Excerpts from Rev. Jeremiah Wright Interview with Bill Moyers

I've been sent by Bill Moyers' people excerpts from his interview with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, which will air tomorrow night on PBS. This is the first major Wright interview since the Obama "controversy" broke last month.

REVEREND WRIGHT:
The persons who have heard the entire sermon understand the
communication perfectly.

When something is taken like a sound bite for a political purpose and
put constantly over and over again, looped in the face of the public,
that's not a failure to communicate. Those who are doing that are
communicating exactly what they want to do, which is to paint me as some
sort of fanatic or as the learned journalist from the New York Times
called me, a "wackadoodle."

It's to paint me as something: "Something's wrong with me. There's
nothing wrong with this country...for its policies. We're perfect. Our
hands are free. Our hands have no blood on them." That's not a failure
to communicate. The message that is being communicated by the sound
bites is exactly what those pushing those sound bites want to
communicate.

BILL MOYERS:
What do you think they wanted to communicate?

REVEREND WRIGHT:
I think they wanted to communicate that I am unpatriotic, that I am
un-American, that I am filled with hate speech, that I have a cult at
Trinity United Church of Christ. And by the way, guess who goes to his
church, hint, hint, hint? That's what they wanted to communicate.

They know nothing about the church. They know nothing about our prison
ministry. They know nothing about our food ministry. They know nothing
about our senior citizens home. They know nothing about all we try to
do as a church and have tried to do, and still continue to do as a
church that believes what Martin Marty said, that the two worlds have to
be together. And that the gospel of Jesus Christ has to speak to those
worlds, not only in terms of the preached message on a Sunday morning
but in terms of the lived-out ministry throughout the week.

BILL MOYERS:
What did you think when you began to see those very brief sound bites
circulating as they did?

REVEREND WRIGHT:
I felt it was unfair. I felt it was unjust. I felt it was untrue. I
felt for those who were doing that, were doing it for some very devious
reasons.

Excerpt 2

BILL MOYERS:
Did you ever imagine that you would come to personify the black anger
that so many whites fear?

REVEREND WRIGHT:
No. I did not. I've been preaching since I was ordained 41 years ago.
I pointed out to some of the persons in Chicago who are in all of this,
new to them that the stance I took in standing against apartheid along
with our denomination back in the '70s, and putting a "Free South
Africa" sign in front of the church put me at odds with the government.
Our denomination's defense of the Wilmington Ten and Ben Chavis put me
at odds with the establishment. So, being at odds with policies is
nothing new to me.

The blowup and the blowing up of sermons preached 15, seven, six years
ago and now becoming a media event, not the full sermon, but the
snippets from the sermon and sound bite having made me the target of
hatred, yes, that is something very new and something very, very
unsettling.

Excerpt 3

BILL MOYERS:
Here is a man who came to see you 20 years ago. Wanted to know about
the neighborhood. Barack Obama was a skeptic when it came to religion.
He sought you out because he knew you knew about the community. You led
him to the faith.

You performed his wedding ceremony. You baptized his two children. You
were, for 20 years, his spiritual counsel. He has said that. And, yet,
he, in that speech at Philadelphia, had to say some hard things about
you. How did those words...how did it go down with you when you heard
Barack Obama say those things?

REVEREND WRIGHT:
It went down very simply. He's a politician, I'm a pastor. We speak to
two different audiences. And he says what he has to say as a
politician. I say what I have to say as a pastor. But they're two
different worlds.

I do what I do. He does what politicians do. So that what happened in
Philadelphia where he had to respond to the sound bytes, he responded as
a politician.

Excerpt 4

BILL MOYERS:
In the 20 years that you've been his pastor, have you ever heard him
repeat any of your controversial statements as his opinion?

REVEREND WRIGHT:
No. No. No. Absolutely not.

I don't talk to him about politics. And so he had a political event, he
goes out as a politician and says what he has to say as a politician. I
continue to be a pastor who speaks to the people of God about the things
of God.

Greg Mitchell's new book So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits -- and the President -- Failed on Iraq, has been hailed by Glenn Greenwald, Bill Moyers, Arianna H and others, and features a preface by Bruce Springsteen. He is editor of Editor & Publisher.

