Nope he's not doing any favors for Obama. What I don't understand is why he is doing what he is doing now.

My suspicion is that Wright is simply enjoying his 15 minutes of fame, without any regard for the possible fallout to others.
VKW

773-962-5650

That's the church telephone number. Call them and ask what Wright is doing, and why he hates Obama.

Wright should sit down and seriously ask himself, is my reputation and situation so important that Barack Obama needs to be sacrifised for it.

Rev. Wright is the gift that keeps on giving.

Watch as Wright's far-out AIDS theory is denounced by people who believe that condoms spread AIDS.

Jake Tapper has an anti-Obama bias. It's pretty bad for you to start quoting his biased opinions about Wright's speech as fact. Reading Wright's AIDS comment in context, he wasn't saying he agreed AIDS was created by the US government, but that it's just one theory among many. Big difference from what you're implying.

Concerning Wright's praise of Farrakhan, Ed Rendell, the Clinton supporting governor of Pennsylvania also praised Farrakhan. Clinton and her supporters cannot condemn Wright's praise of Farrakhan without being hypocritical.

It would be better if you listened to Wright's whole speech and realized how great and insighful it is instead of cherry picking quotes out of context and criticizing it.

The campaign, or do I mean campain?, is over.

The demoncrats have squandered their chance to beat McCain.

The Wright stuff is what will turn voters off.

Obama had ignited a fire in the hearts of many. Now I fear Wright has doused the flame.

Obama could clear up the whole Wright mess in an instant if he would just say, "I joined the Trinity Church and stayed there because that's what Michelle wanted." In most religious families, it's the mom who decides what church the family will go to, and if Obama just acknowledged that, most folks would nod their heads and say, yeah, that's how it works.

That's it. I'm not voting for Wright, even if he does get the nomination.

Jeremiah is the Wright Reverend. The more he says, the more he puts all religions in a bad light. Which is essentially the truth. The only way religions are popular at all is that they have flamethrowers at the helm.

McCain - Wright 2008

jake tapper is hardly a source of objectivity or reliable journalism.

I don't blame Wright, but I'm starting to hate americka all over again. As a card carrying white guy, I can say, white people suck.

I don't blame Wright, but I'm starting to hate americka all over again. As a card carrying white guy, I can say, white people suck.

Wright sure isn't doing Barack Obama any favors, is he?

As are you.

Who knows. You'd be surprised how many people are susceptible to this kind of stuff espoused in a pseuo-reasonable manner.

Maybe five years from now getting the endorsement of Wright and Farrakhan will be as innocuous as getting the blessing of Robertson and Falwell.

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has made Rush Limbaugh a very happy man. Thank you, sir. Thank you so very much.

It would be better if you listened to Wright's whole speech and realized how great and insighful it is instead of cherry picking quotes out of context and criticizing it.

So Kevin is letting Tapper do his thinking for him. Is this laziness or stupidity on his part?

Lmao, if Kevin Drum is offended by the fact that white people brought africans here in chains, he should take that out on white people. Taking it out on Wright is just plain racist.

Goodness gracious you mean not everyone hates Louis Farrakhan, not everyone thinks that AAs in America should be grateful that their ancestors were stolen from their homes and enslaved, not everyone is convinced that AIDS was purely accidental? Gee wiz anyone who thinks any differently must be CRAZY and just "bitter" about nothing! And anyone who says anything different must be grandstanding! Because we all know that the Sun revolves around the flat Earth.

And of course McCain will get similar scrutiny with regard to the rantings of James Hagee.

Right? Right? (Crickets chirping).

Do white people really not understand that there is a certain amount of legitimate hostility in the black community regarding the history of the US? Its just amazing to me that all of these white people are suddenly shocked, shocked I tell you, to find that maybe there's a bit of resentment among blacks about, you know, 300 years of slavery, 100 years of Jim Crow and ongoing racial disparity issues. Where have you all been for the last 30 years?

Kevin, Kevin, Kevin,

Did you see Wright on Billl Moiyers? It can be found at PBS.org I highly recommend you watch the whole thing.

Wright does not speak in sound bites. E.g. Farrakan is a key voice of the recent times. Wright goes on to say he does not have to agree with all Farrakan says, but Farrrakan cannot be simply wished away.

Watch the whole thing; don't let others present out-of-context sound bites. Wright does not speak in sound bites!

Obama knows a guy who likes Farrakhan? That's clearly disqualifying.

Now who do John McCain's friends like? Any of them objectionable in any way?

When we're done, maybe we can go get that guy who keeps to himself under the highway bridge to be our next Prexy.

Mr. Drum,

I watched Wright's address to the Detroit NAACP fund raising dinner and his answering of the, mostly insipid, questions following his Nat. Press Club address.

What you have posted here is no different from vacuous media talking hairdos running the YouTube snippets.

I hope you will seek out and watch Wright's NAACP and Press Club addresses and then post your comments, because what you have posted here is on par with a FOX news report.

Wright is brilliant and fearless. The guy speaks five languages, is an Egytologist, was a marine for two years and in Navy for four more. He has earned two masters degrees and a PhD. At least you could have posted his entire answers to the questions referenced by Tapper, and regurgitated by you.

I suspect we will be hearing lots more from Rev. Wright and that the vacuous media talking hairdos will regret having pushed him to center stage of the national discourse, with their endless looping of YouTube snippets.

