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I read Senator Obama's recent speech on race and Rev. Wright in Philadelphia several times and very carefully. It was a great, even brilliant, speech. I appreciate Senator Obama's willingness to tackle a difficult subject and to explain his complex reactions to some of Rev. Wright's sermons.

I personally regarded many of Rev. Wright's sermons as filled with hate words and bigoted generalizations base on race (in this case, all Whites). One could even call them racist. His remarks post-9/11 were nothing short of reckless and unforgiveable.

I am convinced that there isn't a shred in Senator Obama's being that shares these hateful or bigoted feelings. And I respect his strong words denouncing the views of a man for whom he has deep and genuine feelings of affection and loyalty, which I also respect.

But many people, including Obama supporters, may still have two questions that Senator Obama's speech did not sufficiently answer, at least in my opinion. And, for any Democrat whose priority is to win back the White House in 2008, they need to be answered now -- because, if Senator Obama ends up the party's nominee (I am a supporter of Senator Clinton's) -- for sure Senator McCain will insist they be answered in the fall.

These two questions are:

1. If a white minister preached sermons to his congregation and had used the "N" word and used rhetoric and words similar to members of the KKK, would you support a Democratic presidential candidate who decided to continue to be a member of that congregation?

2. Would you support that candidate if, after knowing of or hearing those sermons, he or she still appointed that minister to serve on his or her "Religious Advisory Committee" of his or her presidential campaign?

I hope my message gets to someone in the Obama campaign -- or to a reporter traveling with the Senator -- who can persuade Senator Obama to answer them directly. As I just wrote, he will have to do so -- either now or perhaps in the fall.

Read more HuffPost coverage and reaction to Obama's speech



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collapse vincealy See Profile I'm a Fan of vincealy

To compare the sermon that Rev Wright gave to the actions ;hangings cross burnings etc of the KKK is contemptible. Mr. Davis you provide a true look into the heart and soul of the Clinton cadre. It is time to turn the page on This type of politics . Bill Clinton is tainting his legacy probably rightly so. Sham on the Clintons for condoning the type oof comments you have presented.. Also did your colleague Mark Penn insult the entire Hispanic community when he said that Gov. Richardson endorsement was without merit I guess the Hispanic community is only important to the Clintons and their surrogates in Texas and CA.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:07 AM on 03/24/2008
collapse linquistic See Profile I'm a Fan of linquistic

Are you kindin me?? You comparing the Rev. to the KKK??...

I have a few questions for you:

1) Do you know the HISTORY of the KKK?

2) Have this Rev. ever MURDERED, LINCHED, HUNG or invade the homes and kill adult and children of ANY race?

3) Does this Rev. think Jews and African Americans are less than human?

4) Have you even listened to the entires tape or the Rev. rather than the sound bites played in the media?

Most likely you're writing this based on only what you heard in the sound bites. Listen to the tape before you pose these foolish questions. By the way your "sound bites" showed whites in the church during the sermon which proves he was talking about the Gov. You would never see a black person at a KKK meeting. Your 1st question has no merit therefor your 2nd question is irrelevant !

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:13 PM on 03/22/2008
collapse SCG See Profile I'm a Fan of SCG

Mr.Davis, may I reply?

These two questions are:

1. If a white minister preached sermons to his congregation and had used the "N" word and used rhetoric and words similar to members of the KKK, would you support a Democratic presidential candidate who decided to continue to be a member of that congregation?


: There is a difference between using the "N" word as a noun, to make the point of a white person not being subjected to it , and applying it as a adjective to describe someone.


2. Would you support that candidate if, after knowing of or hearing those sermons, he or she still appointed that minister to serve on his or her "Religious Advisory Committee" of his or her presidential campaign?

: I am.

Now may I quote you?

" I personally regarded many of Rev. Wright's sermons as filled with hate words and bigoted generalizations base on race (in this case, all Whites). One could even call them racist. His remarks post-9/11 were nothing short of reckless and unforgiveable. "

: I agree these were reckless words, many foolish ideas , generalizations base on race, also words taken out of context of a larger sermons which are just beginning to make the light on the internet.

As for the 9/11 comments as "unforgiveable" ? Well, me thinks you protest too much? It's long been a republican tactic to squelch any debate over why 9/11 happened. Bin Laden is evil we agree, but to say his followers had no rationale to become suidicial , leaves us with Bush's lame explanation "They hate us for our freedoms". I reject that any criticism, or questioning of american policy as unpatriotic or unforgiveable, because it aides us in understanding the truth and defeating those who may wish us harm.