Comments

[jaynevada]

Obama is CORRUPT, a LIAR, and his slogan of change an ILLUSION.

1) CORRUPT: A houseowner wants to sell both a house and adjoining land. Obama can afford to buy only the house. No problem, the criminal Rezko to the rescue. Rezko pays full price for the land, whereas Obama gets a discount of $300,000 on the house. Nice to have criminal friends like this!!! (ref ABC News)

2) LIAR: Obama claims he did not know about Wright's America-hating (God damn America) and racist views till it was revealed in the mainstream media in March 2008. Obama attended Wright's church for 20 years, was married by Wright, had his children baptized by Wright, donated over $20,000 to Wright's church and named his book "Audacity of Hope" after one of Wright's sermons. You really believe after 20 years and all this he did not know?

3) ILLUSION: Exelon Corporation had not disclosed radioactive leaks at one of its nuclear plants in Illinois. Obama, a senator for Illinois introduces a bill to make disclosures mandatory. Seems like Exelon doesn't like it. Each draft of the new bill by Obama goes more and more towards Exelon till disclosures end up being "voluntary". What gives? How about $250,000+ donations by Exelon!!! Obama is not change, he is WASHINGTON BUSINESS AS USUAL. (ref NYT)

People need to realize that Hillary has been fighting for them all along. All the way back to 1993 when she tried to introduce universal health care.

[neve]

And FAILED.

(BTW: WHitewater, travelgate, marc rich, pardon of weather underground, pardon of puerto rican terrorists, grand juries, VInce FOster, Paul v. Clinton, Hsu, WHite House "coffees", sellling of the lincoln bedroom, impeachment - shall I continue?)

[argent1]

Obama joins the club. Welcome.

[HumeSkeptic]

Hillary is pro-NeoCon. Dump Hillary.

[AnnieinOR]

wow - 1 - corrupt - takes money from lobbyists and foreign countries
2- liar - about Bosnia, Ireland, Africa, NAFTA/CAFTA
3- illusion - That she cares about people in general - worked for a company that treats their
employees badly for 6 years and fought off unions. Hubby takes money from countries
take our jobs. "screw 'em" - from her own lips.

so in essence, I have taken your description and applied it in FACT to your candidate of choice - measure your words - that they may not be used against you.

[YankeeCanuck]

You will not change your mind. but consider this: what exactly was untrue in Rev. Wright's sermons?
Yes, they may have been intemperate, but they were true. His Goddam was not a blanket statement against America, but a passionate speech for a specific reason. Take a look at our inner city schools, read Jonathan Kozol's "Shame of the Nation:the Restoration of Apartheid in American Schooling" and then tell us Wright is Wrong. By the way, Kozol ( a white guy) has been writing about this for over 30 years. It is now 50 years after Brown vs Board of Education. How far have we come?

Wright's anger is not misplaced. And he is, through his church, doing what he can fo fellow human beings. Don;t forget, he served this country at the same time as John Mc Cain.

When was the last time you served dinner in a church basement for 300 people who are barely getting by on the bounty this country purportedly has to offer?

I too commend HRC for her efforts for health care. But mandating it and punishing those who can barely afford food is not the answer.

[AjicNYC]

hey IF obama does another debate thats a good question for HIM???

what exactly was untrue in Rev. Wright's sermons?

lol

BUSTED

[HopeObama08]

Oh yeah! Especially in Bosnia, with NAFTA and Peter Paul.

[ESK]

Sent this e-mail to MSNBC -
I just watched, with dismay, the discussion on Hardball regarding Jeremiah Wright's upcoming appearance on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal. Again MSNBC has chosen to play sound bites of a piece and then do a full blown speculative analysis of what its effects MIGHT be. There's no nice way to put this anymore. This approach is pure bull***t. Why not wait to see how it plays out and then do something unique, report on it. Better yet why not directly encourage viewers to tune into Bill Moyers Journal on Friday to make up their own minds? Oh yeah, ratings! But even better yet, why not speak to the real issue behind the Jeremiah Wright story, the latent racisim that exists in this country. You deal with race as if it's only a tactical component of an election strategy. Rather it is a real issue that effects real people. This election is not a game to the people of this country. Instead of incessantly talking about Jeremiah Wright, show some fortitude and call out people and organizations on their latent and overt racist acts. A good place to start would be with the North Carolina Republican Party for their blatantly racist ad linking Democratic candidates and their support of Barack Obama to the out of context Wright soundbites. Their actions are despicable, and your voices should be heard over and over again about that. It's way more important than Wright because it's institutionally sanctioned racism.