If you took every recorded remark, interview and sermon delivered by Rev. Wright and stitched them together into one giant video loop, then took that loop and put it on a cable channel by itself, 24-7 endlessly, it still wouldn't bring a single soldier home from Iraq; wouldn't provide adequate therapy for a single wounded vet; wouldn't affect the price of gasoline or crude oil by a fraction of a penny; wouldn't make a single bit of difference in the day to day life of a single Guantanamo detainee; wouldn't provide health care for a single citizen who doesn't already have it and wouldn't do a thing to insure that a patient actually receives the medical care that their insurance premiums have paid for; wouldn't create a single job to replace any of the millions that have been exported; wouldn't make a single mortgage payment for a single homeowner, in default or not; wouldn't convict nor even indict a single Republican leech in a Bush Administration cesspool of corruption; wouldn't lower global temperatures a single degree for even a single day....but it would give journalists, pundits and bloggers a reason to ignore everything that might matter to anyone on the morning of November 5th and every day after.

From:

www.originofaids.com

The answer to this question was singularly advanced by a Harvard-degreed independent investigator, Dr. Leonard Horowitz in the award winning book Emerging Viruses: AIDS & Ebola -- Nature, Accident or Intentional? (Tetrahedron Press, 1998; 1-888-508-4787; http:www.tetrahedron.org) Dr. Horowitz unearthed and reprinted stunning scientific documents and National Institutes of Health contracts proving that chimpanzees, contaminated with numerous viruses, were used to produce hundreds of hepatitis B vaccine doses administered to central African Blacks along with homosexual men in New York City at precisely the time Dr. Myers and colleagues claim the origin of HIV "punctuated event" occurred.

In an related but underreported story.

Vegas Hepatitis Exposure

www.hkllp.com Unsafe Practices Linked To Hiv & Hepatitis. Free Case Evaluation.

Kevin is stuck on stupid today. Hint: when you find yourself channeling Jake Tapper, you need to stop and take a long look in the mirror.

jc is right about Wright. Tapper is wrong. I watched Wright's performance this morning. It is clear that Wright is condemning lazy sound bite journalists like Tapper and an awful lot of others in the corporate media.

Kevin, I didn't think you were a sound bite blogger. Too bad Tapper has sucked you in.

This is a nonsensical discussion. Liberal bloggers should not be participating in embrace of the Republican talking points against Democratic candidates.

I would haveliked Kevin to say, so what? What do Wright's views, crazy or not, have to do with Obama? Unfortunately, he chose to start a discussion on the validity of one conspiracy theory or the other.

Wright's speech this morning was pretty good, but then he completely threw Obama under the bus during the Q&A. I was stunned. I went into a place where I do volunteer work afterwards and everyone was talking about it. It was one of the most selfish things that I have ever seen. One of the black female anchors on MSNBC said her blackberry was going crazy with messages from her black friends about how Wright was single handly destroying Obama's campaign.

For those of you who defend his NAACP speech, are you going to write letters of apology to CHarles Murray who wrote the Bell Curve now? Because Wright was espousing the same racist nonsense that Murray does: that Black children learn in different ways than white children because of genetics.

Watch the whole thing; don't let others present out-of-context sound bites. Wright does not speak in sound bites!

Unfortunately, Americans in general do speak and hear only in sound bites, and the media finds that it is both easier and more profitable to just feed that characteristic. Kevin should do more than just quote Tapper, though.

I agree with gregor.

A few days ago Rick Perlstein blogged about the right-wing campaign to find a sticky story that turns Obama into a dangerous subversive:

First there was the image of Obama as a secret Muslim. Then it was Obama as scary black nationalist. There was, too, Obama as henpecked husband with the scary negress castrating wife. None have really quite stuck.

Now, of course, they are trying out Obama as a friend to foreign and domestic terrorists. Every time we talk about Wright (the angry black nationalist story) we help the story stick by advertising it. It is all lizard brain stuff, so measured rational rebuttals are the wrong weapon.

There is no rational discussion about The Wright Story because it is an advertisement for the GOP.

Teresa, please explain the part of Wright's comments you say threw Obama under the bus. Anyway, how can Wright throw Obama under the bus? At worst he comes off looking like an angry, but well read black man. Surprise, surprise.

Yeah, in defense of Kevin, he's making a pretty incontrovertible point with "Wright sure isn't doing Barack any favors, is he?": Wherever you fall on the continuum of supporting or denouncing Wright and his ideas, this is an *inflammatory* and divisive discussion, something B.O. himself would term a "distraction" to the campaign. That's not Tapper's or Drum's fault, mkay? That's reality. Ignoring it doesn't change it.

It is time for the Republican-controlled Media to give this Wright controversy some fairness and enquire of Hillary Clinton and her surrogates the following:

Is it true that, (1) Hillary surrogate, Congresswoman Shiela Jackson Lee, is also a devotee of Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright; that he's been preaching at her home church, where she is actively involved, annually for the past 15 years and has an open invitation to return, and, that she sat in the pews for his visits and did not bat an eye?

Is it true that (2) Hillary surrogate, Rev. Marcia Dyson was not only a longtime member of Trinity United Church of Christ but also still considers Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright her pastor? That Rev. Marcia Dyson's seminary education, in part, was sponsored by Trinity UCC and encouraged by Rev. Wright? And was it not at Trinity were she first met her husband, Rev. Dr. Michael Dyson, who's been very vocal in his defense of Rev. Wright.?

And, lastly of Hillary Clinton, that if Rev. Wright would not have been her Pastor, then why did she and Bill when going through Impeachment, turn to Rev. Wright for Prayer and Support and invite him to the White House? These things should be answered.

Stupid. Lazy. Stereotypical.

Vintage Glenn Reynolds.

I was in a Dr's office waiting room this AM and the TV was on FOx, and it was all Wright, all the time, and how can BO separate himself, blah blah blah...

There's ads out too now attacking BO supporters for endorsing him, the GOP is clearly going after down-ticket Dems too.
I think it is actually a good sign for BO that the GOP is pulling out this ammo so soon. It means that they prefer running against Hillary and see him as the stronger candidate...