I would be more impressed by your reaction if you took his commentary, and refuted the points you objected to, rather than the "sound" of it. But shock and outrage is more useful for Hillary's desire for superdeligates to award her the nomination. I can see the utility in it.

More to the point, I hope you come to terms with your own posed questions. Because as you have said early on in this post, you don't believe they represent Sen. Obama's views. Either your opinion of Sen. Obama is mistaken, or your view of Rev. Wright? I believe the error lies with the latter, because I've seen Sen. Obama's character on display during this campaign and his wife's both whom I admire.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:56 PM on 03/22/2008
collapse Romeover See Profile I'm a Fan of Romeover

LADave, you aren't crazy. I didn't hear Wright say anything that wasn't (basically) true.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 04:15 PM on 03/22/2008
collapse peorgietirebiter See Profile I'm a Fan of peorgietirebiter

You"re right Lanny " As a white Catholic Democrat, I"m constantly in awe of my Priest's ability to get past his justifiable anger & resentments. Putting the years of suffering forced upon him by the oppressive black establishment behind him, my Priest stands as a testament to the power forgiveness. With only the comfort of his faith and a handful of young boys to sustain him he has taken the high road of better not bitter. Luckily for us, no Catholic candidate will ever have to answer the questions you pose. Apples & oranges Larry, apples & oranges. But you know that.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:45 PM on 03/22/2008
collapse KimberlyKay See Profile I'm a Fan of KimberlyKay

Since I did more than simply listen to the 3 out of context snippets of Reverend Wright's sermons that were played in an endless loop on television, I don't need those questions answered.

I suggest that anyone who is having trouble with this issue read the below link. It comes from a white Christian man in Chicago who attended Reverend Wright's sermons on more than one occasion and was welcomed there. He considers Reverend Wright a friend and the man writing the article is hardly a radical.

http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/sightings/archive_2007/0402.shtml

The comparisons to the KKK are unbelievable. The KKK has been a violent group that pushes for the separation of the races, including the exclusion of Catholics. Not even the 3 out of context snippets from Reverend Wright call for violence against any group of people. None of the 3 out of context snippets from Reverend Wright call for separation of the races or the exclusion of anybody. This comparison is so ridiculous that it could invoke Godwin's law. Reverend Wright's 3 comments (played endlessly until our eyeballs are seared) are definitely over the top, but I have heard worse in Church, myself. I heard vitrolic things (including calling America a land of murderers) from white men standing behind that pulpit. This happens every Sunday all over this Country. Maybe we should all tell our ministers, priests & etc. to stop this ranting, but we haven't for the most part -- and guess what? Many of us still attend Church. Why? Because Church is much more than mass or Sunday services. It is a community that you exist within, complete with your friends and your children's friends and picnics, fish fries and charitable fund-raisers. Leaving a Church you have attended for yours is a little bit like leaving your family and few of us find it easy to do.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:02 PM on 03/22/2008
collapse elkabong See Profile I'm a Fan of elkabong

1. What word did Wright use that was like the '"N" word?' I haven't heard it quoted. Funny, you didn't quote it either. Reverend Wright was quoted as lambasting "rich white men who run this country." Maybe you're taking it personally. By the way, the Clinton's made it easier for "rich white men" to buy up all of our media helping to insure our electorate's near last place in being well-informed while collecting hundreds of millions to tell us who "the front-runners" are and stirring up this nonsense on the public airwaves.

2. See 1.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:14 AM on 03/22/2008
collapse LADave See Profile I'm a Fan of LADave

Am I crazy or did I find Rev. Wright's comments not all that "bad". I don't think it's fair to compare him to a KKK supporting pastor. In all of the clips he says things that, although using words and language that is offensive, isn't all that different from the political ideology of the left. The "Goddamn America" was pointing out that our troubles (including 9/11) come from our decades of corrupt foreign policy. That we often are engaged in covert or military conflicts (never "wars") that kill a lot of innocent people. His pointing out that Sen. Clinton hasn't been called the "N" word or has any personal knowledge of what it is like to be a black man in a world run by rich white people is factually true. I don't get it. And the things he said are not half as offensive as things Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and others on the Christian Right have said since 9/11. Falwell and Ropertson both blamed 9/11 as God's punishment on liberals, women, homosexuals and abortionists. Why hasn't that video played? Critisizing the US on it's race relations and it's foreign policy should aplauded. Maybe he could have spoken in better terms, but the sentiment isn't that extreme as maybe those on the right and the slightly right (Clinton campaign) would have us believe. I guess I just don't get it.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:01 PM on 03/21/2008
collapse cfreedom See Profile I'm a Fan of cfreedom

You are crazy.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:49 AM on 03/22/2008
collapse kato1 See Profile I'm a Fan of kato1

Lanny;

I've seen you hawking Hillary to anyone within earshot. I thought I'd give your two questions a go...

