soc.veterans

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/03/18/before-wright-firestorm-obama-called-for-imus-firing/

Before Wright Firestorm, Obama Called for Imus Firing

Barack Obama had been a presidential candidate for more than a year
before he outright repudiated his long-time pastor for racially
charged, anti-U.S. sermons. But when talk show host Don Imus was in
hot water 11 months ago for racially insensitive comments, Obama was
the first candidate to call for his firing.

When asked about the different responses to his pastor and to Imus,
Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor questioned the premise of the comparison
and defended Obama's response in each case.

"He spoke out both times, so it's entirely consistent," he told
FOXNews.com Tuesday.

Click here to see the original ABC News interview with Obama.

Click here to see Obama discuss the Imus fallout on MSNBC.

Obama -- who in a major speech Tuesday decried controversial remarks by
the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. dating back to 2001 -- called for Imus to
be fired just one week after Imus made the remarks in April 2007, two
months after Obama had announced his candidacy.

"There's nobody on my staff who would still be working for me if they
made a comment like that about anybody of any ethnic group. And I
would hope that NBC ends up having that same attitude," Obama told ABC
News in an April 11 interview.

Imus ignited public outcry for calling members of the women's
basketball team at Rutgers University "nappy-headed hos" on his
popular morning talk show.

The controversy dogged Imus, even after he issued an apology to the
team and met with the players personally seeking forgiveness.

The public atonement wasn't enough to save his job. He was fired by
CBS Radio and by MSNBC, which produced the TV simulcast, but since
then he has returned to radio with a show on WABC-AM in New York that
started in December.

Obama said in the 2007 ABC interview he would never appear again on
Imus' show.

"He didn't just cross the line," Obama said. "He fed into some of the
worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with
today in America."

In the case of Wright, Obama denies ever personally hearing his pastor
give sermons that blamed the U.S. government for HIV and cast the
country as institutionally racist. But Obama has had a 20-year
relationship with Wright, and on Tuesday he said he knew Wright had
made controversial remarks.

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And for 20 years, Obama took his family and his kids to listen to
Wright's anti-American, anti-white tirades...