[Cos1]

Cnn just did the same thing. The MSM will spend this anyway they can to make themselves look good for ratings. The MSM refuses to tell the truth about this story or play the entire tape. Obama surogates need to really come out in full force if this is brought up again. What ever Rev Wright says will be spun and Obama will be plamed as if they are his words.

[Fair]

Chris Matthews has really lost it.

[AjicNYC]

This is the REAL reason OBAMA took the day off

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[donaldw6]

Did you copy that laugh from Hillary?

[AjicNYC]

nah her cackle is like ka kaha ka kaha

[AnnieinOR]

hillary's mini-me - sleep deprived and talking sheet

[pfurlong56]

your cocoa-puffs are getting soggy

[nomobull]

no he is just proving his humanity. and by the way if you are sleep deprived you are too sleepy to answer the phone at 3 am.you need rest to function properly.maybe she was to sleepy to read the NIE.

[Veman]

As an Obama supporter, I found Wright's comments in this Moyers interview terribly disconcerting and I cannot believe that a man of his intelligence is so disingenuous as to be unaware of the potential implications of his answers. To say that Obama "says what he has to say as a politician", is to say that Obama said what was expedient and necessary to distance himself from Wright's statements. The implication being that Obama speech on race and his statements disavowing Wrights extreme comments were insincere, but necessary because politicians say what they "have to" say to get votes. Now some will argue that "politician" is not a dirty word. And, others might say that politicians doing what they "have to do", is merely acknowledging that politicians have to address controversies and issues that arise from time to time. However, these statements are so easily subject to my initial interpretation that they will be fodder for the fire. Wright is a learned man and could have chosen his words far more carefully; but he didn't, and people will undoubtedly ask why he didn't - for the next several weeks.

[scamperdo]

I'm a huge Obama supporter and I'm not upset. I see it as absolute separation of Church and State.

Wright's realm is CHURCH.

Obama's realm is STATE aka politics.

What is wrong with that?

It's exactly what the MSM missed in this story, pastors are responsible for what is said in church. Politicians are responsible for what they themselves say in PUBLIC POLICY.

[HumeSkeptic]

I am also an Obama supporter. I found nothing wrong with what Wright said. Obama is a politician, and a darn good one. I wouldn't be supporting him if he wasn't. And politicians do have to watch much more what they say in public and how they say it. It is a fact. On the other hand, a pastor in his church can say a lot more and a lot more freely.

[NCGuy]

now, add that to the ad the NC repub party is going to start airing next week in NC. And then, the ad the 527 group is airing in NC about Obama vote in the ILL state senate against expanding the death penalty to include gang murderers.

Obama will spend the next week answering questions about all of this while Clinton will be discussing policy and continuing to challenge Obama to debates.

Also recall Obama's interview on the View where he implied that Rev Wright had apologized for his statements and acknowledged they were wrong. Do these clips sound like there is an apology in there somewhere?

[YankeeCanuck]

"Politician" was not always a dirty word. You're right.There is such a thing as an effective, forthright, talented politician of substance.
Woe unto us if we can no longer distinguish. It sure looks that way. We are mesmerised by the sound bite, the glib commentary, the vacuous mainstream media. We really have to think for ourselves and do our due diligence. That's democracy. With you, I wonder if we're up tp the task.
But it's not Rev. Wright's fault if we are not.

[pfurlong56]

I agree, Wright felt wounded and wanted to lash out, but he should of had enough restraint to wait until the election was over to settle the score.

[fayted]

REV. WRIGHT SERVED IN THE MARINES + PATRIOT GEORGE W. BUSH, DICK CHENNY, BILL CLINTON, DODGED THE MILITARY + UNPATRIOTS.

