been a member of Trinity -- most of the church's activities seem to be basically unremarkable, socially conscious engagement with the community, precisely the sort of institution a rising local politician would want to associate himself with.

Comments

I read this letter several times last night trying to figure out why Hewitt/Patterson posted these. My initial reaction was the same as Matt's and Andrew's: So what?
It finally occurred to me that the right might find the stem cell transplants objectionable. Beyond that my only other thought on the subject is that they were hoping Fox would run "Shocking letters from Obama's pastor on their ticker" without reading the letters.

Posted by DrewC | June 7, 2008 1:51 PM

Is it the stem cell transplants for the kidney guy?

Posted by weichi | June 7, 2008 1:51 PM

Liberal elitism at its worst. You might not be put off by this, but then again you're not one of the hard-working whites who'll have his organs harvested in an Obama Administration. If you've never woken up in a tub of ice with crude sutures in your back, and found a note informing you that Black Nationalists have made off with your kidneys, you should just shut up.

Posted by JB | June 7, 2008 1:51 PM

ROFLMAO

Posted by DrewC | June 7, 2008 1:56 PM

I wonder about this just like you!
Hannity has spent the day on his radio reminding his listeners how much of a "radical" Obama is. Maybe part of his radicalism is advocating kidney donation.

Posted by abiodun | June 7, 2008 2:01 PM

Clearly Hewitt is a secret muslim.

Posted by Curly | June 7, 2008 2:04 PM

and you're expected to see some scandalous stuff

You are? Why would anyone have that expectation?

Posted by Al | June 7, 2008 2:05 PM

It's actually quite clever. Unethical and disgusting but clever. And I love the: "It is not known if Obama was in church that day." Might as well add: "It is also not known if Obama was plotting with former Black Panthers to destroy America on that day."

Hewitt et al know that many members of their audience aren't going to bother "enlarging." They're going to scan, see what they assume is more "evidence" linking Obama to America- and whitey-hating, and cling tighter to their views (or be more inclined to come over if they've been on the fence). If they do happen to enlarge, they aren't likely to suddenly be convinced that Obama is a good guy.

Posted by Dan | June 7, 2008 2:05 PM

Yep, there Wright goes again trying to help Katrina victims and help poor people receive the federal tax credits to which they're entitled. ... Mostly these circular letters seem me to be a reminder of why one might have long been a member of Trinity -- most of the church's activities seem to be basically unremarkable, socially conscious engagement with the community

If Patterson/Hewitt's cluelessness when it comes to making attacks on Obama's church's charity activism turns out to be a pattern from the pro-McCain forces, it looks like 2008 just might see the first modern election that pits the secular right against the religious left.

Posted by Tyro | June 7, 2008 2:06 PM

This initially mystified me too. But I think what they're doing is just posting every scrap of information about the church on the blog, thereby empowering their cadre of lunatics to pour through it looking for evidence of scary radicalism. The irony, of course, is that it will have the opposite effect -- it will make clear that, by and large, Trinity is a fairly standard church.

Posted by pjs | June 7, 2008 2:08 PM

Quoting al:
"You are? Why would anyone have that expectation?"
Context. It's Hugh Hewitt's blog.

Posted by Dan | June 7, 2008 2:08 PM

FWIW, it's part of a "series", so even by its own standard it's probably not supposed to be that interesting on its own. Thing is, it's not that interesting in a group, either. I do like how even on that blog, 90% of the comments, presumably from friendlies, are along the lines of "Dude...WTF?"

Posted by DonBoy | June 7, 2008 2:08 PM

So he's posting all of the church bulletins in the hope that someone included an article on the "Kill All Whiteys" fundrasing bake sale?

Posted by daveNYC | June 7, 2008 2:15 PM

ROFLMAO

Um, DrewC, shouldn't that be "ROFLMKO"?

Posted by mds | June 7, 2008 2:25 PM

daveNYC: Don't you see? All the chocolate is brown! What kind of post-racial bake sale is that?

Posted by DonBoy | June 7, 2008 2:30 PM

My initial reaction was the same as Matt's and Andrew's: So what?

Funny how the lackeys for the American Hezbollah (and Hewitt is among the worst arse-lickers) appear shocked! shocked! at the mundane activities of a church.

(OMG: advising parishioners to see if they can claim the EITC? Horreur! As opposed to the nice white Southern Baptist churches, where one is encouraged to put checks in the collection plate to make it easier to claim the deduction in April.)

I think pjs is right: Spewitt is hoping that the 101st Kerning Brigade can come up with something. A creative type with MS Publisher and some time really needs to come up with a vaguely plausible knock-off.