Wow - harsh. Not fair - Kevin used an actual sentence and more than one, to boot.

Bloody hell.

There's some real mentoring for you.

One would suspect that for a hard radical like Wright, in some way having Obama succeed as a moderate repudiates his world view (White is Evil, etc.), and further he sees this as an occasion to "Agitate."

Bloody activists, stupid whankers the lot of them.

Pity, really thought you all might make some progress in this area, would have been a nice one term image booster.

The best thing to do when hit with a public controversy is to retreat from the limelight. By telling his side Wright feeds the right-wing noise machine. He is unwittingly helping get John McCain elected. Too bad he wasn't better advised.

SixStringFanatic @ 1:25 -- Beautiful summary.

Thanks for judging him on five second sound bites. You are better then the idiots in the MSM, how again?

This morning at the Press Club right kept repeating that the right was not attacking him personally but was really attacking The Black Church in America.

This is curious because the UCC is a predominantly white church. Maybe Wright meant his particular parish, or that the right was attacking the African American preaching tradition in America, regardless of which church it was being done in.

In any case Obama is not overtly kissing Wright's ring like McCain kissed the anti-gay Falwell's, nor is he seeking Wright's endorsement like McCain sought the anti-Catholic Hagee's. If the right goes after Obama in this manner they open McCain's judgment up to a host of criticisms.

Americans should judge the candidates by their stance on the issues and on their character, not on which religious figures the candidates know.

Kevin: Wright sure isn't doing Barack Obama any favors, is he?

Funny how no one in the media really gives a shit about what's going on in black America unless someone with dark skin is running for office or some black guy is accused of killing his blonde caucasian ex-wife and her boyfriend...It's like there's a Steve Sailer stationed in every newsroom, directing traffic.

No, Wright isn't doing Obama any favors, Kev. But there shouldn't be any favors to do. Both Wright and Obama have defined their relationship; it's the shameful state of American discourse where few seem to accept that definition instead of pulling something different out of their asses.

Funny that no one including Hillary Clinton, asked Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to reject
and denounce Farrakhan. May if Rendell's skin color was a tad darker.

YouTube - Pennsylvania Governor Rendell Praises Farrakhan and N.O.I.This is the transcript of former Mayor, Ed Rendell, who is Governor of Pennsylvania and the states most influential supporter of Presidential hopeful, ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXum_-8I1TA

Hey, do you guys want a Democrat to win or not? If yes, stop all this idiocy about whose supporter listened to which pastor. Don't fall into the trap of acting in ways that the GOP has scripted for you.

If people would actually take the time to listen to most of the speeches and/or interviews he has given over the last few days, I think a substantial number of people would change actually have their opinions change.

J Wright probably views his work/life has been completely sullied due to sound-bites and it's quite normal for a person to defend themselves.

NPR said they have the compelte speech to the press club. Go take a look

As it turns out Mr. Drum cherry picked from Tapper's much more comprehensive report, which just makes his post all the worse.

The Reverend Wright is a national figure of his own making. He is not responsible for how his views might affect the electorate's response to Sen. Obama's candidacy. Besides, it is April, not October. The Rev. Wright is correct to hold many of the views he does. It is not his concern Democrats worry the racism of other voters will use Wright's comments to rationalize their opposition to Obama. Wright has a more important message to communicate. Whether Sen. Obama becomes president or not, Black Americans will still have a lot of racism to overcome.

Ron Byers: Teresa, please explain the part of Wright's comments you say threw Obama under the bus. Anyway, how can Wright throw Obama under the bus? At worst he comes off looking like an angry, but well read black man. Surprise, surprise.
-------------------------------

Talking about how Obama was merely a politician. That Obama did not "denounce" him, but "distanced" himself from Wright because he is merely a politician who does what a politician has to do. (Basically undermining Obama's whole schtick about being "above politics.") Defending his views on the creation of the AIDS virus, Farrahkan, etc... Basically destroying the good will he created with a nice speech this morning with a generally flippant attitude and clearly enjoying his day in the spotlight.

Didn't hear the speech, so I can't comment on that. But regarding Farrakhan, whatever one thinks of him personally, or the Nation of Islam more generally, it's simply fact that the organization has been a positive force in many individual lives over many years. Rev. Wright isn't wrong about the impact Farrakhan has had. Pretending otherwise teaches nothing and allows right-wingers to gin up a lot of fear and distrust that can then be transferred easily to Democratic candidates who don't "denouce" vigorously enough for the media and popular tastes. It may be that "Wright isn't doing Obama any favors", but neither is Kevin in passing along these context-free exerpts and suggesting we base judgments on them.

It's not about is Wright right or wrong. I agree with most of what the Reverend says. But it's about timing. I also want Obama to win if he's the Dem. nominee. Like it or not, Obama is now associated with Rev. Wright, and if the Reverend chooses to disregard this reality, and seek out more opportunities to speak publicly, then what Kevin says is true. He's not doing Obama any good. Because whether or not the Reverend speaks in soundbites, that's how he's going to be heard. As I said, he's made Rush Limbaugh a very happy man.

I don't interpret that to mean that Kevin is a racist and blames slavery on the Rev. Wright. Get serious, people.

I suspect none of Mr Wright's views are news to Sen Obama. Why is his campaign not handling this entirely foreseeable issue better?

Reverend Wright could care less about whether Barack Obama becomes president or not. In fact, if Senator Obama does not get get elected, it fits very well into Reverend Wright's world view. His credibility with his followers will be strenghtened, not weakened.

Sample unhelpful Wright quotes from the Q&A:

MODERATOR: What is your motivation for characterizing Senator Obama's response to you as, quote, "what a politician had to say"? What do you mean by that?

WRIGHT: What I mean is what several of my white friends and several of my white, Jewish friends have written me and said to me. They've said, "You're a Christian. You understand forgiveness. We both know that, if Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected."

Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls, Huffington, whoever's doing the polls. Preachers say what they say because they're pastors. They have a different person to whom they're accountable.

As I said, whether he gets elected or not, I'm still going to have to be answerable to God November 5th and January 21st. That's what I mean. I do what pastors do. He does what politicians do.

I am not running for office. I am hoping to be vice president.

----
MODERATOR: Were you disappointed that he distanced himself?

WRIGHT: He didn't distance himself. He had to distance himself, because he's a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was anti-American. He said I didn't offer any words of hope. How would he know? He never heard the rest of the sermon. You never heard it.

I offered words of hope. I offered reconciliation. I offered restoration in that sermon, but nobody heard the sermon. They just heard this little sound bite of a sermon.

That was not the whole question. There was something else in the first part of the question that I wanted to address.

Oh, I was not invited because that was a political event. Let me say again: I'm his pastor. As a political event, who started it off? Senator Dick Durbin. I started it off downstairs with him, his wife, and children in prayer. That's what pastors do.

So I started it off in prayer. When he went out into the public, that wasn't about prayer. That wasn't about pastor-member. Pastor- member took place downstairs. What took place upstairs was political.

So that's how I feel about that. He did, as I've said, what politicians do. This is a political event. He wasn't announcing, "I'm saved, sanctified, and feel the holy ghost." He was announcing, "I'm running for president of the United States."

----------
MODERATOR: Do you think it is God's will that Senator Obama be president?

WRIGHT: I said I would offer myself for candidacy for vice president. I have not offered myself for candidacy of God. I can't presume to know what God would want.

In my tradition, however, what everybody has been saying to me as it pertains to the candidacy is what God has for you is for you. If God intends for Mr. Obama to the president, then no white racists, no political pundit, no speech, nothing can get in the way, because God will do what God wants to do.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/04/the_full_wright_transcript.php#more

….It would be better if you listened to Wright's whole speech and realized how great and insighful it is …. TLM at 1:03 PM

…from Wright's Sept. 16, 2001 sermon was maybe the most disturbing. He compared al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden to African slaves who led slave rebellions in the U.S. He linked the 9/11 hijackers with every decent kind of global freedom-fighter. He linked the killing of American civilians on 9/11 to Americans killing civilians from the Indians to Hiroshima to Bill Clinton's bombing of Sudan to retaliate against al-Qaida in 1998. I deplore all of those civilian killings as well, but 9/11 was indefensible. And to the extent that American foreign policy has played a role in the rise of al-Qaida, and it certainly has, anyone who wasn't a tone-deaf, tin-eared lefty opportunist looking for any chance to push their "analysis" of American evil knew that 9/16 wasn't the time to talk about it persuasively. Watching Wright defend his 9/16 speech to Moyers I thought to myself, what's the problem here? Wright clearly believes the chickens were indeed coming home to roost on 9/11. What part of that does he think people don't understand? My conclusion Friday night was bolstered by new tapes of Wright that came out this weekend, including one that captures him saying the Iraq war is "the same thing al-Qaeda is doing under a different color flag," and a much longer excerpt from the "God damn America" sermon that denounces "Condoskeezer Rice)….

Taking it out on Wright is just plain racist. Rovelite at 1:15 PM

….Rev. Wright for Prayer and Support and invite him to the White House? These things should be answered. Angellight at 1:42 PM

….they prefer running against Hillary and see him as the stronger candidate... Sarah at 1:44 PM

….Liberal bloggers should not be participating in embrace of the Republican talking points against Democratic candidates….gregor at 1:31 PM

….Anyway, how can Wright throw Obama under the bus? …. Ron Byers on April 28, 2008 at 1:36 PM

I don't interpret that to mean that Kevin is a racist and blames slavery on the Rev. Wright. Get serious, people.

The accusation against Kevin, if it can be called that, is not that he is a racist, but that he is propagating the right wing propaganda (obviously not knowingly, but he should know better) instead of denouncing this kind of attack on Obama.

Jeremiah Wright is the Willie Horton of the 2008 presidential campaign - the black man that white voters are repulsed by and who is being used by the right-wing smear machine to bring down a decent man running on the Democratic ticket. Some people are always going to be easily duped by the right-wing vermin, aren't they? So sad.

SixStingFanatic states it beautifully upthread - don't allow the critically important issues facing America to be overshadowed by what Barack Obama's pastor may or may not have said. That also means you, Kevin!

Kevin. Again a republican frame. Sigh. Hillary can't win, and this further dissection of Wright is unhelpful. Except to Hillary and McCain. Obama is an honorable man. Let's stick to what helps America.

*

Teresa, I must have missed the word "merely." I heard him say that he was a pastor and Obama was a politician and that Obama had to do what a politician has to do, but he also said a pastor has to do what a pastor has to do. Yes he did seem to have fun laughing at the various alumni from the Jack Tapper school of sound bite journalism in the audience, but what the hell sound bite journalism deserves to be mocked.

The key is that Wright made it perfectly clear that both he and Obama are their own men. Exactly what you should expect. He did confirm that Obama wasn't in the congregation when he gave the original sermons unfairly excerpted for sound bite treatment.

The Rev. Wright should be judged on whether he is doing the Black community any good, not whether he is doing Sen. Obama's Democratic presidential candidacy any good. The two are not the same, and the Black community should not moderate itself to Obama's candidacy, which is not the greater good.

"MODERATOR: Do you think it is God's will that Senator Obama be president?"

Speaking of unhelpful!!!! Does that reflect the quality of the questions he got? If so, I fear for the future of our republic.
It's what the voters want that matters. God's got nothing to do with it.

