Wiley Drake

Wiley Drake, who is praying for President Obama's death, breathlessly reports that his name has turned up on President Obama's "enemies list" ... at least according to the eminently trustworthy tabloid Globe Magazine:

According to GLOBE Magazine, "the President has drawn up a secret enemies list. In a blockbuster world exclusive, GLOBE bares 25 names - and sources tell you how and why the White House intends to shut them up."

Pastor Wiley Drake is listed as enemy number 23 of those Obama would most want to "shut up."

Drake has not only prayed Imprecatory prayer against Obama but is one of the plaintiffs in a Federal Case to be heard Oct. 5 in California Federal District Court.

Drake and others believe that Obama needs to prove whether or not he is a Natural Born citizen, as required by the Constitution. If he is not, they believe he should be removed

Pastor Wiley said, "I would have never believed we would have Czars in America. I thought that was Russia and the communist countries."

Unfortunately, the Globe article isn't available online, but this blog reports that the 25 names on Obama's supposed list include the following:

Glenn Beck, Larry Sinclair, Joe Wilson, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, Orly Taitz, Pat Boone, Jon Voight, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Rupert Murdoch, Jesse Jackson, Dick Cheney, Bill O'Reilly, Toby Keith, Rex Rammell, Hank Williams Jr., Steven Anderson, Saul Anuzis, Bill Cunningham, Paul Krugman, John Rich, Wiley Drake, Alex Jones and Michelle Malkin.

I suppose I am obligated to post the video of Orly Taitz's appearance on MSNBC yesterday, so here it is:

I don't feel this clip provided any new information to the issue - other than providing further evidence that Taitz is insane despite her insistence that she is not, in fact, crazy. 

In fact, the insistence by the Birthers that they are not crazy seems to be a their new defense, as that was exactly the point that Wiley Drake made last week:

Obama's supporters "want to brand anyone who questions him as a nut, and they're not. Alan Keyes is not a nut. I'm not," Drake said.

Which brings me to this good piece by David Weigel reporting that Taitz's antics and recklessness is causing a rift in the Birther movement among those who see her as undermining their efforts and which contains this interesting nugget: 

The “Kenyan birth certificate” has made skeptics out of people like Leahy and Kreep. Two of Taitz’s original plaintiffs, Wiley Drake and Markham Robinson, both associates of Alan Keyes during his presidential campaign, were removed from her latest filing after seeking new representation.

Has Taitz really become too crazy for the likes of Wiley Drake, a man who admits to praying to God to kill President Obama? That is quite an accomplishment.

On a semi-related note, I think it is also worth pointing out that Chuck Norris now seems to be throwing in with the Birthers as well, doing so by claiming that while he doesn't have any reason to doubt Obama's claims to citizenship, his refusal to release the document the Birthers are demanding is raising questions:

Isn't categorically satisfying constitutional requirements for a president, or answering the First Amendment grievances of hundreds of thousands of Americans, or ending a national debate or healing a country's divisions enough "direct and tangible interest"?

Mr. President, as more and more people realize that you are refusing to release your original birth certificate, further questions will fuel the fires of debate or at least hinder the embers from ever being snuffed out. Questions like, "Does it really contain the Hawaiian physician's name?" Or "Does it disclose something other than his birth place that he wishes others not to see?"

...

So again I ask, why don't you simply request, release and give permission to make public your original birth certificate?

Let's not forget that Norris was among Mike Huckabee's biggest and most visible supporters. That, coupled with the fact that Huckabee is scheduled to headline a right-wing conference next month being hosted by three bona fide Birthers leads me to wonder just what Huckabee's views are on this issue, considering that several of the people he has chosen to associate and surround himself with are deeply enmeshed in the Birther conspiracy movement.

Last month, Wiley Drake declared that the murder of Dr. George Tiller was the answer to his imprecatory prayers. He followed that up a few days later by unapologetically admitting to Alan Colmes that he was also praying for President Obama's death.

Now Drake wants to clarify his position and make it known that while he does want Obama to die at the hand of God, he doesn't want to come off as some crank who is obsessed with it.  After all, he explains, he's really only spending at most two percent of his prayer-time in seeking the president's death:

Ever since Pastor Wiley Drake declared not once, but three times, on national radio that he was praying for the death of President Barack Obama, he has been trying to clarify.

Yes, he really does want God to smite Obama. No, it’s not a partisan prayer. Yes, it’s in the Bible, he says, and no, he wasn’t kidding. He’s deadly serious.

The former second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention said he’s merely practicing the age-old art of “imprecatory prayer” — a theological term for praying that bad things happen to bad people.

Imprecatory prayer can turn a verse into curse through reciting Scripture aimed at one’s foes.

Rather than asking for, say, healing or a win in the big game, these prayers request that God smite one’s enemies with — among other things — plagues, death and eternal damnation.

“That doesn’t mean I spend every waking hour praying for the death of the president,” said Drake, who leads Buena Park Southern Baptist Church, near Anaheim, Calif. “Of our prayers, 98 percent should be good prayers, and 2 percent should be imprecatory.”

I knew that Drake has called for imprecatory prayer against Barry Lynn and Americans United, but i was not aware that he has been targeting others as well:

For his part, Drake is an equal-opportunity prayer warrior. His intercessory hit list has included Lynn, California megachurch pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren, and former Presidents Bill Clinton and even George W. Bush, whom Drake once maligned for not pardoning two border guards.

Over the last few days, former second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention has declared both that the murder of Dr. George Tiller was an answer to prayer and that he was likewise praying for the death of President Obama.

Today, the Southern Baptist Convention, not surprisingly, distanced itself from Drake's rantings:

A Southern Baptist Convention spokesman said June 4 that a former official who is praying for the death of President Obama is out of the denomination's mainstream.

Roger "Sing" Oldham, vice president for convention relations with the SBC Executive Committee, said he believes most Southern Baptists are committed to praying for the well-being of the president as instructed in Scripture.

...

Oldham told Associated Baptist Press that Drake is not a spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention and his comments do not reflect the actions, resolutions or positions of the denomination.

"I think it is a fair statement to say that the vast majority of Southern Baptists are committed to praying for the well-being of the president in accordance with the specific instruction given in 1 Timothy 2:1-3," Oldham said, quoting: "First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good, and it pleases God our Savior.'"

In semi-related news:

A black Southern Baptist pastor is asking his denomination to acknowledge the historic first of President Barack Obama's election, despite their policy differences.

The Rev. Dwight McKissic of Texas wants the resolution put to a vote at the annual Southern Baptist Convention. The meeting starts June 23 in Kentucky.

This is especially interesting considering that McKissic is himself a right-winger who, back in 2006, told the audience at the Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit that the Anti-Christ would be gay:

The civil rights movement, he said, was grounded in moral authority, truth and righteousness, the impetus to freedom, constitutional authority, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In contrast, he said, the gay rights movement was inspired “from the pit of hell itself,” and has a “satanic anointment.” The gay rights movement was birthed and inspired by the anti-Christ. He suggested that the anti-Christ is himself gay, citing a verse from the book of Daniel saying the anti-Christ will have no desire for a woman.

“I don’t think there is any issue more important than how we are going to define the family,” said McKissic. Television shows portraying homosexuality in a positive light have put us “on the road to Sodom and Gomorrah,” and “God’s got another match…He didn’t run out of matches.”