Posted by pseudonymous in nc | June 7, 2008 2:30 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEWgs6YQR9A

Posted by brenna | June 7, 2008 2:36 PM

C'mon, Matt, you are being disingenous. You know full well that Obama was in contact with dozens of black ministers who are in the let's-find-a-kidney-donor business, but the reason Obama carefully chose Wright out of all of them was for Wright's "where white folks greed runs a world in need" black liberation ideology.

Posted by Steve Sailer | June 7, 2008 2:39 PM

> I read this letter several times last night trying
> to figure out why Hewitt/Patterson posted these.
> My initial reaction was the same as Matt's and
> Andrew's: So what?

The residents of the City of New Orleans, particularly the black ones, were/are supposed to shut up and accept that their experience during the hurricane and after was a just punishment for their sins (including, although certainly not limited to, not voting Republican). Any attempt to alleviate their suffering is an affront to (Republican) social justice and order and must itself be punished.

Seriously - that is how the Radical Right sees Katrina.

Cranky

Posted by Cranky Observer | June 7, 2008 2:48 PM

Um, DrewC, shouldn't that be "ROFLMKO"?

K is for...um...keister? Please advise.

Posted by James Gary | June 7, 2008 2:56 PM

Matt, you should probably black out the phone number of that parishioner who needs a kidney. He'll soon get something he doesn't need: a flood of racist hate calls from Hillary dead-enders.

Posted by K.G. | June 7, 2008 3:10 PM

I have heard from 5 people who've told me that they've spoken to someone who's seen a bulletin from Trinity Church that contains the following passage:

Thank you for everyone who volunteered to help out with our bake sale last week! It was a great success and we raised money to help with our bone marrow drive to find a match for our parishioner brother Michael!

Please note the schedule changes for this coming week's events:

Monday: Bingo at 7pm in the church hall.

Tuesday: Applications with essays due for the annual $5,000 college scholarship. All high school seniors bound for college are eligible to apply.

Wednesday: Volunteer at the food bank!

Thursday: Implement Shari'a law in USA and force white Dhimmis into compliance.

Friday: Youth night! Pizza and soda served after group discussion with the youth pastor.

Do I even need to add a /snark tag? In this environment, probably yes.

Posted by Tyro | June 7, 2008 3:12 PM

I'm sure the Weatherspoons are grateful to Hewitt (and Matt, and whoever else) for spreading their phone number around so they can be harrassed by wingnuts.

Posted by KCinDC | June 7, 2008 3:13 PM

Um, DrewC, shouldn't that be "ROFLMKO"?

K is for...um...keister? Please advise.

Get with the program, my friend. "ROFLMKO" is internet shorthand for "Radical Obama Fanatics Lifted My Kidney Out"

Posted by JB | June 7, 2008 3:40 PM

The Katrina victims/tax credit one is simple.

Hewitt and his ilk (probably Sailer, too) think that's giving away money to people who don't deserve it, and they're counting on those people being too uninformed and/or ignorant to know about the tax credit and knowing how to get it. And here's the Rev. Wright, TELLING them about it and ASSISTING them in claiming it. It's practically communism!

Posted by Woody Bombay | June 7, 2008 3:46 PM

Anyone else notice that Hugh "Romney's clicking eyes" Hewitt constantly has all sorts of seedy mortgage ads on his blog? You know, the sort of folks who are destroying our economy?

Just wondering.

Posted by rlgordonma | June 7, 2008 4:16 PM

It occurs to me this post might be linked thematically to Ben Smith's, here.

Posted by M | June 7, 2008 4:54 PM

"and you're expected to see some scandalous stuff"

"You are? Why would anyone have that expectation?"

Perhaps something to do with the flashing 'buy your Anti-Obama such-and-such' ad directly to the right of the article?

Really, dude, try harder.

Posted by really? | June 7, 2008 5:26 PM

That a bad person or organization does some OK things does not excuse the bad.

Bin Laden, as Sen Patty Murray noted, showed he cared about the schooling and welfare of little children.

For every notice Hitler put up denouncing the Jews, he had a dozen dealing with things like animal welfare, better schools, a new initiative to have factory workers councils decide with management on better safety and profit sharing intiatives. Stalin was the same. He put out many party intiatives to help the widows and orphans he had a great deal to do in creating.

Besides the black racists whoopin and hollerin for Wright, I'm sure the KKK had as good or better a record in getting donations for flood victims, holding church-KKK picnics to support farmers whose crops failed, and seeking funds to put Bubba Lee's son Bobby Lee in new polio braces.