1. If a white minister preached sermons to his congregation and had used the "N" word and used rhetoric and words similar to members of the KKK, would you support a Democratic presidential candidate who decided to continue to be a member of that congregation?

Lanny, you miss the point, he wouldn't say the "N" word, he'd probably say "honky" or "pasty faced white man". Instead of quoting the KKK, he' probably cite the Black Panther Party? Your hypothetical is ridiculous. To answer your question, I don't think it matters - Rev. Wright is not running for president, Barack is. Being open minded usually means you accept people as they are, warts and all. To quote Tom from the movie Seabiscuit "you don't throw a life away because it's a little battered (or something like battered)". Rev. Wright seemed pretty friendly to Bill Clinton, by the way. But, I guess that's over and done with.


2. Would you support that candidate if, after knowing of or hearing those sermons, he or she still appointed that minister to serve on his or her "Religious Advisory Committee" of his or her presidential campaign?

If you're George Bush or Hillary Clinton, I guess you'd dump him. Oh wait, Bush is, if anything, loyal so I guess only Hillary would dump him (like she dumped her campaign manager). We all need an occasional wake up call and we're never too old to learn. I'd guess Rev. Wright has learned a thing or two. You don't surround yourself with only people who agree with you (like George and maybe Hillary). Personally, I find it hard to support anyone and I mean anyone who has a Religious Advisory Committee - religion and politics shouldn't be mixed. One's religious views should be personal and ungoverned.

Now that I've answered your questions (not that you asked me to) I'd like to ask how you justify the Rovian tactics so freely and happily used by your candidate. Her "ends justify the means" win at any cost (including the party), total lack of transparency (where are the tax returns), lies about her experience (just because you say it, doesn't make it true. 1 1/2 terms in the Senate and Laura Bush is equally "experienced"), and manipulative manner (tears one day, schoolmarm dressing down, angry accusation - someone needs her valium), her unwillingness to simply state that Obama is not a Christian - "as far as she knows."

She and you should be ashamed. And for the record, Hill is in this position for one reason only - in one word - BILL.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:47 PM on 03/21/2008
collapse MikeMidCity See Profile I'm a Fan of MikeMidCity

Can we have a question for Hillary?

You kinda choked up twice during this campaign, have you cried over the hundreds of thousands of dead in the Iraq war that you authorized?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:38 PM on 03/21/2008
collapse 2sleepy See Profile I'm a Fan of 2sleepy

Lanny- didn't you say this?
"What"s unbelievably dangerous is the acceptance of garbage, innuendo, vicious, personal attacks and most importantly, journalism cloaked as journalism that is in fact nothing more than innuendo dressed up as journalism posted on some Web site or blog. People don"t note the difference between someone posting on a blog site versus somebody who has adult supervision and has to have facts to support what they write."
http://thegoodthebadthespin.com/2007/08/19/lanny-davis-part-ii-an-interview-with-president-clintons-former-special-counsel/
I'm thinking it might be good to assign you some 'adult supervision'

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:13 PM on 03/21/2008
collapse barriosbabe See Profile I'm a Fan of barriosbabe

Lanny, did you watch the Wright sermon in its entirety? He didn't even argue the anti-9/11 message, for example, he was quoting somebody else (a white angry ambassador on Fox!) as an example of what NOT to do (despite the initial cheers). He goes on to exhort his congregation to not take a judgmental or revengeful view of 9/11 but to use it as an opportunity for honest prayer and scrupulous spiritual self-examination!!!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:56 PM on 03/21/2008
collapse Genna See Profile I'm a Fan of Genna

Lanny, I've watched you on TV shows for the Clinton years and in Hillary's campaign. You are a thoughtful and sincere man.

It is easy to dismiss the parts of your questions I don't like:

Is the KKK a good parallel for a nonviolent church?
What present day group is advocating the kind of violence the KKK pushed against nonWhites in both peak KKK periods?
How can you forget that Democratic presidential candidates could and did exactly that? Democrats don't have clean hands when it comes to racial politics.

What I want to know from a thoughtful and sincere man in the Hillary campaign is what will you all do differently in the wake of all this racial furor? Bill Clinton had the option of pressing forward a conversation about race during the times he went to Ghana and apologized for slavery. There were opportunities to talk and to legislate on the divide Obama spoke about this week: class and race.

