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Title: 'Red flag' over Obama blogger – webworker flies commie banner
Source:
WND
URL Source: [None]
Published: Apr 27, 2008
Author: staff
Post Date: 2008-04-27 00:19:11 by FOH
Keywords: Obama, Marxist, Racist
Views: 467
Comments: 20
Campaign journalist's work appears in 'revolutionary Marxist' journal In the same week the Obama campaign quietly removed from its official website a page managed by a fundraiser tied to the Islamic terrorist group Hamas, its official blogger has come under attack as a "hardcore Marxist" for hanging a Communist Party flag in his Harvard campus apartment and publishing in a self-professed 'revolutionary Marxist' journal. Sam Graham-Felsen, a journalist-on-leave from The Nation, joined Obama for America in March 2007 where he works for the New Media department as the official blogger, daily presenting the campaign's public face. Now he's under fire for his reputed Marxist sympathies from bloggers at Common Ills on the left and Little Green Footballs on the right. Graham-Felsen, according to a 2003 article in the Harvard Crimson, adorned one corner of his shared student apartment with "a Communist Party flag ... bought on their trip to Russia the summer after sophomore year." The revelation echoes an earlier public relations problem in February when a Houston Fox TV affiliate captured images of a volunteer in an Obama campaign office working in front of a flag featuring the image of Che Guevara, the South American revolutionary who became Fidel Castro's executioner after the communist takeover in Cuba. At that time, the Obama campaign issued a statement calling the flag "inappropriate" and noting that the office where it was displayed was funded by "volunteers" and was not the official campaign headquarters. Graham-Felsen, however, is not a volunteer, but a staff member according to information published on the Huffington Post taken from the Obama for America campaign 2007 second quarter report. In 2003, Graham-Felsen participated in a labor march in France that Associated Press reported ended in violent riots – a characterization he disputed in The Nation. His coverage of the 2003 French protests against a new employment law again appeared in 2006 in Socialist Viewpoint, a journal that proudly proclaims its Marxist point of view: The Socialist Workers Organization was formed to advance the revolutionary Marxist political program in the United States. Our members are long time active participants in the socialist and labor movements. We agree with Karl Marx that society is divided into social classes whose interests are irreconcilable. ... Socialism, the ownership and democratic control of the means of production by the working class, and the removal of profit from the system of production, is the aim of Socialist Viewpoint, which reflects the political views of the Socialist Workers Organization. Socialism is the prerequisite for the next stage in human development that will end class oppression and exploitation for all time. Common Ills also took Graham-Felsen to task for a 2003 Harvard Crimson article he wrote praising Noam Chomsky's "amazing ability to reason" and "the power to make the left make sense," while bemoaning his unwillingness to curb his radical rhetoric to increase his effectiveness. "Unfortunately, Chomsky continues to squander this potential by making decisions that destroy his credibility in the eyes of most Americans," Graham-Felsen wrote. "In perhaps his most infamous move, on the day after the Sept. 11 attacks, Chomsky stated: 'The terrorist attacks were major atrocities. In scale they may not reach the level of many others, for example, Clinton's bombing of the Sudan with no credible pretext, destroying half its pharmaceutical supplies and killing unknown numbers of people.' As a result of his poor timing and unwillingness to moderate his tone, his message was lost to anyone not already on the extreme left. He sounded callous and dogmatic; instead of provoking change, he provoked disgust." Graham-Felsen's writings, wrote the Common Ills blooger, have destroyed his own credibility: "And exactly what is a Democratic candidate doing with a staffer who acts as the campaign's public face when the staffer is featured in a Marxist publications? All of the above is public information. I could add a great deal of private information but we'll stick with the public information and wonder exactly how Sam made it onto Obama's staff and, considering all the above, why anyone should trust a word Sam says? "His problem with Chomsky wasn't Chomsky's beliefs, he just felt they could be watered down to trick people. If Sam believes, as the magazine he published in does, that 'Socialism is the prerequisite for the next stage in human development that will end class oppression and exploitation for all time,' would he tell people straight or water it down with a lot of hope and change buzz words?" Little Green Footballs blogger Charles Johnson was less politick, calling Graham-Felsen "a hardcore Marxist."
Poster Comment: FTR, CJ @ LGF is a total prig...
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#6. To: FOH (#0)
And you are supporting a guy for President that has no problem flying the Confederate battle flag. Pot meet kettle.
i don't understand your comment, Ricky.
Baldwin runs the following at his website. Whether one agrees with it or not, it would probably be fatal to any serious presidential campaign. www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/rebel_flag.html The Truth About The Confederate Battle Flag Pastor John Weaver is a native of Georgia, and a graduate from Bob Jones University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology and attended graduate school. He has been in Christian ministry for over 30 years. Pastor Weaver has traveled across America preaching and lecturing in churches, colleges and conferences. John Weaver is an expositor of God's whole Word. His preaching style is in the tradition of those early American pastors whose pulpits were the cradle of America's Christian Liberty. [Excerpt] "May I tell you the Confederate Flag is indeed a Christian flag because it has the cross of Saint Andrew, who was a Christian martyr, and the letter "X" has always been used to represent Christ, and to attack the flag is to deny the sovereignty, the majesty, and the might of the Lord Jesus Christ and his divine role in our history, culture, and life."
This is the early history of the Confederate flag. But it has come to represent rather more than St. Andrew unfortunately. The article mentions a page on Obama's website. It should be noted that anyone who registers can start a webpage on Obama's website.