Mike - I disagree.
If they really want to run against BO, IMO they would sit on this gunpowder until after the convention and he is the nominee.

The ads now are attacking Demo down-tick candidates who support him. That will scare SDs who have to worry about all Dems getting in not just BO or HRC.

I really see this as the GOP attempting to knock him out now, to get HRC as their opponent.

Obama's team should know the Fear of Black Subversion Story was inevitable. It would have come without Wright or Farrakhan or Willie Horton or the Black Panthers or Malcolm X or desegregation or Frederick Douglass. It is perhaps the most ancient story in American politics; it never seems to loose its power. With the internet we can watch this stuff develop and track down the right-wing operatives who gin it up to feed to the clued in or clueless media.

But what tactics to use to kill it?

Who's more vain than a politician? Anyone who makes his living selling God.

Tactics would have been distance from Wright long ago, and Rezko, and Ayers, and any past stuff that would get dug up.

Tactics would have been let that stuff become ancient history and thus hopefully less damaging.

Tactics should have been to stay in the Senate, build up a record, hold a committe meeting now and then, become less of an unknown, and throw in his hat in 4-8 years.

Oh well.

The voter ID law in Indiana is a greater threat to an Obama presidency, and to the Black community, than anything the Rev. Wright can say or do. I would like to hear Sen. Obama say that.

DBL,

Obama could clear up the whole Wright mess in an instant if he would just say, "I joined the Trinity Church and stayed there because that's what Michelle wanted." In most religious families, it's the mom who decides what church the family will go to, and if Obama just acknowledged that, most folks would nod their heads and say, yeah, that's how it works.

Please tell me this is a joke.

If Obama said such a thing the right would have a field day. The Fundies would say that "Man is the head of the household. Any else is perversion." The others would say "So Michelle calls the shots eh? What other kookie things will she make Barack do?" Even the moderates will wonder "If he can't stand up to his wife how will he stand up to our enemies?"

The reality that usually the wife makes the religious decisions has nothing to do with the fictions that people believe. People HATE having their illusions pointed out to them.

Doug-E-Fresh,
Do white people really not understand that there is a certain amount of legitimate hostility in the black community regarding the history of the US?

White people understand this. They are AFRAID of it. You don't get people to vote for you by making them afraid of you. You get elected by making people afraid of something else and telling them you will handle it.

By running solely with Tapper's cherry-picked quotes (he might as well have linked the Nedra Pickers' earlier article), Kevin is showing he has the soul of a mainstream-media guy.

There's no percentage in Wright speaking, even though much of his speech contradicts the caricature, because the press has written the final word on him. He could announce a cure for cancer and a guarantee of universal peace, and the pundit buzz would be "How devastating is this for Obama?"

NONE OF IT MATTERS. The election is going to be won in November on the disastrous state of the country, and 200 days of smoke and mirrors won't change that. (And for those who respond by asking, What about Willie Horton? -- the '88 election was also decided on the country's fundamentals, which at the time were very good, and didn't point to a change in presidential party)

It's OK for old white guys to be angry, just tune into FOX and you will see them ranting about just about everything. But when an old black guy gets angry, why he is just not being appreciative of all the good things this country has done for him.

It's OK for old white guys to be angry, just tune into FOX and you will see them ranting about just about everything. But when an old black guy gets angry, why he is just not being appreciative of all the good things this country has done for him.

"Tactics would have been distance from Wright long ago, and Rezko, and Ayers, and any past stuff that would get dug up.

Tactics would have been let that stuff become ancient history and thus hopefully less damaging.

Tactics should have been to stay in the Senate, build up a record, hold a committe meeting now and then, become less of an unknown, and throw in his hat in 4-8 years.

Oh well."

In other words, let the inevitable queen take her post ? Please, they're going to throw even worse stuff at Hillary, should she somehow steal the nomination.

Vintage doesn't seem to matter. We are still being treated to the tales of Hillary in Bosnia. The right-wing base has to be energized in November and the best way to do that is for it to fear an Obama presidency. They have plenty of hate for Hillary Clinton to be motivated without much conditioning. The base needs to know he encourages inner city violence and is associated with militant blacks. Barack Hussein Obama is above all, like the elitist Clinton, an outsider.

It is stock stuff. The right-wing has run this kind of distraction campaign, with increasing skill, since Eisenhower left office. If Obama makes it to the White House it will be an indication of a sea change in America political life. It will be more than a realignment; it will be the passing of an era.

Actually, Democrats could learn from Wright. Tapper didn’t comment on this part of his speech.

OTOH, Wright IS nutbar on AIDS. If he were right, why is AIDS so much more prevalent in Africa than the U.S.?

Or, why is it more prevalent in the former Soviet Union? India? Thailand?

what Tripp said at 2:56.
It's an ugly reality that has to be dealt with. The Obama campaign seems to understand this; that's how he's gotten this far. It's not illegitimate to wonder why the Reverend Wright is choosing this moment to put himself on the national stage. If he understands white racism (which I'm sure he does, much better than I do) then he must understand the effect this is going to have on a lot of white voters. Does he want to help Obama get elected, or does he want to let the world know how righteous his anger is? Looks like (b) to me.

DBL, nice try, but Barack himself has left wayyy too much a paper trail for that to fly.

"Doug-E-Fresh,
Do white people really not understand that there is a certain amount of legitimate hostility in the black community regarding the history of the US?"

Seriously, who the fuck cares? I really do not care about the whiners in the black community.

What I like about Barack is that he is not a black guy. He is a capable guy who happens to be black. I don't want to think about race. I done all my thinking about race 20-30 years ago, and just don't want to think about it more.

What I would like to do is put Jeremiah Wright in a concrete box, and dump him into the middle of Lake Michigan. That would solve my race problem toot sweet.

