Reverend Wright Throws More Gas On the Fire

[Brainster]

Apparently operating under the assumption this is what a drowning man really needs, Obama's pastor throws him an anchor:

Should it become necessary in the months from now to identify the moment that doomed Obama's presidential aspirations, attention is likely to focus on the hour between nine and ten this morning at the National Press Club. It was then that Wright, Obama's longtime pastor, reignited a controversy about race from which Obama had only recently recovered - and added lighter fuel.

Wright defended most of his controversial statements, added some more bizarre speculations on the differences between black brains and white brains, and implied that Barack's denunciation of his nuttier claims was just for political consumption.

Wright suggested that Obama was insincere in distancing himself from his pastor. "He didn't distance himself," Wright announced. "He had to distance himself, because he's a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was anti-American."

Explaining further, Wright said friends had written to him and said, "We both know that if Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected." The minister continued: "Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls."

Ouch! Reactions around the blogosphere were swift and severe, even from Obama supporters:

Joe Klein:

And worse, Wright's purpose now seems quite clear: to aggrandize himself--the guy is going to be a go-to mainstream media source for racial extremist spew, the next iteration of Al Sharpton--and destroy Barack Obama.

Andrew Sullivan:

But what he said today extemporaneously, the way in which he said it, the unrepentant manner in which he reiterated some of his most absurd and offensive views, his attempt to equate everything he believes with the black church as a whole, and his open public embrace of Farrakhan and hostility to the existence of Israel Zionism, make any further defense of him impossible. This was a calculated, ugly, repulsive, vile display of arrogance, egotism, and self-regard:

The Caucus (NY Times blog):

Our colleague Jeff Zeleny tells us that associates of Mr. Obama said privately that his campaign was furious at Mr. Wright’s decision to step forward so publicly, but that they were unable to do anything to control this. They added, however, that the pastor’s actions prove that he and Mr. Obama are not that close, otherwise why would Mr. Wright do this now?

The Nation's Campaign '08:

Wright's sermons were deeply twisted by the media--and he has every right to speak out and set the record straight--but amidst the current media frenzy his latest comments won't do anything to repair his public image or help Obama. Ten days before important primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, the re-emergence of Wright was the last thing Obama needed--and a gift from heaven to Hillary Clinton and the Republican Party.

Salon:

The problem is that even if Obama did in fact join Wright's church for political reasons, or just to help with his community organizing, and even if he wasn't much for active churchgoing -- Wright certainly seemed to imply that in some of his comments on Monday -- Obama can't say that, even to distance himself from the growing millstone around his neck that Wright now represents. Much of Obama's campaign is based on the premise that he's the anticynic, a politician who doesn't act or think like one. If Obama were to admit that sometimes even he makes cynical decisions, that could backfire and undercut his central message.

Oh, and on the right-brain, left-brain part of his message (delivered at the NAACP):

The bulk of his remarks addressed, however, different groups seeing each other as deficient. He acted out the differences between marching bands at predominantly black and predominantly white colleges. "Africans have a different meter, and Africans have a different tonality," he said. Europeans have seven tones, Africans have five. White people clap differently than black people. "Africans and African-Americans are right-brained, subject-oriented in their learning style," he said. "They have a different way of learning." And so on.

 

[Puppycow]

Reverend Wright, please go away and don't come back until at least mid-November.

Politico:

Wright to Obama: 'Coming after you'
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright said Monday that he will try to change national policy by “coming after” Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) if he is elected president.
. . .
“I said to Barack Obama last year, ‘If you get elected, November the 5th I'm coming after you, because you'll be representing a government whose policies grind under people,’ Wright said.

Slate:

Wright's Bizarro AIDS Theory
By Christopher Beam

After his speech today at the National Press Club, Jeremiah Wright was asked by the moderator whether he honestly believes, as he said in one of his sermons, that “the government lied about inventing the AIDS virus as a means of genocide against people of color.” That claim (which Bill Moyers inexplicably failed to ask Wright about in his April 25 interview) has been the weirdest of his various inflammatory claims.

Rather than address the substance of the question, Wright said, “Have you read [Leonard G.] Horowitz's book Emerging Viruses: AIDS and Ebola”?

The Horowitz book, published in 1996, argues that the U.S. government created the AIDS and Ebola viruses in the course of performing cancer research on monkeys. Its author also wrote Healing Codes for the Biological Apocalypse, a book that purports to reveal “Bible codes hidden for 3,000 years that have major implications for personal and world healing,” according to his Web site. Horowitz doesn’t believe in Darwinian evolution, either, and he claims to be descended from Moses and King David.

The Root:

The Sin of the Reverend
By Jack White | TheRoot.com
April 28th, 2008-- Is Rev. Jeremiah Wright on the secret payroll of Barack Obama's political opponents?
It's a reasonable question, given the potentially catastrophic damage he wreaked on the Illinois Senator's White House aspirations with his bombastic performance at the National Press Club this morning. At the precise moment when Obama is facing questions about his ability to connect with white working class voters, Wright chose to put himself back into the spotlight, resurrecting the controversy stirred up by widely circulated snippets from his impassioned sermons. At the very least, Obama will now be forced to waste precious time answering questions about his former pastor's absurd views. At worst, Wright's provocative utterances could cost Obama the election.