[robin] This is the early history of the Confederate flag. Having lived in Scotland, I know that no Scottie would ever let this pass. The people are Scottish. Scotch is a divine liquid, passed down to them directly from the gods, and stored in bottles. I agree the author does an accurate history of the Confederate flag. More specifically he addresses the Confederate battle flag which was never the national flag. It was the battle flag of the troops and was not, to them, some sort of racist symbol. Its subsequent use by groups such as the KKK does not change what the flag actually stands for. This has been argued endlessly on the North-South threads in the Smoky Backroom of FR, for about a decade. In American national politics, there is a very loud and effective noise machine which drowns out a candidate who goes there. The article at Baldwin's site goes beyond there and ventures into religious nonsense. Ann Coulter also made the point that the battle flag was not racist, all the way back in 2000, in response to John McCain. McCain and the flag Jewish World Review [excerpt] -- A FEW WEEKS AGO, John McCain said the Confederate battle flag is "a symbol of racism and slavery." After briefly backtracking and saying it was also, somehow, a symbol of "heritage," he immediately retreated from that position, clarifying that if he had ever said it was a symbol of heritage he had misspoken. Slavery and racism it was. * * * It is pride in the South -- having nothing to do with race -- and its honorable military history that the Confederate battle flag represents. It is a "battle flag," after all, and represents defiance not unlike the "Don't Tread on Me" flag. This is a shared cultural heritage among both black and white Southerners: It is not just the Sons of the Confederacy. (And there are, incidentally, black members of Sons of the Confederacy.) Five black Marines won the Medal of Honor for their service in Vietnam, all posthumously: They literally dove on exploding enemy grenades to protect their comrades. Three of the five were from the South. The disproportionate number of blacks in the military is a reflection of the disproportionate number of Southerners in the military. Southerners are truly our warrior class. The battle flag represents a way of life, and a noble way of life, an ethic and honor that belong to both blacks and whites of the South. Not surprisingly, given the South's military pride, Colin Powell has remarked that he received his strongest support to run for president from "white Southerners." On that basis he concluded that there is no impediment to a black man being elected president. Obviously boys from all over the country fought in this country's wars, and fought admirably, but it is simply a fact that Southerners are overrepresented in the heroic annals of this country. It is the proud military heritage of the patriotic South that the Confederate battle flag represents. Ann Coulter also reiterited the point in her book "HOW TO TALK TO A LIBERAL (IF YOU MUST)," pp. 170-77, The Battle Flag, posted on FR at least 4 times by myself, in 2004. www.freerepublic.com/focu...304956/posts?page=203#203 www.freerepublic.com/focu...279209/posts?page=239#239 www.freerepublic.com/focu.../1271527/posts?page=25#25 www.freerepublic.com/focu...250410/posts?page=739#739 The article at Baldwin's site goes off the deep end in claiming, "to attack the flag is to deny the sovereignty, the majesty, and the might of the Lord Jesus Christ and his divine role in our history, culture, and life." He is specifically talking of the Confederate battle flag. It does not represent racism. However, someone who attacks it does not deny anything about the Lord Jesus Christ or any divinely ordained attributes of the Confederacy.
Scots-Irish is correct but Scotch-Irish is the common usage. For example, a few of mine are in this improperly named history... Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia BTW, since Scotland was cleared of all its people (first to Ulster followed by the Highland Clearances, who are the folk living their now?) The flag has a rich history, but it's use by the KKK (whose Order of the Horse is straight from Clansmen lore), has tainted it's image for many Americans. For example, it seems remiss to refer to Hutcheson, whose A System of Moral Philosophy inspired anti-slavery abolitionists in both Britain and America, while ignoring the compelling evidence of the Scots' darker role in the slave trade. This lies in the surnames of many West Indians and black Americans (it's now widely accepted that many slaves took their names not from their masters but from the Scottish overseers who enforced the brutal conditions under which they often lived). There is, however, no mention of the Scottish role in slavery and racism, particularly in the formation and development of the Ku Klux Klan, which was formed by defeated Scots Confederate officers in the south. The "order of the horse" oath ceremony recited by Klan members came straight from Highland custom, as did that ancient Scottish symbol, the burning cross.
There are no replies to Comment # 20. End Trace Mode for Comment # 20.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestIn the same week the Obama campaign quietly removed from its official website a page managed by a fundraiser tied to the Islamic terrorist group Hamas, its official blogger has come under attack as a "hardcore Marxist" for hanging a Communist Party flag in his Harvard campus apartment and publishing in a self-professed 'revolutionary Marxist' journal.
#10. To: RickyJ (#6)
And you are supporting a guy for President that has no problem flying the Confederate battle flag. Pot meet kettle.
#13. To: christine, RickyJ (#10)
i don't understand your comment, Ricky.
By Pastor John Weaver
#17. To: nolu_chan (#13)
Did you know that in the 1800's about 75% of the South were either Scotch or Scotch-Irish? The Confederate Battle Flag is based upon the national flag of Scotland. The national flag of Scotland is the cross of Saint Andrew and the cross of Saint Andrew is a symbol of the Christian faith and the heritage of the Celtic race. In fact, another name for the Confederate Battle Flag is the Southern Cross.
#19. To: robin (#17)
[Article] Did you know that in the 1800's about 75% of the South were either Scotch or Scotch-Irish? ....
www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/coulter021500.asp
Feb. 15, 2000
#20. To: nolu_chan (#19)
Scotch-Irish
Replies to Comment # 20.