McCain Suspends Staffer for Circulating Obama-Pastor Video
The John McCain campaign has suspended an aide for circulating a political attack video that splices together footage of Barack Obama, his long-time pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. and historical imagery of “black power” proponents.
The YouTube video, called “Is Obama Wright?,” was making the rounds on conservative blogs, before the McCain aide, identified as Soren Dayton, was punished for posting it on a personal Twitter page.
“We have been very clear on the type of campaign we intend to run and this staffer acted in violation of our policy,” McCain spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker told FOX News.
McCain has said repeatedly that he intends to run a respectful general election campaign. As the Wright controversy mounted over the course of the last week, both McCain and Hillary Clinton stayed silent on the issue.
The YouTube video in question showed snippets of incendiary Wright sermons, including one where he refers to the United States as the “U.S. of KKK-A,” interspersed with clips of Obama denying being present during the controversial sermons. The video also includes a clip of Malcolm X, the rap song “Fight the Power” and segments questioning Obama’s patriotism.
The Politico reported that the video was made in part by Lee Habeeb, former producer for “The Laura Ingraham Show.”
Dayton posted the link at 12:31 p.m. ET Thursday with the heading “Good video on Obama and Wright” the Politico was first to report. It was later taken down.
Dayton was described to FOX News by one campaign source as a low-level political staffer. It is not clear how long the suspension will last.
Click here to see the video that led to the McCain aide’s suspension.
FOX News’ Mosheh Oinounou contributed to this report.
Great video. He should be promoted not suspended.
Smart move by old Johnny Mac. Hannity and most of the right wing faithful will do the dirty work. I have to give Bill O’Reilly credit (as much as I hate to) his coverage of Senator Obama has been fair and balanced, unlike most of the right wing media. As an Obama supporter, I think he should go on “The Factor” and talk to Mr. O’Reilly. Bill may ask him tough questions, but I think he would be fair. Obama/Hagel in 08.
McCain should capitalize on Obama’s association with Wright and the Black Panther radical islamic group. He should require Obama to prove he is not a muslim, which he is and that church is also advocating radical islamic theology.
If McCain Staffer who was suspended was family and/or with McCain for twenty years would McCain then suspended the typical white person.
It is the duty of the media and politicians to avoid being silent on issues that affect the qualifications of persons that are running for higher office, particularly the office of President of the United States. Obama was a participant and member of a radical “church” that preaches hate against the USA and white people. Obama chose this church voluntarily, he took his family into it and accepted the hate preacher as a mentor and spirtitual advisor. Obama claims that he does not share the hate messages preached by his mentor Jeremiah Wright. This is not a credible position. Over a 20 year period of close personal relations with a person and hearing this preaching, it is impossible for a person that shares patriotic, moderate American values to remain silent and a member of this church.
McCain and Clinton are demonstrating a total lack of civic responsibility by not mentioning and educating the largely ignorant masses of the public, about the reality that a normal person that does not agree with offensive hate filled preaching, will never stay a member of a church that preaches this anti-American, anti-white, racist message. McCain is suppressing people in his organization that are spreading the truth about this situation. This is anti-American and is a dangerous form of censorship that covers up an extremely important topic. Obama has to be held accountable for his associations because this indicates his judgement and sympathies. Obama refuses to repudiate his hate filled mentor. This deserves to be investigated by the media, but the media with the exception of Fox News has failed to perform their duty to the public. McCain is also failing to perform his duty to uncover the truth about Obama’s association and lack of judgement for being a member of this church, or even buying into its hate messages.
Hillary Clinton’s motives for being quiet during this critical situation can be explained by partisan loyalty, but this is not an excuse. I don’t know any people that would willingly belong to Jeremiah Wright’s church and would tolerate the hatred and cursing of America that he preaches, they would all leave this church and find another with a more positive message. This indicates that it is simply not credible that Obama does not buy into the hate doctrine preached at his church. With this suspect behavior, the American people deserve a thorough investigation of just who is Obama and who has he associated with over the years.
If he was elected due to the ignorance of voters that did not acquire the true information, how many Jeremiah Wrigths could he insert into the Federal government and courts? What would happen to the values that the country has been based on since its founding?
It appears that the Republican and Democrat parties have selected the least qualified and possibly dangerous candidates in the history of the country. Change is very necessary for the USA but it has to come from qualified persons in a non-partisan way that takes into account national interests first. All three candidates have been in the Federal government for years and have nothing positive to show, what kind of change can be expected? Obama could not change even his close mentor (allegedly) even after 20 years of following his mentor. Is this a leader that represents change for the better?
Roman Gil, New York