The most presidential lorem ipsum in history.
I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe. It should help us, not hurt us.
And just as Lieutenant Kerry did not hesitate to risk his life to protect the men who served with him in Vietnam, President Kerry will not hesitate one moment to use our military might to keep America safe and secure. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am President. Not even close. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind.
Nor is it beyond the sea. John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell - but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.
And until we do, our conscience cannot rest. This is a problem that's brought together churches and synagogues and mosques and people of all faiths as part of a grassroots movement. Even for those blacks who did make it, questions of race, and racism, continue to define their worldview in fundamental ways. When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. Their actions are irreconcilable with the rights of human beings, the progress of nations, and with Islam.
That's not the judgment we need. We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country.
God bless you.