The DLC has a decidedly conservative bent on race. What will Hillary do to address the racial bent of her campaign staff and surrogates? What do Hillary's campaign choices tell us she would do in an administration? Will she follow her pattern up to now (ie. DLC or campaign politics) or does she have some new understanding that she will bring to the White House?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:26 AM on 03/21/2008
collapse noop See Profile I'm a Fan of noop

Mr. Davis. you have obviously jumped on the bandwagon and are perpetuating a blatant lie about Rev. Wright. Before casting judgment, did you watch any of those sermons in their entirety? Did you happen to see how expanding beyond a 30 second clip changes the message entirely? In context, a presumed message of hatred becomes intentional hyperbole, and the sermon is instead a plea for self examination to counter a hasty rush to war. However, you remained willfully ignorant of the truth because it just doesn't suit your purposes.

The truth is that you are the offensive one here Mr. Davis. You've engaged in libel and attacked the character of a man who's dedicated his life to the service of others. And you did it all out of political expediency.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:24 AM on 03/21/2008
collapse Jay20 See Profile I'm a Fan of Jay20

couldn't have been said any better. Thank you Lanny Davis. You have also shown the world us Dems are not gonna let blacks say whatever they want just because of their color.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:00 AM on 03/21/2008
collapse MegWe See Profile I'm a Fan of MegWe

Lanny - see who you have on your side??? Very revealing.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:01 PM on 03/22/2008
collapse aprilshowers See Profile I'm a Fan of aprilshowers

I have a question for you. If a good friend who helped you out in times of trouble held controversial opinions that you disagreed with,would you give up that good friend? If you did, you would surely be a fair weather friend.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:24 AM on 03/21/2008
collapse txn4hillary See Profile I'm a Fan of txn4hillary

We aren't electing a friend. We are electing a President - a President that has to represent all of the people. Hard to do that when such hatred has been spewed. This pastor is what Obama has decided his two children's first exposure to religion is.

This in reality is not a church. It is a political/social organization. I don't know of any men or women of faith that use curse words from the pulpit. It is a disgrace to religion. Socially, he may have done many things to help blacks and other disadvantaged people, but he did not do it based on faith.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:56 AM on 03/21/2008
collapse saulpaulus See Profile I'm a Fan of saulpaulus

These remarks were cherrypicked. They were not typical of Pastor Wright's work. Since you don't even know the man, how can you judge his faith? And I don't think a Clinton supporter should lecture anyone on their choice of associates. If we were doing a comparison of questionable associates, Bill and Hill would have the most hands down.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:50 AM on 03/21/2008
collapse BIllyDelyon See Profile I'm a Fan of BIllyDelyon

Doesn't the cherry picking just kill you.....

Listening to the whole instead of the sound bites, the good Rev. Wright doesn't sound like the racist America hater he's being painted as on FOX and elsewhere...

Mercy......

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:55 PM on 03/21/2008
collapse DontEvenThinkIt See Profile I'm a Fan of DontEvenThinkIt

Okay and what is your defense for the Rev. Wright simulating receiving oral sex during his sermon when talking about Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky? Is that movement taken out of context? It looked like he was placing his hand on an imaginary head as he was making pelvic thrusts.

This is acceptable to you? In a church? With children in the church?

Wright is disgusting. Plain and simple. He is not a man of God and is not qualified to be anyone's mentor, spiritual or otherwise. If Obama wanted a black man to look up to, to kind of take the place of his father who abandoned him, couldn't he find a better example of a black man? I could just by walking down the street. It is an issue of judgment. Obama fails by his voluntary association with this man.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:30 PM on 03/21/2008
collapse sickofallofit See Profile I'm a Fan of sickofallofit

As a Republican, I loved that move! What he said is what many of us would love to be able to say in public!

I wish I went to a church that got its members half as interested in the message as Reverend Wright did. At my church (and other Methodist churches I have attended) most of the people are half asleep and the minister doesn't elicit any responses from them. They go through the motions as needed.

I saw absolutely nothing wrong with what he said, in or out of context. Go ahead, tell me I am going to burn in Hell. I really don't care. If I could go and see a show like that every Sunday, I would be excited every Sunday morning!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:11 AM on 03/22/2008
collapse mponti See Profile I'm a Fan of mponti

Just one nitpick, Mr. Davis:

You said you "read Senator Obama's recent (SIC) speech on race and Rev. Wright..."

"Recent" was 2 days ago -- March 18.