I'm not surprised. I've been writing that Wright is a loud-mouthed extremist ever since the flap about him erupted. He's obviously a well-educated, sincere man who has done good work in building Trinity United Church of Christ. But, to borrow a phrase that Wright might have used in one of his sermons, his rant at the Press Club demonstrates, that he is also a damn fool.

Who but a fool would use an appearance before the nation's press to claim that the questions that have been raised about him are in fact an attack on the black church as a whole, thereby associating the church as a whole with his views? Who but a fool would use this occasion to re-iterate his paranoid accusation that AIDS is the result of a genocidal plot because he believes "our government if capable of doing anything" in its quest for imperialism?

Who would use this most public of spotlights to re-associate himself with Min. Louis Farrakhan? Who would use this particular pulpit to claim that the only reason Obama has distanced himself from these sorts of comments is because "he's a politician," thereby leaving the suggestion that Obama, when he is off the stump, believes all the rhetoric and hype?

 

[dudalb]

At times I almost suspect that the Rev. Wright wants Obama to lose, so he can have a new issue he can demogogue about how America is unredeemably racist.
His support of Louis "The Louse" Farakkhan puts Wright beyond the pale as far as I am concerned.
And if it had been a White person spouting the Left Brain,Right Brain crapola,that White person would have quite rightly been accused of being racist.
Don't think for a minute that the Obama does not wish that Wright would take a nice long trip to Outer Mongolia from now until November.
With "Friends" like Wright,Obama sure as hell does not need any enemies.
Hopefully this will end the attempts by some of the Obama supporters here to portray Wright as being "Misunderstood". There is no misunderstanding...except willfully..what Wright said today.

 

[Policenaut]

At times I almost suspect that the Rev. Wright wants Obama to lose, so he can have a new issue he can demogogue about how America is unredeemably racist.

I noticed several pundits on tv today mention this possibility. It's an interesting idea but very hard to prove. What he does seem to love is playing the victim card cause if he wasn't the victim he'd have to address problems in the black community caused by the black community. No one forces them to take/sell drugs, forces them to drop out of school, forces them to have unprotected sex, or have kids they can't support. Stop snitching.

 

[JEROME DA GNOME]

I think he is upset that Obama did not publicly embrace the ideas that he knows Obama shares with him.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

I think he is upset that Obama did not publicly embrace the ideas that he knows Obama shares with him.

Let's see, how many minds are you reading there ? You might want to go for the million...

 

[T.A.M.]

Yes it seems as though McCain and Hillary supporters might get their way, and the candidacy of hope will be destroyed by the politics of hate, and guilt by association...well done folks in the media and others.

Now on with the McCain and Hillary show.

TAM

 

[The Painter]

Can't they shut him up?? They shut up Obama's wife. Haven't heard from her in awhile, after she made a questionable comment or two.

 

[Dr Adequate]

Ouch! Reactions around the blogosphere were swift and severe, even from Obama supporters ...

Funny use of the word "even".

 

[Dr Adequate]

Can't they shut him up?? They shut up Obama's wife. Haven't heard from her in awhile, after she made a questionable comment or two.

That's an interesting fantasy. A glance at the facts would have showed you that, of course, she has continued to campaign for her husband.

Possibly the reason you haven't heard from her for a while is that she has made no statements that you and your 'winger pals can twist, spin, distort, misinterpret, misquote and lie about; and why would you guys be interested in anything else she might say?

 

[BPSCG]

I think Obama blew it. This was a chance for a "Sister Souljah" moment for him. But you have to take that opportunity when the perception is that it might cost you votes, not when the outcry is so loud that you have no choice. Obama's chance was when the Wright videos first surfaced. Now it's too late; if he renounces Wright now, it will be seen as hypocritical opportunism; it's become a damned if he does, damned if he doesn't moment.

Presidents are supposed to make hard decisions. Obama failed this test.

 

[Dr Adequate]

I think Obama blew it. This was a chance for a "Sister Souljah" moment for him. But you have to take that opportunity when the perception is that it might cost you votes, not when the outcry is so loud that you have no choice. Obama's chance was when the Wright videos first surfaced. Now it's too late; if he renounces Wright now, it will be seen as hypocritical opportunism; it's become a damned if he does, damned if he doesn't moment.

Presidents are supposed to make hard decisions. Obama failed this test.

If you can think of a graceful way to entirely disassociate oneself from a man whose church one has attended for twenty years, I should like to hear it.

Obama's mistake, clearly, was choosing the wrong pastor in the first place; as others have done before him. Henry II springs to mind.

 

[Rob Lister]

If you can think of a graceful way to entirely disassociate oneself from a man whose church one has attended for twenty years, I should like to hear it.