I guess Kevin believes in guilt by association too. The irony is Obama is being destroyed by his own party as well as the racist GOP.

Gosh, who could have guessed the new politics was strangled in the cradle by the old media. You know, the media which is McCains base.

The Right, as usual, projects their own inability to sit in church on Sunday and not be programmed by their pastors' exhortations.

Dana Milbank's article was a joke, as was Tapper's take.

Wright has one wacky theory -- the engineered HIV thing (Tuskegee is absolutely true). The rest is fairly obviously factual or at least eminently defensible.

And he doesn't hate Farrakhan? OMG!!!!

Mod post down. -1 Did not referencing original source material, knee-jerk reaction, blinders to the African American experience, uninformed opinion.

Wright is Wright, politics be damned -- that's what he's saying.

This is the same Wrightian racist bilge that Obama has spent the last 20 years with his wife and little girls marinating in, by choice.

Obama may be a hypocrite, Wright is saying, but damn if I'm gonna be one. Whitey's the devil. We both believe it. I say it.

thersites wrote, Does he want to help Obama get elected, or does he want to let the world know how righteous his anger is? Looks like (b) to me.

Yes, of course. Wright is clearly a self-centered, selfish jerk.

Thersites and liberal - but his history would suggest that he clearly isn't a self-centered, selfish jerk. So I still don't get this behavior at all.

"Looks like (b) to me............"

Sure. It's all about votes. Therefore, we dems need to do the following:

(1.)reach out to whackadoodle religious conservatives to allay their fears that you might be an ungodly atheist.
(2.)support a wasteful and stupidly large military in order to prove you're really a patriot.
(3.) Stop bringing up stuff like stagnant middle class incomes or the gutting of unions in order that you not be characterized as having "class envy".

I mean, cripes, maybe we should just all get a GOP minder to guide us in acceptably correct political speech, or just accompany us to the polls to make sure we don't make a mistake.

I mean, with global climate change and peak oil, what's the difference?

In Philadelphia, Sen. Obama said we need to have a national discussion on race. It appears some of his supporters believe otherwise.

optical weenie wrote, Thersites and liberal - but his history would suggest that he clearly isn't a self-centered, selfish jerk.

Uh, how do you know his history suggests that?

He wouldn't be the first person in the priestly class to be a jerk, after all.

... Wright IS nutbar on AIDS. If he were right, why is AIDS so much more prevalent in Africa than the U.S.?

His comment would be a lot nuttier without the facts of slavery, Jim Crow, inner-city slums, and, particularly, the Tuskegee experiments. As far as beliefs go, it seems a lot more plausible to me than stuff like creationism or virgin births -- to say nothing of WMD's -- but, hey, I'm just a liberal.

Oh, and that part about a greater prevalence of AIDS in Africa doesn't really counter the argument to black folks who already find it plausible.

Obama has been given his last chance to completely discard Wright. Neill, above, cleanly summarizes what Wright said about Obama- Wright insinuated that Obama is a hypocrite.

Those who think this matter will have no impact in November are delusional. Obama made a poor choice when he chose to be involved with people like this, but what is done is done. If Obama can extricate himself from this, he will be a better politician than most.

bobbyp wrote, "Looks like (b) to me............"

Sure. It's all about votes. Therefore, we dems need to do the following:

You're eliding these two very distinct things:
(a) Adopting right-wing talking points on both issues and non-issues
(b) Making oneself unnecessarily vulnerable to the right-tards on a distracting non-issue.

Besides, very few prominent Democrats (including Obama and HRC) are going against your (1)--(3). Certainly neither O nor H have said to the nation that Empire isn't in the nation's best interest and we should just bring all the troops home (not just from Iraq, but also Europe, Korea, Japan, etc) and cut the military budget by 75%. (Wish someone with some sway were saying such things, but...)

US supported apartheid South Africa did have a biological weapons program to find a pathogen that would specifically kill Africans, but biology was unable to cooperate with racist ideology. Simon Legree, or whatever the anonymous poster's name is, was very disappointed.

junebug wrote, As far as beliefs go, it seems a lot more plausible to me than stuff like creationism or virgin births -- to say nothing of WMD's -- but, hey, I'm just a liberal.

Uh, no. If you go to this uggabugga post, you'll see that Wright relies on a guy who's other views are just as nutty as creationism, virgin births, and WMDs.

fafner1 wrote, It's OK for old white guys to be angry, just tune into FOX and you will see them ranting about just about everything. But when an old black guy gets angry, why he is just not being appreciative of all the good things this country has done for him.

True. Life ain't fair, however. The issue here isn't fairness. The issue is to defeat the Republican Party, which is essentially trying to destroy our nation, in the next presidential election.

Brojo wrote, The Rev. Wright should be judged on whether he is doing the Black community any good, not whether he is doing Sen. Obama's Democratic presidential candidacy any good. The two are not the same, and the Black community should not moderate itself to Obama's candidacy, which is not the greater good.

Given that symbolic value of Obama winning the election in November would itself benefit the black community, your comment doesn't make any sense.

Sure, Wright may have done some good for the black community. But when you weight things properly, the damage he's doing to that community now outweighs whatever good he's done or will do in the future by multiple orders of magnitude.

Obama made a poor choice when he chose to be involved with...

Establishment politics. Obama, like Hillary (but not Nader), thinks he has to prevaricate rather than speak the plain truth if he is to win elections. Most Americans think so, too. The Rev. Wright knows that even if Obama becomes president, establishment politics will prevent Obama from solving many of the problems Blacks have in America. A President Obama will be unable to make Wright's agenda his, so Wright probably does not give a damn about what Democrats think he should do to ensure Obama wins.

