Betty Hazlett – 5/4/08

This page was last updated on May 4, 2008.

Focus on change in November; Betty Hazlett; Beaver County Times; May 4, 2008.

The last time I critiqued one of her letters, Ms. Hazlett thought taxpayers paid for President Bush’s 2005 inauguration celebrations. This letter is even more off the wall.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I just want to know what the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s opinions, views, etc., have to do with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

“I know they were friends and he is Obama’s former pastor, but that does not mean Obama shares the same views and opinions. Some people have said, well, he is Obama’s pastor, and Obama has denied knowing his pastor’s beliefs about the government, prejudices, etc.”

[RWC] Ms. Hazlett is trying to revise history by downgrading the relationship of Messrs. Obama and Wright. Unfortunately for Ms. Hazlett, the truth is already out.

Mr. Obama chose this church and Mr. Wright was the pastor when Mr. Obama joined. More than just being friends and his former pastor (Mr. Wright was pastor until just a few months ago.), Mr. Obama referred to Mr. Wright as a mentor and spiritual advisor and took the title for one of his books from one of Mr. Wright’s sermons. Mr. Obama even compared Mr. Wright to family. (“I can no more disown him [Jeremiah Wright] than I can my white grandmother.”) If you recall Mr. Obama’s speech of March 20, 2008, he even threw his grandma (a “typical white person”) “under the bus” to protect Mr. Wright. Before Mr. Obama rescinded the invitation at the last moment, he asked Mr. Wright to lead an invocation when Mr. Obama announced he would run for president. Mr. Wright was a member of the Obama campaign’s African American Religious Leadership Committee.

“My next question to those who accuse and judge Obama based on his pastor is this, how many Catholics knew their priest was molesting their children? Would they want to be judged because they were not aware their priest was a pedophile? Should people say, well, your clergy is a pedophile so you must be one, too? This is ridiculous.”

[RWC] What’s “ridiculous” is that Ms. Hazlett can come up with this wacky comparison.

I concede I’m not an expert on Catholic priests molesting kids, but I’m reasonably sure they did it secretly, not in front of the congregation. Mr. Wright has been preaching his message in public view for decades. Are we to believe Mr. Obama didn’t know what his close friend was preaching in public for 20 years?

“And Wright, whether you agree with him or not, is entitled to his opinion. After all, the government has had some conspiracies in the past whose questions still remain unanswered.”

[RWC] Sure Mr. Wright is entitled to his opinion. That’s not the issue. The issue is what Mr. Obama believes, and it’s hard to believe he doesn’t agree with Mr. Wright to at least some degree since Mr. Obama chose this church, listened to the “sermons” for 20 years, and considered Mr. Wright to be a mentor.

Is Ms. Hazlett telling us she believes the U.S. government did invent AIDS to commit genocide?

“Prejudice still runs rampant in our country and around the world. So, is Wright really all that wrong?”

[RWC] Let me get this straight. Preaching “prejudice” from a church pulpit isn’t “really all that wrong?”

“Let’s not lose focus of the goal for change come November. It doesn’t matter if Hillary Clinton or Obama win the White House. Either will make a change for the better. Whoever we put in there, I am sure he/she would do a better job than our current commander in chief.”

[RWC] Just as all previous authors, Ms. Hazlett doesn’t provide details of the “change” she expects from the Democrat candidates. Why is that?