I feel like crap. I've been sick with some foul strain of the plague or something for two weeks now. I can't seem to shake it off. I'm nauseous all of the time and get the occasional case of gagging. There doesn't seem to be a reason for the dry heaves but the ravings of some ding-dong bloggers set off a spasm. It seems the first salvo across Barack Obama's bow has been fired by the terrified wing-nuts on the Right. They must be poopin' their britches watching a black man possibly become president of the USA. Oh yeah, dear god, he's got one of those A-rab soundin' names too!
The wing-nut's cut and past frenzy seems to mostly consist of bits of a wonderful piece of red baiting by Cliff Kincaid, one of the great minds at Accuracy In Media. Accuracy In Media claims to exist to publish the truth about "liberal biased reporting in the media." They do this by countering with a cock-eyed Conservative slant. So much for accuracy, I guess.
Well, anyhoo, the piece is called "Obama’s Communist Mentor." This "article" is an extensive rundown of Frank Marshall Davis, an important black author/poet and his influence on a very young Barack Obama when they both lived in Hawaii. The only passages from Kincaid's hit piece that I will post are these:
In his books, Obama admits attending “socialist conferences” and coming into contact with Marxist literature. But he ridicules the charge of being a “hard-core academic Marxist,” which was made by his colorful and outspoken 2004 U.S. Senate opponent, Republican Alan Keyes.
However, through Frank Marshall Davis, Obama had an admitted relationship with someone who was publicly identified as a member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). The record shows that Obama was in Hawaii from 1971-1979, where, at some point in time, he developed a close relationship, almost like a son, with Davis, listening to his “poetry” and getting advice on his career path. But Obama, in his book, Dreams From My Father, refers to him repeatedly as just “Frank.”
The reason is apparent: Davis was a known communist who belonged to a party subservient to the Soviet Union. In fact, the 1951 report of the Commission on Subversive Activities to the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii identified him as a CPUSA member. What’s more, anti-communist congressional committees, including the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), accused Davis of involvement in several communist-front organizations.
And your point is, Kincaid? Guilt by association, possibly?
But the Communist Party connection through Davis is even more ominous. Decades ago, the CPUSA had tens of thousands of members, some of them covert agents who had penetrated the U.S. Government. It received secret subsidies from the old Soviet Union.
Someone please tell me how this relates to Barack Obama. Is the non-existent USSR funding Obama? Put the Red Terror behind you already! Go have a cookie and settle in for a night of Dukes Of Hazard reruns on the tube.
Finally, Kincaid quotes a college professor who knew Davis:
Dr. Kathryn Takara, a professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa who also confirms that Davis is the “Frank” in Obama’s book, did her dissertation on Davis and spent much time with him between 1972 until he passed away in 1987.
In an analysis posted online, she notes that Davis, who was a columnist for the Honolulu Record, brought “an acute sense of race relations and class struggle throughout America and the world” and that he openly discussed subjects such as American imperialism, colonialism and exploitation. She described him as a “socialist realist” who attacked the work of the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Davis, in his own writings, had said that Robeson and Harry Bridges, the head of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and a secret member of the CPUSA, had suggested that he take a job as a columnist with the Honolulu Record “and see if I could do something for them.” The ILWU was organizing workers there and Robeson’s contacts were “passed on” to Davis, Takara writes.
Takara says that Davis “espoused freedom, radicalism, solidarity, labor unions, due process, peace, affirmative action, civil rights, Negro History week, and true Democracy to fight imperialism, colonialism, and white supremacy. He urged coalition politics.”
Oh my God! The man should have been drawn and quartered for believing in such subversive un-American ideas! I guess we are supposed to believe that Obama's (speculated) socialist beliefs means he is a stealth candidate just itching to gain the White House and turn the USA into a Godless, Commie gulag. I can imagine the horrors of free education, medical care and housing for everyone being foisted on stunned citizens and his policies toppling this great Capitalist paradise.
I don't know if Obama has any Marxist tendencies or is a secret Pinko-Commie agent hiding under America's bed. All I know is that clips of Kincaid's attempt to demonize Obama are spreading like fleas on a hot day all over blogs authored by flag waving knuckle draggers. It's gonna be a long ride to November.
Be sure to read my friend Steve's post on his Desert Peace blog. Steve is a far better writer than I can hope to be. If you have the stomach to read all of Kincaid's keyboard diarrhea, go here: Obama’s Communist Mentor. There's another piece about Obama's Socialist connections in Chicago also. You probably don't need to bother with reading it however since it will probably start polluting the media soon enough.
Comments