Obama's mistake, clearly, was choosing the wrong pastor in the first place; as others have done before him. Henry II springs to mind.

And hear it you shall...

Step one: don't wait twenty years.

Oh, and as to Henry II, he too choose [his] religion based purely on politics. In the wise [paraphrased] words of Reverend Wright as to Obama's motives, "Politicians do and say anything that well get them elected."

 

[JEROME DA GNOME]

Is Rev. Wright sabotaging Obama as a proof that America is racist?


I can just see his I told you so.

 

[BPSCG]

Is Rev. Wright sabotaging Obama as a proof that America is racist?

No. He's actually a stooge, doing the dirty work for Clinton.

Shortly before he rose to deliver his rambling, angry, sarcastic remarks at the National Press Club Monday, Wright sat next to, and chatted with, Barbara Reynolds.

A former editorial board member at USA Today, she runs something called Reynolds News Services and teaches ministry at the Howard University School of Divinity. (She is an ordained minister).

It also turns out that Reynolds - introduced Monday as a member of the National Press Club "who organized" the event - is an enthusiastic Hillary Clinton supporter.

On a blog linked to her Web site- www.reynoldsnews.com- Reynolds said in a February post: "My vote for Hillary in the Maryland primary was my way of saying thank you" to Clinton and her husband for the successes of Bill Clinton's presidency.

The same post criticized Obama's "Audacity of Hope" theme: "Hope by definition is not based on facts," wrote Reynolds. It is an emotional expectation. Things hoped for may or may not come. But help based on experience trumps hope every time."

In another blog entry, Reynolds gives an ever-sharper critique of Obama: "It is a sad testimony that to protect his credentials as a unifier above the fray, the senator is fueling the media characterization that Rev. Dr. Wright is some retiring old uncle in the church basement."

I don't know if Reynolds' eagerness to help Wright stage a disastrous news conference with the national media was a way of trying to help Clinton - my queries to Reynolds by phone and e-mail weren't returned yesterday - but it's safe to say she didn't see any conflict between promoting Wright and supporting Clinton.

Karl Rove's invisible hand has to be in there somewhere, pulling the puppet strings...

 

[Brainster]

Funny use of the word "even".

In my experience, Obama supporters tend to stick their fingers in their ears and say, "Lalalalalala, I can't hear you!" whenever something like this comes up, insisting it couldn't possibly hurt the candidate of hope and change. Hence, "even".

 

[Rob Lister]

In my experience, Obama supporters tend to stick their fingers in their ears and say, "Lalalalalala, I can't hear you!" whenever something like this comes up, insisting it couldn't possibly hurt the candidate of hope and change. Hence, "even".

And how does that differ from the supporters of Hillary? McCain? Bush? Bill? Bush? Regan? Carter? Ford? Nixon? Etc?

 

[Brainster]

Several of the blogger posts highlighted in the OP and Puppycow's follow-up speculated that perhaps Wright is purposely sabotaging Obama. Now comes the evidence:

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright couldn't have done more damage to Barack Obama's campaign if he had tried. And you have to wonder if that's just what one friend of Wright wanted.

Shortly before he rose to deliver his rambling, angry, sarcastic remarks at the National Press Club Monday, Wright sat next to, and chatted with, Barbara Reynolds.

(snip)

It also turns out that Reynolds - introduced Monday as a member of the National Press Club "who organized" the event - is an enthusiastic Hillary Clinton supporter.

From the way that is written it's unclear as to whether Reynolds or the NPC organized the event, but Clarence Page says Reynolds specifically invited Wright:

Ironically this was the third year in which Wright has held a news conference to launch the annual Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, named for a noted religious scholar. It brings black religious leaders from across the country to Howard University every year to discuss heady topics like black liberation theology. But this is the first time that the press in significant numbers actually showed up, according to the Rev. Barbara Reynolds, a former Tribune reporter who invited Wright to address the press club.

But before we get too deep into conspiracy theory land, several people are claiming that in fact the purpose was not to hurt Obama, but to help Wright. Ben Smith notes:

"t is a sad testimony that to protect his credentials as a unifier above the fray the Senator is fueling the media characterization that Rev. Dr. Wright is some retiring old uncle in the church basement instead of respecting Wright for the towering astute father of progressive social and global causes that he is," Reynolds wrote in March.

Reynolds' is well placed to defend Wright. Her bio says she teaches "prophetic ministry and the media" at Howard University's divinity school.

ALSO: Richard Prince points out that Reynolds has spoken critically of Clinton as well, after grilling her -- and being dissatisfied with her answer -- on the Ferraro flap.

ALSO: She'd first pitched inviting Wright to the press club two years ago.

 

[Brainster]

And how does that differ from the supporters of Hillary? McCain? Bush? Bill? Bush? Regan? Carter? Ford? Nixon? Etc?

Your point.

 

[Tailgater]

Expect Wright to have a best-selling book in the next year.