April 30, 2008
Apr 30 03:41 King Update Apr 30 09:45 Obama's Unimpressive Presser Apr 30 21:18 King's Recovering Nicely
King Update
Tuesday night, Barbara called me from King's hospital room. About a minute into the call, King asked to speak with me. It felt good to talk with King even though it was obvious that he was tired.
I'm happy to report that King is in good spirits. King said to thank his loyal friends across the blogosphere for their support & their prayers.
Sometime Wednesday, possibly early afternoon, I'll be going up to the hospital to visit King. I'll post another update when I get home.
UPDATE: I just talked with King. I'll be visiting him this afternoon about 2:00. During our brief chat, he told me that he's feeling better and that "there's nowhere but up from here."
I post an update after this afternoon's visit.
Posted Wednesday, April 30, 2008 10:17 AM
Comment 1 by Gary at 30-Apr-08 09:41 AM
Thanks for the updates, Gary. Tell King "hello" for those of us "down south."
Obama's Unimpressive Presser
If I were running Sen. Obama's campaign, I'd be running for the door after today's presser on Jeremiah Wright. (On a sidenote, I can't call Wright Pastor or Reverend anymore because the beliefs he's espousing aren't Christian.) Sen. Obama's opening statement is so filled with laughable statements that it requires its own post. The opening paragraph is questionable at best:
Before I start taking questions I want to open it up with a couple of comments about what we saw and heard yesterday. I have spent my entire adult life trying to bridge the gap between different kinds of people. That's in my DNA, trying to promote mutual understanding to insist that we all share common hopes and common dreams as Americans and as human beings. That's who I am. That's what I believe. That's what this campaign has been about.Considering the fact that Sen. Obama's wife has talked in extremely divisive tones and considering the fact that Sen. Obama chose to attend a church with an extremist divisive pastor, I'm not convinced that it's in Sen. Obama's DNA to "bridge the gap between different kinds of people." The best I can do is say he hasn't proven that yet.
Granted, he talks a good game but that's meaningless. The main thing that I pay attention to are his actions. He wasn't part of the Gang of 14. He didn't contribute to the Grand Bargain. He certainly didn't seek middle ground on troop withdrawal. After weighing those things against his claims, I'm left wondering where the proof is of his being a uniter. At this point, I can't even prove that he made an effort on the important issues of the day.
Yesterday we saw a very different vision of America. I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday. You know, I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992. I have known Reverend Wright for almost 20 years. The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church. They certainly don't portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Reverend Wright thinks that that's political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn't know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought either.How are Wright's beliefs differ from Michelle Obama's? I don't think she's disturbed enough to think that the US government invented AIDS to kill African Americans. However, it's obvious that she's as bitter towards America as Jeremiah Wright.
I'm not buying into his faked outrage, either. The things that Wright said this weekend are just repetitions of the things he said on the YouTube videos? Why shouldn't we think that he's finally upset because Wright is damaging his political career, not because he's upset with Wright's hatred?
We've heard Sen. Obama state that he wasn't in the church for any of those sermons. Let's accept that as fact for this discussion. You'll notice that Sen. Obama hasn't said that he didn't hear about those sermons. Let's take it a step further. If Sen. Obama said that he didn't hear Wright preach those sermons and that he didn't know that Wright had preached those messages, why should we believe that? as Mort Kondacke said tonight, he'd have to be awfully naive or awfully inobservant to not notice. I heartily concur.
Some people are saying that his press conference finally puts this issue behind Sen. Obama. They're sadly mistaken. This isn't over by a long shot.
Posted Wednesday, April 30, 2008 9:46 AM
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King's Recovering Nicely
This afternoon, I paid King a hospital visit. Two of his colleagues, Masoud (I hope I'm spelling that right) & Melanie, were already there. King sounded significantly stronger this afternoon than he did last night. Not surprisingly, King was trying to find out everything that was happening at the office when he should've been focusing solely on recovering from surgery.
The good news is that Melanie wasn't having anything of that. She was making sure that King didn't have to owrry about putting together any tests, that he'd only have to review the tests that she's putting together for him.
When Masoud and Melanie left, I stayed to visit with King a little while longer. I'm confident of King's recovery because the minute it was just the two of us, he was asking what type of effect Jeremiah Wright was having on Barack Obama. I detected an immediate and positive change in King's disposition. I told him that Wright was killing Obama and that Obama only had himself to blame for it. I said that Obama could say whatever he wanted but he wouldn't get a second 'Sister Souljah' moment.
He was running a bit of a fever at 3:45 (99.9) but that had disappeared this evening when I called again. It's now at a conventional 98.2 now. He's getting out for his walks, which is important in his recovery. He did 3 "laps" today, which the doctor and nurses were very pleased with.
Shortly after King's wife Barb arrived, I left, mostly because I'd already been there almost 2 hours. (That isn't good when you're parked in a 90 minute maximum parking spot.)
Lord willing, I'm planning on going back up there Thursday sometime. I'll keep you posted as I learn more. One last thing: Barb and King both wanted to tell everyone that they really appreciate the outpourring of support for their family from the MOBsters.
Posted Wednesday, April 30, 2008 9:18 PM
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