[AjicNYC]

you wont get far with that stuff now , You think Obama's youth following will sign up for the army. lol if so they wouldnt be here spreading the love man

[HumeSkeptic]

Have you watched the ABC video interviewing soldiers in Iraq about their preference in this election? An overwhelming majorrity said "Obama".

Now, can you explain what you were trying to say in the last part of your post? Try doing that in English this time.

[AnnieinOR]

do you actually read what you type - pull your head out and get some air.

[YankeeCanuck]

And exactly how many children of candidates are serving?How many Senator's children?

Well, Joe Biden's son Beau who is also the Attorney General for Delaware.

To the "Omaba youth following"-- welcome to the responsibility of democracy. Keep it up. Do your due diligence. Your elders surely abrogated their responsibility in the 2006 elections. Only 35% voted. Stay with it. Keep voting and ignore the criticisms.

[pfurlong56]

Rush needs his slippers

[bwither]

"He's a politician, I'm a pastor. We speak to
two different audiences. And he says what he has to say as a
politician. I say what I have to say as a pastor. But they're two
different worlds.

I do what I do. He does what politicians do. So that what happened in
Philadelphia where he had to respond to the sound bytes, he responded as
a politician."

I'm an Obama fan, but even I know that this is the only part of the speech that will be played in the mainstream media and stretched way beyond its context. And it will be played over and over and over. . .

[SethBullock]

You think Jeremiah Wright saying "he responded as a politician" is going to hurt Obama? I think he's already weathered being called a lot worse things than "politician". It looked to me like he was explaining away his own hurt at Obama distancing himself from him--I doubt it'll play as an attack.

[bwither]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/24300543#24300543

It has already begun . . .

[AlaskaJunkie]

chris mathew is so desperate for an interview with Hillary for his College tour, he was just going nuts on Obama today.

We are all media pawns. We are victims of ratings and hpye.

I am sick of this.

[pfurlong56]

I'm with you AlaskaJunkie... there is nothing redeeming about any of this. People are being led around by the nose by the media. The media has only one allegiance: not the greater good, greater profit.

[urfree2speak]

I am a VOTER...I am a African American and I am not blind ....African Americans supported BILL CLINTON ...WE SUPPPORTED ALL OF THE WHITE PEOPLE THAT RAN FOR THIE HIGHEST OFFICE IN THE LAND ... in the Democratic party. But I will tell you this, I will NEVER forget this racial minstrel show that some in the Democratic party has trotted out to the American people. Katrina....now this....Bill Clinton would NOT even sign the anti racial profiling bill....there are single mothers TRAPPED in poverty working just to pay the child care bill..see Bill Clinton and so called Welfare Reform.

We supported Bill Clinton when the republicans were screaming for his scalp...his hide.... over what? WE KNOW WHAT THAT WAS...how low and sad can you sink?...... Well I guess you can sink LOWER....African Americans gave him this "overwhelming black support"

Now he mocks the African American and all of what they stand for ..

Behold the Clinton legacy "the first black president" has literally been steam powered by a young half black man , that has ran a brilliant campaign..managed his resources and is not begging for cash to continue to sling mud at this man (Willie Horten style) Well i say this IT IS OVER...finished....

Lets not for get the brave troops fighting and dying..BALCK AND WHITE... all we can do is this?

What was that that Rev. Wright really said?

[Bittertruth]

RIGHT ON!!!!!

[newunderground]

Turns out the first black president was an Uncle Tom!

[AjicNYC]

please so why did the clintons have the support and still have some support from the BLACK COMMUNITY, you are just looking for a reason to justify your racists vote!!! Thats just what i think ,I am speaking for myself!! and i dont feel the need to validate myself with age and skin color

[neve]

So what

[MsLiz]

Bless your heart, AjicNYC. Here's an article for you.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/opinion/17kristof.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[LoveTruth]

You are misinformed like too many others. I have always known that legislatively the Clinton had done harm. Go look it up!! There is no racist vote!!

I support Obama because he has a history with mnay of the issues that are important to me. The issues that affect many AA's. Many dont get that.

[WhitePeople4Obama]

Thank you!

