Bismarck, North Dakota News

" Diggs; So you're telling me you would stay with your church for twenty years? Even if you hardly believed anything your pastor said? Yeah right.... He just back stepped from his earlier comments in an interview, where he stated he was never there when the comments were made. Now in a speech, he admitted differently. Sorry... That's not going to work, he's done... He should drop out now. "

" Terry -- I agree with you - Why is it then the media and Obama's competitors seem to think otherwise? Now if Obama had uttered the same words as his pastor - then that is cause for debate. "

" Reading some of the posts reminds me of a quote by William James. "What passes for critical thinking is merely rearranging (one's) prejudices." You can collect negative emails, gossip, memorize it, and pass it around with embellishments but can you truthfully say to yourself that you gave a candidate even a moment of serious consideration or did you decide before on the basis of your own ageism, sexism, or racism? "

"
If the Father of your parish molests children doe's that mean that the parish condones child molestation? Of course not! If a member of your race hates other races doe's that mean that your entire race hate other races? Of course not! "

" Just one question for some of you -- since you believe Obama and his church are inseparable -- If your church leader is molesting children and you say nothing are you not condoning the practice??
I demand you renounce that on this blog at once -- Obama has done that today.
You can find a skeleton in any closet if you look hard enough. McCain, Clinton, Obama - you and I - we all have something rattling. "

" Check out the "church". Obama could be black, white, purple ... all this has no relevance to me. It is my understanding his "church" believes 9/11 was a plot from the US govt. as well was AIDS. I understand that they / he actually oppose the US govt. "

" I don't care if Obama is a Muslim or not. I haven't heard a single concrete proposal from him yet and that's all I need to know. "

" Laura, I wish it did take more than that to sit in the Oval Office but it doesn't. All you need is television coverage. "

" Ask him to explain why he was know to associate with known terrorist Weather Underground?? He thought he had everyone snowed with credentials, it takes more than that to sit in the oval office!!

His books are fairy tales. I want to know when his radical brother will come to visit?? "

" Isn't Obama's church the one that cherishes the fact that it is all black? "

" Thank you Kelly for your excellent and insightful article. As a supporter of Barack Obama, I wear one of his political buttons on my jacket. It has been on my jacket for many weeks and I often forget it is even there. Every once in a while someone makes a positive comment about the button. Sometimes we even carry on a very brief conversation. I was in a local store recently, standing at the counter purchasing an item. I noticed a fellow standing beside me staring at me; I looked up, made eye contact and said, “good morning.” Then I went back to the business at hand. The fellow continued to stare at me. I used to be a teacher and thought perhaps this was one of my former pupils; I looked up again as I finished writing my check and made eye contact. It was at that time that I was verbally hit by the nonsense about which you have written. Obviously I was startled, and just a little angry. I smiled and said, “well if you believe that, I have a bridge in New York City that I will sell you for $50.00”. Not a good comment as he just continued to spew nonsense, then I said, “Well if you wish to believe that, you certainly can.” A few comments from the sales clerk also calmed the fellow down. Information today is such a kinetic image; a person can find a TV/Radio news or talk show, which provides information and support to what ever is in his/her mind not to mention Blog sites or Internet sites. Many Americans have seemed to have lost or never had critical thinking skills. Oh, oh, have I opened up an avenue of unhappy Blogger comment? It’s Sunday and I have a lot of things to do around the house and this will be my only post today. Again, thank you for the article. I give you an “A” for critical thinking skill. "

" take a good hard look at the "religion" and the "teachings" in Obama's "church". "

" Nate, I'm not sure why you think I am afraid. I am secure in the knowledge that I will do whatever is needed to protect myself and my family. If that means stepping on your moral toes, so be it. "

" Check out the shocking comments of one of the "extremists" in his church:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ioaChVw_pUw "

" Thomas- actually, the only thing standing between me and "these people" is thousands and thousands of miles. A crew of nutcases killed 3000 Americans seven years ago. We, in turn, have had our military kill 1,000,000 Iraqis. Seems fair, seeing as they didn't attack us. While I admire and respect every member of the military without qualification, I do believe that they were sent on a fool's errand. Now, 4000 of them are dead. In any case, my comment was referring to our fear of certain minorities, not terrorists. Instead of using your guts to withstand my criticism, use you eyes to read my words and understand my meaning.
Rex- Enjoy living in fear. I'll be enjoying myself, not pre-judging people because of their racial and religious background. You should try it, it's fun! "

" Mr. Nate, When I look back on this moment in history I want to be alive and free, you feel guilty if you want. "

" Nate, The Irish and the Chinese did not attack our civilian population, the Japanese did. We bombed them into submission. The Muslims attacked our civilian population, see the pattern emerging here? A Muslim, who has sworn to kill all of us, is probably a very good thing to be afraid of. Those of us who live in our little insular world comforted by TV, food, entertainment and security, those of us who have not had our severed fingers returned as proof of our captivity, would do well to be afraid. Be very afraid. The only thing standinfg between you and those people are the brave members of our armed forces and one man with enough guts to withstand all your criticism. "

" As much as I think that it's horribly wrong to spread salacious rumors about public figures that prey on the unfounded fears of a (sadly) wide-swath of the populace, it's sadder that we, as Americans, can be frightened by the very IDEA that someone could be a Muslim. We did the same thing with the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese and the Japanese at different points in our country's history, and none of those incidents are anything that we're proud of today. I think that, when we look back on this moment in our history, we'll be just as ashamed, if not more so. Thanks for the column, hopefully it reaches people who would just accept that e-mail as truth, otherwise. "

" It's food for thought. "