Just thought you'd like to know.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:33 PM on 03/20/2008
collapse mponti See Profile I'm a Fan of mponti

Lanny: "Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"

Minister Huckabee on MSNBC suggests cutting Obama "some slack" on Wright. McCain "suspends" an aide over salacious UTube Obama video. And Clinton says nothing as advisers fan out to make the case to superdelegates that Obama's association with Wright would cost the Dems the general election.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:07 PM on 03/20/2008
collapse txn4hillary See Profile I'm a Fan of txn4hillary

It will cost the Dems the general election.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:58 AM on 03/21/2008
collapse BIllyDelyon See Profile I'm a Fan of BIllyDelyon

Is that you Karl??

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:56 PM on 03/21/2008
collapse Unchained See Profile I'm a Fan of Unchained

I, as a protestant, do not expect my minister to agree with everything I say...nor do I agree or advocate everything he says. Enough people. Wright is NOT Obama.

As to Hillary using this.....I suggest the following reading:


http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/6117

Clinton's former pastor sentenced to prison for sexually assaulting a 7 year-old girl

Also:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/03/20/7798/

Published on Thursday, March 20, 2008 by The Nation
Hillary"s Nasty Pastorate
by Barbara Ehrenreich

The mainstream media conveniently ignores this.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:00 PM on 03/20/2008
collapse mawrm See Profile I'm a Fan of mawrm

Seriously, how can you compare what Rev. Jeremiah Wright said to what the KKK has said and done. It's just like these sick human beings who like to throw around the "Holocaust" and randomly compare people to Hitler without seriously contemplating what they're saying and blatantly disrespecting and trivializing the sufferings these monsters of humanity have caused. The KKK violently terrorized African-Americans for over a century, burning crosses, harrassing citizens, attacking, brutalizing and lynching thousands of innocent African Americans for the "crime" that their skin was too dark. . How in the hell you compare their atrocities to a 2 minute snippet from Rev. Wright's speech is beyond me. Further, when and where have members of Rev. Wright's congregation, which INCLUDES whites, EVER gone around attacking people because of the color of their skin? Yes, Rev. Wright said "God Damn America" because of its (perceived) wickedness and I can assure you he isn't the first pastor to ever say so, nor will he be the last. Yet his congregation still ministers to the poor and neglected of their community, something the KKK has NEVER done.
So please, stop the ridiculous and insulting comparisons. If people want to insinuate such, then fine, let's talk about the history of the KKK and the other wickedness carried out against blacks by "fine citizens" of this nation and see how counterproductive that discussion becomes.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:48 PM on 03/20/2008
collapse dutchess2 See Profile I'm a Fan of dutchess2

Whoops!

Drudge has a picture of Bill Clinton - our 'First Black President' posing with the Rev. WRight...

Might wanna save your comments until we find out about that - eh?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:39 PM on 03/20/2008
collapse BardEric See Profile I'm a Fan of BardEric

Did Bill go to his church for 20 years? Posing for a photo-op with someone is a very different thing than Baracks association with the reverand..Nope,Try again...

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:27 PM on 03/20/2008
collapse mcfried See Profile I'm a Fan of mcfried

No the point is Wright was well respected enough to be invited to the white house for a prayer breakfast. You and your narrow mind keep judging him on Fox news sound bites.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:18 AM on 03/21/2008
collapse BardEric See Profile I'm a Fan of BardEric

Yes Wright WAS more respected then..His sermons hadn't been widely aired , and he hadn't been "outed" as the AF/AM equivelant of Farwell or Haggerty. Narrow mind? Hardly, you dont ANYTHING about me..I think the Christian religion ( or any other) can be a beautiful, uplifting thing that can greatly benifit society and our families..I draw the line at sermonizing HATE and DIVISION in the name of God to incite anger in the congregation!!!. This is not the path of peace, NOT the path of reconcillition, NOT the will of GOD!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:04 PM on 03/21/2008
collapse tene See Profile I'm a Fan of tene

please, see the whole sermon before you just cast the sermon aside as just a racist hate speech.
just because Fixed News only chose to show those convenient little sound bites doesn't mean that that's all there was to rev. wright's sermons. when heard in its entirety the sermon sounds a whole lot more innocuous. but the "fair and balanced" news media outlets won't report the whole thing. cuz it's not as juicy and doesn't garner as many viewers.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:33 PM on 03/22/2008
collapse Jay20 See Profile I'm a Fan of Jay20

actually there is the point that the Clintons never called him a "moral compass" or "religious mentor" and did associate with such scum for 20 years.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:59 AM on 03/21/2008