[Ministerbruce]

Thank you and remember, Hillary and Bill have not won the black vote, like the Media and the Clintons, keep parroting the white vote, see how far Hillary gets, with out the black vote in November, see how far Hillary and Bill get, without the little states, Hillary has not been able to win, she will be standing, alone with all her big states, clutched in her hands and no black vote and no little states and looking longingly, at Obama.

[MsLiz]

Here is Toni Morrison's article regarding Clinton as the "first Black president." She did not call him that because of his empathy towards Blacks. It was because he was treated like a Black man during the investigations.

http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/clinton/morrison.html

I appreciate what you have to say, and all I can say is, I am sorry. This started out as such a great primary season, and now I am feeling such disappointment.

I am beginning to understand that Black people really can't trust white people. I'm not even Black, but I see what is going on here. I am so sorry.

[pfurlong56]

for some REAL wacky sh** watch Glen Beck's straight faced look at the "End Times Prophecy" tomorrow. These right wing wackos, including McCain, really believe this stuff and bombing Iran is on the menu

[mensa999]

At leas the has done good for the community. What has Reverend James David Manning done for the community except degrade it. He hates himself so much that he spews hate about all races. And what does he get for his moronisity? 1.5 million dollars from Hillary Rodham Clinton. Check him out on Youtube he is disgusting.

[donaldw6]

So, Rev. Wright's going to give an interview or two, in more or less non-threatening environs, and the full-throated crazies are going to come out of the woodwork for a while and spew their very racist hate onto the pages of Huffington Post and elsewhere. Then it will die down again. Apparently, the MSM media, the Chris Matthews of the world, are adding fuel to the fire as well.

Overall, I think we're gaining a better understanding, despite the best efforts of the MSM. The people who were going to vote for Obama will vote for him, and he'll be our next president. And some of the crazies here (you know who you are) will continue to spit their hate at anyone who will listen. I won't. And I can tell you, it's not going to accomplish your purpose.

It's doing a lot of people a lot of harm. I think Wright said some dumb things, and he said some good things in a dumb way, too. I respect where he's coming from, and I've watched some of his sermons in full and I think he's a very intelligent and talented preacher, but I don't think he's what Obama would call his greatest asset.:-)

I think more people will learn good things from this than anything else. There's a lot of things wrong with Americans, and there are plenty who won't vote for Obama, but the majority is seeing this "controversy" for what it is.

[mightylou1]

Have you ever heard about the American Government testing on African Americans in the 20th Century and the lies that were told to those who were tested?

I think not.

[WaynesWhirled]

I am stunned that people actually believe this rubbish!

He preaches that White Supremist in the US Government created AIDS as a weapon to murder Black people. That's total garbage. The man is using the death and suffering of millions from HIV/AIDS to justify his own warped racist hatred. How can anyone defend him. He is a racist hate monger.

And if you didn't know HIV has been proven to be a virus found within the primate (monkey) family that jumped to the human species over 150 years ago in Africa (much like the Bird Flu, which scientists are very concerned will also 'jump' to the human species). It was not created as a weapon by White people or anyone else. The man is a hate monger, and it's sad that so many of the ultra liberals are actually defending this garbage.

Pick up a medical journal, read some actual scientific reports on HIV/AIDS by real researchers, educate yourself about AIDS, don't trust some racist pastor to tell you his warped version of the truth. USE YOUR BRAINS FOR GODS SAKE, TOO MANY PEOPLE HAVE DIED, IT IS TOO DANGEROUS TO ALLOW LIES LIKE THIS ABOUT AIDS TO GO UNCHALLENGED!!!

[pfurlong56]

for a Gay American you certainly are intolerant WaynesWhirled

[WaynesWhirled]

I have watched too many of my friends die, to sit back and tolerate pastors like Wright spreading lies about HIV. If you had as many friends as I have that have lost their lives to this plague, you would be pretty intolerant of the BS as well.

[Stevelagain]

The left is not defending him. They are defending the racist, anti-white hate which they SUPPORT in the black community. It IS politically correct and is used to control the black vote. crank them up on hate and tell them the only answer for their hate is to vote for democrats. THAT"S THE GAME!

Obama went to Wright for POWER. A POLITICAL BASE. Get it? That's the way the game is played.

