Axelrod Asked Public Relations Firm To Help Wright's Church

Election Central:

Here's an interesting peek at some of what was going on behind the scenes in Chicago during the controversy over Jeremiah Wright, the pastor at Obama's Trinity church.

I'm told that top Obama adviser David Axelrod privately tried to help Trinity with its raging public relations problem by asking one of Chicago's top P.R. firms to go in and help the church deal with its P.R. mess.

Read the whole story: Election Central

Comments

[editrix66]

I hope they are helping the church deal with this nightmare. I can't imagine a church having to deal with this kind of publicity and controversy. Axelrod did the right thing.

[lovethesinner]

Obama will use this "controversy" to strenthen his campaign down the stretch in the general. No body is being fooled by the media driven character asassination because Obama's candidacy proves that, philosophically, Rev. Wright's remarks show him to be simply "of another time, and place." By sticking by him, Obama is showing himself to be a true Christian, and very strong on character. He is defending the man, not the message.

And there's a backlash that's not been exposed yet. Assuming that "Joe six-pack" is dumb enough to fall for this "racial arson" (Tavis Smiley's term) makes "Joe" feel as though he's not the most evolved fellow. Every time Pat Buchanan tells him how to feel, he's likely to want to prove Pat wrong. Buchanan is basically calling white people stupid when assumes they aren't smart enough to tell the difference between "shit from Shinola". But, then, Pat Buchanan is himself, of another time, and place.

Obama-Webb '08

[Sabreen60]

lovethesinner - I agree 100%. I cannot fathom the mindset of someone who would threaten people attending a church. It's sick. But then again, it has been suggested by some psychiatrists that racism should be considered is a mental illness. I don't understand how the racial arsons justify their hatred. These people are suppose to be Christians who believe in a "hereafter" where they will have to answer for their words and deeds while here on earth. I guess they believe God will say to them "well done my son/daughter".

[DesertLight]

OK based on your post there can I deduct that all racists are Christians? Is that the ticket?

[moda31]

the people of that church have been unfairly demonized by the media and their willingness to get on board with fox's smear campaign disguised as news. nobody has really bothered to look at the broader role of the church in the community, as it turns out they are highly respected within religious communities. unfortunately it's only going to get worse for these people, and i'm glad they have someone to help them cut through the media clutter with their side of the story & to defend their reputation. people don't realize that this goes beyond obama, there are thousands of members of that church who now have uninformed acquaintances who think they hate whites and america and all kinds of nonsense, it affects their jobs, relationships and lives as well, not just one man's political ambitions.

[2belinda]

Violent threats tdirected towards a church or any place of worship is NEVER a good thing.
4 little dead girls in a church bombed in Alabama proved that...
I watched the whole press conference on CNN today and the press was way out of bounds covering the Rev Wright controversy - calling people on the church's list of the sick and home bound.
This has not a thing to do with politics it has to do with freedom of religion

[2008andbeyond]

I'd ask how conservative media is going to justify the threats taking place but I know they won't have to cause they'll never report that threats have taken place. If your followers don't know the real news they can't respond to it. Limbaugh might; he'd defend the right of people to be upset and make "those people feel uncomfortable, never understanding that true Christians don't live life afraid of man kind. That's how so many persecuted people over time have survived the worst kinds of intimidation.

This should open up a MSM discussion on past race relations in our nation and why resentment still lingers to this day. How many black churches were fire bombed pre and post Civil Rights legislation? How many people were injured or killed in the house of God? You would think this would be an issue for "christians" like Bush, Dobson and such to rally to and defend the house of God to preach as they see fit, even when the masses don't agree. But no. They don't care anymore about the rights of people than they do the word of God. Hypocrites to the bitter end, destined to burn in the hell they condemn others to.

[robXdion]

Germany can do this for the Holocaust, but the US refuses to come to grips with its own bigotry and disgusting history even as they chastise other nations. Its laughable, but Americans think if they can change the history books and rip anyone who tells the truth the bad part of history will fade away.

[Sabreen60]

Black folks are told what no one would ever tell Jews and that's "get over it".