Doesn't make either organization excused from the bigotry they embraced.

Nor Barack, unless he admits he didn't believe a word of the black liberation crap and only belonged to seek political advantage. Just as Grand Kleagle Robert Byrd said he only joined the Klan to further his early legal and political career - and that he didn't believe any Klan crap - being as he was sort of a "white nigger", himself.

Posted by chris ford | June 7, 2008 6:25 PM

Matt,

You're just trying to revive Obama's own discredited tactic of claiming that Wright's "God Damn America" stuff was anomalous, which Wright himself had to go on his little media tour to debunk. As Wright said about Obama, "He says what he has to say as a politician." Why in the world would anybody except the truest true believer fall for _that_ lie again?

You finally read Obama's autobiography, and even though you didn't have a single thing to say about it other than that it was well-written, you know from pp. 274-295 just how important Wright is to Obama and exactly why Obama chose Wright out of all the other black ministers he knew.

If you want Obama to win, you stop enabling his self-delusion and explain to him that he needs to come up with an explanation that the American voters will buy about how and why he got himself in with such far left folks and when he did he finally wise up. Otherwise, McCain has the opportunity to run a mirror image of the same campaign he ran against Mitt Romney: "He's just a big phony."

Maybe Obama can stay hunkered down and follow Karl Rove's strategy and win with 51 percent of the vote, but any Democrat this year who didn't have Wright as a millstone around his neck ought to win with at least 55%.

Posted by Steve Sailer | June 7, 2008 6:27 PM

Matt,

You're just trying to revive Obama's own discredited tactic of claiming that Wright's "God Damn America" stuff was anomalous, which Wright himself had to go on his little media tour to debunk. As Wright said about Obama, "He says what he has to say as a politician." Why in the world would anybody except the truest true believer fall for _that_ lie again?

You finally read Obama's autobiography, and even though you didn't have a single thing to say about it other than that it was well-written, you know from pp. 274-295 just how important Wright is to Obama and exactly why Obama chose Wright out of all the other black ministers he knew.

If you want Obama to win, you stop enabling his self-delusion and explain to him that he needs to come up with an explanation that the American voters will buy about how and why he got himself in with such far left folks and when he did he finally wise up. Otherwise, McCain has the opportunity to run a mirror image of the same campaign he ran against Mitt Romney: "He's just a big phony."

Maybe Obama can stay hunkered down and follow Karl Rove's strategy and win with 51 percent of the vote, but any Democrat this year who didn't have Wright as a millstone around his neck ought to win with at least 55%.

Posted by Steve Sailer | June 7, 2008 6:29 PM

chris ford - proving Godwin's law can be improved upon, even if it requires some elbow grease.

PROTIP: An analogy is only as good as the proximity of its components.

Posted by really? | June 7, 2008 6:38 PM

Chris Ford: "Besides the black racists whoopin and hollerin"

I hate when folks use improper English like this, how will the new immigrants learn English reading ignorant stuff like this on the internets?

Posted by Andruw | June 7, 2008 6:49 PM

Sailer,

The interesting question is not why Yglesias is trying to make the case that Trinity is a largely commendable church which occassionally has some shocking speeches. It is why Hewitt is making the case that Trinity is a largely commendable church which occassionally has some shocking speeches.

It is true that people like Yglesias making the case is uninteresting. They can do things like try to paint an accurate picture of the church, and how challenging is that. But the fact that Hewitt in trying to make the church look radical has already been reduced to the fact that they recommend parishiners help other parisheners, and help the working poor to get federal benefits makes the case for Obama better than Obama himself does.

Posted by Lon | June 7, 2008 7:39 PM

But look, people, let's all stipulate for the sake of argument that every awful thing you say and think about Wright and Trinity are completely accurate. That's not at issue here. What the hell is the point of Hewitt's post?

Posted by djw | June 7, 2008 8:03 PM

If it were true that Barack Obama joined that particular church for some overt political or social reasons, then the nut squad's demand that Obama either admit he's a terrible person who believes awful things or that he joined a church for cynical political reasons... Neither of those will f***ing happen you retard douchebags.

I'm going to make a prediction: the Wright stuff is nearly burned out, and the fervently excited Sailer / Ford types are now and in the future will grow even more hurtfully disappointed in the issue's diminishing significance.

But look on the bright side, Race / IQ obsessives: think of how much more you'll be able to get attention criticizing Barack Obama's connection to race and racism when he's President!

It's a win-win-win situation! You guys should be totally backing Barack Obama because the market for your manure is about ready to truly be boosted by the eager customers among Bush Jr's remaining 28-percenters!

