Farrakhan: Don't Abandon Obama Over Remark

Nation Of Islam Leader Tells Supporters Not To Be Dissuaded By Senator's Reaction

(AP)  Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Thursday that any of his backers who also support presidential candidate Barack Obama shouldn't be dissuaded by the senator's denunciation of Farrakhan during a Democratic debate.

His statement comes after Obama was asked during Tuesday's televised debate with Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clintonabout Farrakhan's support for the Obama campaign. Obama said he denounces Farrakhan's anti-Semitic remarks and rejects his support.

Farrakhan sent an unsolicited statement Thursday to The Associated Press that he said was meant to respond to "outrage expressed by many" over Obama's comments.

"Those who have been supporting Sen. Barack Obama should not allow what was said during the Feb. 26 presidential debate to lessen their support for his campaign. This is simply mischief making intended to hurt Mr. Obama politically."

Farrakhan later clarified that by "mischief making" he was referring to the questions posed by debate moderator Tim Russert, host of NBC's "Meet the Press."

The issue arose Sunday, when Farrakhan praised Obama before a large Nation of Islam gathering, even comparing him to the religion's founder, Fard Muhammad, who also had a white mother and black father.

"A black man with a white mother became a savior to us," Farrakhan said Sunday. "A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall."

The Obama campaign moved quickly to distance itself from Farrakhan. Just hours after the address, the campaign said, "Senator Obama has been clear in his objections to Minister Farrakhan's past pronouncements and has not solicited the minister's support."

Farrakhan has drawn widespread attention in the past for making anti-Semitic remarks, including calling Judaism a "gutter religion." In recent years, officials with the Nation of Islam have said they favor unity and tolerance among religions, and Farrakhan now often quotes the texts of other religions in his speeches.

During Tuesday's debate, Russert pressed Obama about whether he accepts Farrakhan's support. The senator responded that while both he and Farrakhan live in Chicago, that's where their ties end.

"I have been very clear in my denunciation of Minister Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments. I think that they are unacceptable and reprehensible," Obama said. "I did not solicit this support."

Following an exchange with Clinton, he then added: "There's no formal offer of help from Minister Farrakhan that would involve me rejecting it. But if the word 'reject' Senator Clinton feels is stronger than the word 'denounce,' then I'm happy to concede the point, and I would reject and denounce."

[pilgrimsway-2009]

You know what I think?
I think there is 8 or 9 different post names as the same person saying both sides.
Thats what I think!

[eddynewhope]

Yeah - and you all are better than the bigot Farrakhan because you can respond to his bigotry with your own bigotry? You are just like him except without the success part. LOL. Ya''ll are just ticked off that Hillary is getting humiliated and embarrassing herself.

[croft777]

You might be a Farrakhan supporter if:

You ride to work on a camel, because its cheap on gas.

You use a hand to wipe your azz, and its not your own.

Your lifetime hero is, Obama Bin Ladin, oops, Osama Bin Ladin.

You think God is a man by the name of Louis Farrakhan.

You see lights in the sky and you think its the wheel shaped space ship comming to rescue you from the white man and jews.

Your pet is a turtle because unlike a dog it can''''t lick its behind.

[candide777]

a skill set you recently acquired from the clinic? LOL
Posted by Infidel_US at 01:53 PM : Feb 29, 2008

You got me, dude, that was totally funny, really. No, no, I''m being serious. I''ve never laughed so hard.

[twocanpete]

When Juan McCain throws Bill Cuningham under the bus it sounds like two tomcats in a gunnysack. When Obama throws Louie under the bus Louie just asks if he caused any tire damage to the bus. Now that%u2019s party unity! http://twocanpete.blogspot.com/

[infidel_us]

Candide777,

Probably not as far as you can take a johnson down your throat. Have you always been an intellectually bankrupt imbecile or is it a skill set you recently acquired from the clinic? LOL

[candide777]

GWB''s SAT scoes were higher than your Lurch buddy John F-ing Kerry, and I believe his GPA was higher, as well. Posted by Infidel_US at 01:59 PM : Feb 28, 2008

That''s wonderful! How much farther can you get your tongue up there? I bet if you try, you can get it still farther up there. Pathetic brown-noser!

[infidel_us]

Candide777,

Hey cupcake, how many Faux-bama rallies have you fainted at??? LOL

[infidel_us]

LOL - this "bedwetting liberal" will kick your stupid cowardly conservative butt anytime, anywhere! Posted by Candide777 at 01:11 PM : Feb 29, 2008

Take a hike, candyarse. You sound like a man who speaks from experience. I''ll bet you and Clinton could write a book on draft dodging and cheating.

[candide777]

What a bedwetting liberal. GWB''s SAT scoes were higher than your Lurch buddy John F-ing Kerry, and I believe his GPA was higher, as well.
Don''t balame us because you''re too stupid to understand Buckley. Stick to ''Peanuts'' and ''Family Circle'' and you''ll do alright.
Posted by Infidel_US at 01:59 PM : Feb 28, 2008

LOL - this "bedwetting liberal" will kick your stupid cowardly conservative butt anytime, anywhere! Conservatives are afraid of a level playing field no matter what the issue because they know they''d lose their shirts if they ever had to compete fairly. What a bunch of weak and pathetic cry babies you conservatives are. The only way I can fathom that GWB got higher scores on his SAT is if he had someone take the test for him, and we all know that conduct like that would not at all be beneath a lying cheat of a draft-dodging president. If he legitimately got high scores on the SAT, then he must have burned up every last working brain cell with cocaine because this man is not fit to mind the store for a few minutes, much less the country for eight years. We''ll be paying for his collasal mistakes for decades. GWB is the perfect example of how conservative policies necessarily breed incompetence by passing wealth and privilege on to the mentally handicapped. Without daddy, GWB would be flippin'' burgers at McDonalds where we''d at least be protected from his staggering incompetence.