[SethBullock]

He's wrong about AIDS. But that doesn't make him a "racist hate monger". He's the product of his times. A lot of people are wrong about a lot of things. He's right about a lot of things, and wrong about AIDS.

[Stevelagain]

Yes, making racial attacks using aids as an excuse is wrong. Bigotry and Racism is always wrong. Too bad Obama doesn't believe that.

[AjicNYC]

and we only have what like 5 sermons on tape imagine now you take 2o years fo this how much garbage or should i say damage do you think he did??? ARE KIDS ALOUD IN THIS CHURCH???

ok ok it is his right to say whatever he wants but is it helpful for kids to think that their government which has AA and even a muslim in it tried to kill their race with AIDS???

Why is that important????

[ceti]

The government has been letting AIDS take its course though. It has held up funding the Global AIDS Turberculosis, Malaria Fund. It has pulled funding from any group that may even discuss family planning, has channeled millions into abstinence programs, and blocked needle exchange initiatives, and worse of all, it has sided with big PHARMA, pushing an intellectual property rights regime that would prevent countries from producing generic drugs, that would drop the price of anti-retrovirals within the range of affordability. These actions are genocidal, all for profit and ideology. You don't have to read John LeCarre's books to see this.

[Fair]

This is very old world ACT-UP crap.

Back in the beginning - here in NYC in the early days, when people were dying in The Village, Chelsea and Fire Island and Larry Kramer and his friends started GMHC and then ACT-UP they believed this.

They believed this virus was started by Reagan to kill off homosexuals and that it was created in a petrie dish by our government at Fort Meade or Fort Richie. And that Reagan didn't expect it to get into the general population, i.e., the heterosexual population like the hemophiliacs, in our blood supply etc.

If you live in NYC like I do, and I am in my 50s and lost a slew of gay male friends, this is very old and tired news. When i heard him it took me back to the 80s when ACT UP was a major organization staging demostrations all over the city. This was still circulating in the 90s, the same story only substitute gay people for blacks.

Wright must have heard this years ago from the Gay Community, because that's where it all started, the rumors, the lies, the crazy conspiracy theories.

[kittyma]

Oh Hush up!

Many many people do not believe the theory of the monkey. they find it quite suspicious that it began in gay men, Haitians and people in Zaire. Maybe they are right to be suspicious. Maybe the theory which has been put out thus far is wrong. Maybe it is correct.

But why should you be so adamant that it is an accurate theory. there is much much much that we don't know yet about HIV. Let us open our minds and allow the research to be done about all theories, whether they sound crazy to you or not. They thought Pasteur was crazy. They thought Madame Currie was crazy. They thought the people who accused the government of the Tuskeegee experiment were crazy.

So please just hush up and chill.

[AjicNYC]

thats fine and good , but i dont know whats worse Wright preaching this stuff next to the Bible or someone listening to this being preached mixed in with the gospels

[WaynesWhirled]

It is a proven fact! None are so blind as those who refuse to see. Why don't you try reading some actual scientific research into the origins of HIV? Or is it just easier to believe the rantings of some crazed pastor.

And the band plays on........

[WaynesWhirled]

It did not begin in Gay men, blood samples of African men from over 80 years ago (some of the oldest African blood samples medical techinicians had available to test) were proven to be infected with the HIV virus. And HIV is identical to the strain found in the primate/monkey family. That is fact, not a theory.

[jwsub28]

I'm glad to see Rev. Wright is coming out to defend himself. I think Clinton and of course all the pundits on TV have exaggerated and picked the thoughts and expressions of a very wonderful passionate paster.

Regardless, people are going to believe what they want to believe. Sadly, America is still a racist country. It makes me ill and bitter to be a white woman in America.

[Stevelagain]

Mrs. Obama is ill and bitter too...not at all proud of America. Oh so politically correct to hate America. But its the first time hating America was seen as something to be proud of and to use as an open plank in the democratic party. The take over of the democratic party by the radical left wing is nearly complete.

[MsLiz]

Ridiculous. You are deceiving yourself, Steve.