Posted by El Cid | June 7, 2008 8:21 PM

The media has been trying to, first, ignore the Rev. Wright elephant in the living room, then make it go away by cheering Obama's lies and bloviations about it.

But it doesn't go away because more facts keep emerging. Obama's problem is that he's been running since his 2004 Democratic convention speech (which didn't talk about opposition to the Iraq War, but did start with 380 words about his ancestry) on being mixed race because white people assume that makes him even-handed in his feeling between the races, like Tiger Woods. But, as Matt discovered by finally reading Obama's 1995 autobiography, Obama is isn't Tiger Woods. He's felt tortured his whole life by not feeling "black enough," so he's pursued a career of trying to prove he's black enough by organizing blacks politically as an Alinsky-style radical, by registering blacks to vote, by suing whites for discrimination, etc etc.

Then, in 2004, when he started running for statewide office, he suddenly changed his tune and announced he was a bipartisan mixed-race postracial transcendent healer. 99% of the press fell for it, but Obama has all these skeletons in the closet, like Wright, Moss, and Pfleger, that keeping popping out and puncturing holes in these fantasies he's peddling.

Posted by Steve Sailer | June 7, 2008 9:53 PM

You'll notice that Matt finally read Obama's book, but he can't think of anything to say other than these kind of six-degrees-of-snark responses. Poor Matt thought he was getting the policy wonk candidate of his dreams, but it turns out that for Obama, it really is all about "race and inheritance."

Posted by Steve Sailer | June 7, 2008 10:04 PM

translated Steve Sailor:

Yeah, I can't figure out what the hell the point of Hewitt's post is, either.

Posted by monad | June 7, 2008 10:23 PM

Then, in 2004, when he started running for statewide office, he suddenly changed his tune and announced he was a bipartisan mixed-race postracial transcendent healer.

Actually, starting in a primary campaign for Congress in 2000, he ran against an African American on the south side of Chicago, Bobby Rush, to show to the Chicago establishment that he could pick up lots of white votes and market himself as "the black politician that whites will vote for."

Posted by Tyro | June 7, 2008 11:12 PM

Shorter Sailer: Please please oh please oh please please please won't somebody still think this Reverend Wright thing is real important please please please I'll even keep insulting Matt by name please please Matt read my vapid review of Obama's biography again please please pleeeeeeease!!!!

Posted by El Cid | June 7, 2008 11:12 PM

Steve,
Quick question: Did you read Dreams From My Father?

Posted by Elrod | June 7, 2008 11:27 PM

"That a bad organization or person does some OK things does not excuse the bad."

In this post, Matt never defended the church as a whole, even though the above quoted sentence certainly implies that. Also, considering your (chris ford's) equating the church with Osama Bin Laden, the Nazis, and the KKK, I must have missed the news where the church was responsible for the deaths thousands (Bin Laden) or even millions (the Nazis) of innocent people. I also must have missed the news where the church had innocent people lynched (the KKK).

Posted by daniel rotter | June 8, 2008 12:35 AM

Whenever I manage to convince myself that batshit crazy bigotry is confined to drooling knuckle-draggers and absent in articulate, well-behaved people, I need only to visit the comment threads here to be disabused of the notion by the likes of Ford and Sailer.

The alternate-universe explanation just isn't that convincing.

Posted by bad Jim | June 8, 2008 1:51 AM

(which didn't talk about opposition to the Iraq War)

And Popeye now plays the faux-naif, as if everyone's least beloved neo-bigot doesn't remember why explicitly reiterating the Dirty Fucking Hippie position on the war was, for better or worse, not possible at the 2004 DNC.

As rank as chrisford might be, at least he doesn't sugar-coat his shit. And frankly, the market on purty-mouthed bigots is going to be pretty thin in the years to come, so Popeye might take some lessons.

Posted by pseudonymous in nc | June 8, 2008 2:03 AM

Steve Sailer's posts, here as elsewhere, tell us far more than we want to know about the inside of Steve Sailer's head, and absolutely nothing about anything else.

Posted by the commentariat | June 8, 2008 2:08 AM

Whenever I manage to convince myself that batshit crazy bigotry is confined to drooling knuckle-draggers and absent in articulate, well-behaved people, I need only to visit the comment threads here to be disabused of the notion by the likes of Ford and Sailer.

Ford isn't articulate. Otherwise, agreed.

Posted by um | June 8, 2008 2:13 AM

Obama is selfish! He didn't give up a kidney!

Posted by nitpicker | June 8, 2008 12:20 PM