[infidel_us]

This reminds me of that movie Catch 22.
Posted by Grandus11 at 12:47 PM : Feb 29, 2008

Excellent observation. I used to think he may get the nomination but would get trounced by the repub candidate......then the republican candidate became McCain. I''m surprised McCain doesn''t try to run as Fauxbama''s VP.

[grandus11]

Tucker i would like to see that happen but as long as we have persons like tracy stirring the racial pot you will not ever have that and do not expect me to be politically correct when a racial bigot attacks me even indirectly as in the below post.

[grandus11]

ok this is odd to me Barack Hussein Obama is a man with a white mother and a black father


so he claims his black heritage not his white heritage

he must be totally ashamed of having a white mother

I notice he wrote a book about his father who left him but his mother got what ???

his mother was athiest and his father was muslim

he is not muslim but a christian

seems so convenient to be a christian to get elected to a public office.

This reminds me of that movie Catch 22.

[infidel_us]

Gee, Louis......I don''t know......he does have a WHITE mother. That kind of dilutes the perfect ''blackness'' you require from a candidate, right??? I mean, how can he be the saviour with an inferior gene pool?????

[suzieh2308]

People are ridiculous - Obama is not a terrorist, nor do I believe he has any terrorist or racist ties. Just because someone says they like you or you talked to them once like 20 years ago, doesn''t make them best friends!! But when your life is under a microscope, little, tiny, insignificant details of aquiantances spill out like a tidal wave. Spend less time worrying who he talked to and more time focusing on the real issues here!!

[lloydbest1]

Whatever Farrakhan is or is not, my reality tells me that his endorsement of Obama may not be of much benefit to him.
Farrakhan has a deserved reputation for being less than enthusiastically supportive of Judism anywhere and especially that of the U.S. Like many "anti-semitic" people, he''s equated Judism with Zionism (in fact he has used the term interchangibly). They are not equivalent.
He has led many efforts to convince black men to assume accountability and take responsibility for their thoughts and actions. The Million Man March in 1995 is one example. In 1995 he was still on his anti-Jewish kick but his speeches at the event said little or nothing about them; and a lot about being better husbands and fathers. What''s not to like?
Mind, I still view the man with some suspicion, but he is much quieter and while I don''t think he has fully abandoned his earlier unfortunate views toward Judism, I do think he has grown up a lot. And maybe he did change; tuckerndfw evidently has.
Besides being pro-black doesn''t necessarily mean anti-white.
I, too, wonder why it''s ok for McCain to solicit and embrace the support of a known death-obsessed end times bigot like Hagee while Obama''s unsolicited and apparently unwanted endorsement from Farrakhan drives people to barricade their homes and spit through their fingers for luck.
Finally, prostate cancer will make the man irrelvant in a few years anyway; whatever your views of him are, this is a bad way to go.

[quetzal0666]

jpspec i agree that Farakhan is a bit extreme,
but on the southern side,

theres Fat Hagee, southern Baptist,
Kopeland, Patsy Robertson, and the whole PTN-700 krew
spewing intolerance and hatred against muslims and palestinians,

[vet_sk]

Farrakhan - idiot. He was a leader at one point but after years you grow too fond of yourself, surround yourself with yes men, and then it is all over. It was over for this bafoon long ago. To think that Obama has any real ties with this man is rediculous.

[jpspec]

Obama wrote a book about his life. Unfortunately he left out subjects that voters should know.


The name of Farrakhan came out in the recent debate. As usual, Obama "attempted" to distance himself from this man. The next day, the media made this a major part of their coverage. In the process, Obama''s minister and mentor,Rev. Jeremiah Wright came up. This is the minister of the church that Obama has attended for the past 20 years. Now during his campaign, Obama again tries distance himself. There are four other relationships that Obama tries to distance himself. l. William Ayers who was the founder of the notorious Weathermen. 2, Bernardine Dohrn, a member of the former Weathermen. (For those too young to remember, The Weathermen were a violent group that involved the bombing of US military and government facilities in the sixties.) 3. Tony Rezko who has been a long time friend of Obama and presently in jail. Rezko''s bond was denied because of his association with London-based Iraqui billionaire. 4. Nadhmi Auchi. This association is questionable, at this time, but is possible to be revealed during Rezko''s trial March 4th.

Guilty by association?? The answer is either Yes or Obama is the most naive person ever to run for president..

[rowdytexan2]

I abandoned Obama in December after I waited about 11 months for him to articulate a clear policy or stance on anything!

I watched him an Edwards get booed at the Nevada debates, and then they decided maybe they should talk about issues instead of harking on Hillary Clinton.

I saw nothing from Obama but a bunch of smart arse remarks. Then when he finally decided he December he needed some plans, he carbon copied Hillary''s and jiggled them around a little and claimed he was the ONLY one with a plan!

I have sat here and watched our media present him as some kind of American Idol contestant with some good buffoonery! Words are useless without the knowledge and experience to put them through with good plans.

I''m tired of useless buffoonery and initiatives that are a total failure!

I''ve already cast my early vote for Hillary Clinton.

Go Hillary! Fight like a tiger! We need your experience, maturity, and strength in our White House!