[AnninCA]

That shouldn't take but about 8 hours of work. Write up a script. Hire some phone answering gals. Have them read right off the script.

Done.

[robXdion]

Go away. Just go away.

[Fitzy]

She's just like Hillary. She won't go away.

[spacealien]

this is sooooooooo­oooooooooo­oooooooooo­oooo overdue. the church doesn't need america's approval but it also wouldn't be fair for the church to be permenantly stygmatized by barack running for president and fox news opposition to him.

only thing is they should have done this immediately - most of the damage is already done.

[PJay]

What the media did was not only disgusting, but very irresponsible. They incited hate, raising security and safety concerns to the point where planned events had to be canceled.

IMO, the Church and Reverend Wright have grounds for a defamation/slander lawsuit. By slicing and dicing sound bites and playing them ad nauseum and out of context, they totally and with malice misrepresented and misled the public about the what the Church and the Reverend represent, which is love, forgiveness, good deeds, to name just a few.

[hoopesaz]

It's par for the course for the media to be irresponsible. Wright is entitled to spew his garbage (and that is my opinion...garbage, hate, and incitement, sprinkled with truth) without fear of physical harm. The folks who do this are not republicans, they are morons. Their bad judgement trumps any party affiliation.

[PJay]

I take it you didn't listen to the any of the sermons in context, but instead, you just accepted the sound bites that the media fed you and took it as gospel, no pun intended. Reverend Wright did not preach "garbage, hate, and incitement". He preached love and forgiveness and much of what he said in those sound bites was similar to what Falwell, Robertson, and others have said. The difference is simply black and white. Literally.

[research]

Wrights speech is good, watch the WHOLE thing.

http://faultlineusa.blogspot.com/2008/03/jeremiah-wrights-911-sermon-in-context.html

Goddamn America's Iraq Invasion and occupation War Crime!

Got a problem with that?

[Charmed]

I watched the live spot on CNN and I hope they re-air it later. Reporters have been down right rude to these people....­....invadi­ng their church services to interview members, stalking Rev. Wright and the members of the church, etc.......This country has some down right mean, ignorant people living in......

[tiredofhillary]

Wow, I guess we're not as far a long as this country would like the rest of the world to think.

Someone says something...... you don't like it...... so you threaten violence. Some of this kinda proves Rev. Wrights point. For a minute, I thought I was back in the 1960's.

[mesuki]

This presidential race has put a magnifying glass on America. I never thought that there was this much hate and ignorance in this country. The more I hear about people acting foolish and threatning Rev. Wrights church.The more I see that what he was saying was absolutely true This country,thanks to so many hateful and ignorant people is in a mess,and we have the nerve to tell other countrys how to run theirs.

[kettletop]

Please don't be disheartend by this. There are a lot more people out there who support Obama and have no problem with his chuch out there. It is the usual suspects that are doing the hating, fueled by the outrageous media attention.
Someone in the media needs to take the section after the chickens coming home to roost clip, the one about how the meaning of 911 was that each one of us has to look to ourselves with a magnifying glass andexamine our relationship with God--and loop it over and over again.

[hubbstan]

The media must take responsibility to clean up this mess! Even I have never set my foot in a black church, I feel deeply sad for what happened to Rev. Wright and thousands people who belong to that church. Those people are like you and me having every right of freedom of speeching and worship. To those self righteous people we should say loud and clear that "IT IS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" and You don't have any more right to judge others and what they do in their church.
Watch what Father Pfleger has to say and see how the reporter trying to twist the story:
http://www.billoreilly.com/blog;jsessionid=66A190F672C1AF8B350A299B481808E0?action=viewBlog&blogID=-671237036245321356

[iPolitics]

Faux News and the Right hate Christians. They (Rove) called the Evangelicals "loonies" and know they go after more Christians. Yet the religious still vote for the Republicans who mock them and use them for war, lol. Amen.

[SCharb]

Move on. Get over it.

[brwnizofmine]

and....

[kishaaann]

The media expects the church to role over and conform to their standards. I am glad Axe is helping them fight back. BTW I blame the media for any threats that occured against this church.