This is an attempt to get rid of the controversy by taking it head on. It is a refreshing change from the run and hide method. By keeping the message out there, Wright is trying to help Obama control the message.
Maybe the right wing wackos will get tired of the same old shit over and over, they're already starting to get bored with Fox News....

... If you go to this uggabugga post, you'll see that Wright relies on a guy who's other views are just as nutty as creationism, virgin births, and WMDs.

Sorry, not interested in his his source, or his source's other views. The point is that this one is a lot less ridiculous than a lot of the crackpottery that your garden-variety white folks buy into -- particularly when you consider it against the backdrop of slavery & the extermination of Indian populations.

Wright's damning racism in America and citing examples of it does not damage the Black community. Wright's message might damage the delicate sensibilities of moderates who think they are liberal enough to vote for a moderate Black candidate like Sen. Obama. Unless those moderates join racist organizations and start agitating for the return of Jim Crow, then Wright's pronouncements do not hurt the Black community.

The issue is to defeat the Republican Party

That is your issue. The Rev. Wright's issue is to defeat racism in America, which even defeating the Republican Party with an Obama presidency will not do.

Hmmm. Which comment is stupidest? Brojo's, junebug's, or DougR's? It's almost impossible to choose. I vote DougR.

Wright is doing what Wright needs to do in the face of demonization by the press and Republican chattnabobs & thinskinned Dems. He does after all have some pride. Dems are fucked if they let this swiftboating of Obama/Wright grab all the attention, diverting from real issues of this campaign.

Kevin, if I said that this administration is trying to do an ethnic cleansing in NOLA, would you argue with me and say, "That's nuts, the government doesn't know how to create Hurricanes?"

Wright sure isn't doing Barack Obama any favors, is he?

I can overlook Rev. Wright due to growing up in America and sitting for countless hours in different sorts of churches, including African American churches in Jackson, Mississippi. I heard crazy stuff in all the churches: white, black, Baptist, Catholic, whatever. I’ve changed and I don’t go to church anymore and I don’t take my kids to church anymore for that very reason. I do not want my kids to learn the crazy “beliefs� that believers have. And, yes, there was crazy politics too.

I overlook Rev. Wright because the other candidates also go to churches with crazy beliefs. Wright does seem more over the top than most and Obama probably should have left that church long ago if politics were his chief concern. But politics may not have been his chief concern and it’s just not that big of an issue with me since Obama seems to have his head screwed on straight.

Presidential races seem have one feature in common with sports tournaments. Somebody has to win. Only in politics, you don’t have to be that good to win; you just need enough luck to not be smeared quite as badly as your opponents prior to voting day.

Wright sure isn't doing Barack Obama any favors, is he?

Wright is hell-bent on destroying Obama's campaign.

Why?

Wright is hell-bent on destroying Obama's campaign.
Why?

He's discovered that Obama really is a secret Muslim, and he's kind of annoyed.

I haven't seen all the footage from the Wright's whirlwind tour, just clips here and there and reaction online at the usual places.

But as April 28 draws to a close (and I've had my eye on my Slingboxed MSNBC all day) it's clear to this voter that Wright has become something of a pirate in this contest. In fact, he's a loose cannon on a pirate ship over which Obama has no control.

Obama, meanwhile, is acting like the cool line officer aboard a ship with a distinctly different mission, under a different flag. He sees Wright, remembers him with affection. But is tacking well away now, as their lives diverge.

Silver lining: Wright's recent language demonstrates the true disconnect between the radical pastor and a unifying "postracial" Obama.

Wright is a big burden for Obama. On several levels Wright seemed to exhibit a lack of true Christianity. OK, he has been vilified over the last month, and maybe that's why he comes across like this. He does know that he is severely damaging to Obama, and doesn't seem to care. Maybe he's mad at him. Why should he care anyway? Obama winning seems like it would ruin Wright's view of America. Again maybe Wright is losing his marbles. Who knows.

Obama could really toss Wright under the bus and I wouldn't care anymore. There is just so much about a crazy uncle that one should accept. Beyond that, there is the asylum.

I'm sorry, but this post is just, well, fucking pathetic. You're taking Jake Tapper's filtering at face value? Please. The least you could do is link to the Moyers interview.

Most likely the Rev. Wright has discovered Sen. and presidential candidate Obama is a conservative moderate.

But, then, again the white man did commit genocide against the American Indians by giving them blankets infected with smallpox.

"Well, in order for countries to come together, the first thing that must happen is leaders must make up their mind that they want this to happen. And the more I get to know President Putin, the more I get to see his heart and soul, and the more I know we can work together in a positive way."

-- Here we have the President looking into the soul of the former head of the Russian KGB and finding someone he can trust, someone he can work with. Iraq, Chechnya . . . hmmmmm. Two peas in a pod?

On the other hand, Obama doesn't claim to see into Jeremiah Wright's soul, and he has publicly distanced himself from the pastor. So who has better personal judgment, Obama or Bush?

Wright is not doing Obama any favors, you say, and neither are you. You have an equation in your head that reads: Obama=Wright=Farrakhan. Not quite!

Try the same thought experiment with MLKing =Obama. Does that feel better to you?

PS-- King and Wright, thoughtwise, on US imperialism, war and violence are quite similar.

No one goes around demonizing King as they (and you!)are demonizing Paster Wright.

What's up with that?

http://firedoglake.com/2008/04/28/if-the-secret-service-can-apologize-to-wright-so-can-the-media/

... a direct slam at those members of the media who can't be bothered to do their own research and would rather simply pass along rightwing talking points.

You jokers aren't doing the country any favors peddling this garbage.

Is scary black man scaring poor Washington Monthly writer. Awwww. We so sorry. We will promise to be all good little white power soldiers.

We will tell darkies to shut up and stay in there place so poor litte white boys not get scared.