[c1ee]

LOL, thanks for being the laughing stock for the rest of the world. Explains how GWB was voted in twice. Trying to measure the "love" of a candidate for their country. LOL

[longnow]

Richardson bombed on MTP and don't even think about S of S or VP.
That said, he did the right thing with Obama and I'm glad he stood up.

[mightylou1]

Maybe what Barack knew is that America is still controlled by white racists, who will and would misconstrue anything that is or would be said by JW. Guess what he was right. In this country it is guilt by association when you are a Black Man running for Office.

However, that same standard does not hold for white men e.g., Hegg and McCain.

You see when JW made some statements in his Dec 2007 sermon, when Barack was probably on the campaign trail he was not wrong, e.g., Barack is not liked by some because he is Black...that is NOT a lie, Barack did not come from priviledge...that is NOT a lie, Hillary has NEVER been Black..that is NOT a lie, Hillary has always been priviledged...that is NOT a lie...Hillary will never be called a N......that is NOT a lie.

Racism started by the powerful whites in America. When an African American comes to the table to run and is NOT a civil rights leader, then this country tries its best to smear him. You probably have no concept of what that is like because I bet you are a White Male who thinks he is entitled from birth.

No matter what happened they would try to pick holes in his story. All you have to do is to look at the Ayers question that was brought up by G. Stinkonolpolus at the 4/16/08 debate.

[TheSphinx]

I don't care about Rev Wright, but I do care about how Obama handled it. The fact that Wright told the NYT “If Barack gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me,” Mr. Wright said with a shrug. “I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen.” That is what bothers me because it shows that Obama knew there was a potential issue with what Wright was saying so then to try to pretend that he didn't know how bad it was because he didn't see those exact sermons is really disingenuous in my opinion. Obama was doing political parsing like people bash the Clintons for. Why didn't he tell Wright then that he didn't like some of the stuff he was saying? Why wait until it became a political issue? If this was a Hillary issue it would have been painted as another example of how dishonest she is. I just wish Obama would have stepped up earlier and backed away from Wright before it became an issue then people wouldn't be able to pick so many holes in his story.

-TS

[Stevelagain]

I agree with you. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to learn that Obama had been taking a stand against Wrights racism and bigotry. That he has spoken out against it, maybe even taken his family away from it?

It's clear that Obama accepted it, and even still believes in it. Does that make him an unacceptable choice? I don't think so, but it's a huge negative and the way he dealt with it initially was to lie....that was bad.

It's this drip drip drip as we learn Obama is NOT change and as we learn Obama is just the same old, far left wing agenda pretending it's something new and different.

[pfurlong56]

don't pretend to be reasonable Stevelagain

[Bittertruth]

WHY DONT YOU RUN INSTEAD?!

[WoodyCPM]

You're the racist bigot. You keep repeating these obnoxious lies about Wright and about Obama. Just repeat and repeat and repeat, devoid of one single fact or fair assessment. You're the kind of American voter I hate. Your head is so tiny that it doesn't take much bullshit from the ignorant ranting scandal stoking idiots on TV to fill it up. Wright is not a racist bigot. You haven't spent more than the 10 seconds that have been aired non-stop over the airwaves with Wright's sermons, thoughts or ideas. And yet you're some kind of expert? Somebody ought to listen to what you have to say about it? You don't know anything but your own ignorance and prejudice. You're the same typical lazy, stupid American voter that got us Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, TWICE!

[marla219]

He knew that Rev. Wright said things that might be seen as radical, and he did explain his distance from him several times before this broke. Until the video came out, no one paid attention. Go back and look at interviews and remarks he made about Rev. Wright prior to the video explosion and you'll see that he's been saying the same thing about Wright for over a year: that he doesn't agree with him about politics, but that he respects his work as a pastor and social activist for the community. He has said this over and over and over, but the only time people cared was after seeing the video.

[mightylou1]

Do you know what racism is and who starts it? Do you think it is the victim. You sound like the kind of person who would say that it is the slaves fault that they were slaves. You are the pathetic one. This country is at the abyss of decay and ruin, just look at who got us there...no African American.

[dustyoh]

If this was a Hillary issue, it would have been swept under the rug.... are we still hearing about the Bosnia issue over and over.

Really, if people were forced to listen to Wright's entire sermons.... the issue would go away.