What idiot Tapper knows, but won't say. Even if Obama beat Rev. Wright with a baseball bat on national tv. A week from now they would find another scary black guy he knows to scare poor whitey.

As PBS commentator Mark Shields recommended a view days ago the most helpful thing from Wrigh for the Obama Presidential campaign would be : "a case of serious but un-painful laryngitis." Alas he ignored this and has destroyed a great man due to the ego of a pitiful nobody.

Yancey Ward:

"Obama made a poor choice when he chose to be involved with people like this, but what is done is done."

Big O makes a big deal of having superior judgement over his rival candidates. Since he has a thin record to back this up, we have to look to other things for verification. Gives one pause.

Do democrats really still think he can seal the deal on this with a majority of Americans?

Wright is starting to feel like another version of Nader. It's all about him, the hell with everyone else.

Now the insanity of the press and the pols of all flavors who have blown this situation far, far out of proportion are a whole other story. The RNC is running the anti-Obama Wright ad despite McCain smallish protests and demanding that stations not run the anti-McCain ads - talk about hypocrisy.

And Hillary is hypocritical, too but at least she's slamming McCain for not stopping the ads and pretending he's trying to do something. What a concept - making the Republican the target and not just the other Democrat.

Wright is starting to feel like another version of Nader. It's all about him, the hell with everyone else.

Now the insanity of the press and the pols of all flavors who have blown this situation far, far out of proportion are a whole other story. The RNC is running the anti-Obama Wright ad despite McCain smallish protests and demanding that stations not run the anti-McCain ads - talk about hypocrisy.

And Hillary is hypocritical, too but at least she's slamming McCain for not stopping the ads and pretending he's trying to do something. What a concept - making the Republican the target and not just the other Democrat.

At least Rev. Wrong is wright about the evils of Zionist apartheid in Palestine. We can only hope that Pres. Obama will act on that.

Seems like the politics of old is stronger than one might think. Lesson learned...always expect the punch form that least expected.

Death by 1000 Pundits

What the hell is wrong with everyone? Jeremiah Wright isn't anyone's enemy, yet I've seen one cable news show after another today, from Morning Joe to Dan Abrams, and all of the CNN shows troop out their pundits to denounce him and declare that Obama MUST do the same.

Have you seen his sermons, in their entirety? Did you see the Bill Moyers' interview? I haven't seen this kind of baiting and censorship since McCarthy.

Why in hell is this ok with everyone?

Just finished watching the entire National Press Club video. Wright is impressive. While he goes to extremes at times, he makes the larger and important points eloquently, forcefully and with good humor.

I can't help but believe that most of the press thought they got their ass whipped, but they still went away with respect for the man, and a smile. (And not because they thought they had something on him.)

While it may count for naught (or worse) in the theater of sound bites, Wright's performance is nothing to be ashamed of.

Right now we have the Rev. Wright *finally* appearing in person, in a 3-day media blitz, removing the only mystery left in this ginned-up “controversy.� However, I’ve come to realize that we do need to see if endless, senseless yammering about Wright can destroy Obama BEFORE he officially becomes the nominee.

Now we just have to wait and see what happens in this very unscripted moment, soon we’ll see just how much the MSM’s framing of the “Wright controversy� really matters. If it does, well, it’ll be a very sad day, but at least we knew early enough. More importantly though is if it doesn’t do what the CW says…

Then the GOP’s biggest weapon in its demagoguery arsenal—FEAR THE ANGRY BLACK MAN—has been tested, retested and still failed. Isn’t this THE BIG ATTACK we’ve all worried would hurt him later? What happens if it doesn’t? What if the tail isn’t wagging the dog?

We'll know soon enough-- next Tuesday-- how this chapter of the story ends. If after this anti-Obama/Wright shitstorm Hillary *still* can't "close the deal" then she just plain can't do it.

This is the final test of both Hillary and the MSM's ability to direct the narrative of this campaign-- if Obama wins then we MSM might become so hysterical that it passes out, only to wake up in the morning feeling really dirty.

Doug-E-Fresh said: "And of course McCain will get similar scrutiny with regard to the rantings of James Hagee. Right?"

Seriosuly, is there some kind of unwritten rule that only Republicans are allowed to be endorsed by batfuck insane preachers with no consequences or questions? Why is nobody attributing Hagee's many bizzare past statements to McCain? Because McCain said he didn't hold those opinions? Well hell, Obama's already said he didn't hold Wright's opinions. Why is it that McCain is just taken at his word but Obama is not?

And why does everyone just yawn when Pat Robertson and James Dobson endorse someone? I guess they aren't aware of the more crazy, conspiratorial beliefs held by them (especially by Robertson).

More here:
http://acropolisreview.com/2008/04/bill-moyers-interviews-jeremiah-wright.html

Anyone catch the video out of Obama's Wilmington, NC Town Hall today?

It's all over FOX.

Forget Wright. Now we've got MAJOR problems.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/04/fresh-footage.php

"I really see this as the GOP attempting to knock him out now, to get HRC as their opponent."

This is not the way I see this. The GOP held their guns just long enough to let Obama win states they knew he couldn't win in the general, but that would make it almost impossible for anyone else to be the nominee. Now, no matter what baggage comes out, if the supers vote for Hillary, blacks will stay home.So they'll nominate a now unelectable candidate. The GOP is laughing all the way to the White House....one more time.

The Republicans and racists have wanted a poll tax for a long time. Now, they've got it.

This is not a big deal. Move on. It's easy to see he is kinda crazy and that he also does not speak for Obama. Probably a good thing to erase the memory of the other speeches that were inflammatory.

politics may not have been his chief concern…. little ole jim at 6:11 PM

….the true disconnect between the radical pastor and a unifying "postracial" Obama. paxr55 at 6:54 PM

….No one goes around demonizing King as they (and yo