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Will Rev Wright Ever Shut His Mouth?

 
 
Miller
 
Reply Fri 25 Apr, 2008 04:42 am
Wright offering fresh fodder to Obama critics
2 APPEARANCES | TV, Press Club stints not what candidate needs

April 24, 2008

LYNN SWEET blogs.suntimes.com/sweet

WASHINGTON--The controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright -- Sen. Barack Obama's pastor -- is speaking Monday at the National Press Club as part of a divinity conference of black church leaders. Wright's decision to headline an event at the Press Club -- open to all media -- risks giving Obama's critics more fodder, as if they don't have enough already.

Meanwhile, PBS is touting an interview with Wright to be broadcast Friday on "Bill Moyers' Journal." Fresh material from Wright -- no matter how well-intended -- is not what Obama needs.

Wright's Press Club talk is supposed to be about offering perspective on black churches -- theology, history and politics, and the torrent of coverage stemming from Obama's presidential bid.

Wright's relationship with Obama triggered an uproar when video of Wright's inflammatory sermons surfaced. Faced with a crisis, Obama delivered a highly regarded speech in March about race and why he would not "disown" Wright, the senior pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's South Side.

But the speech, good as it was, did not push Wright out of the picture.

Wright looms as a serious problem for Obama in his fight to be the Democratic presidential nominee over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and, if he wins, as a general election candidate against Sen. John McCain. Look no further than an ad the North Carolina Republican Party released Wednesday featuring a clip from Wright's "God Damn America" sermon and calling Obama an "extremist."

Fox News has been all over Wright -- helicopter shots of his Tinley Park mansion under construction -- and host Bill O'Reilly has been pounding Obama over Wright regularly on his show.

The backfire potential of Wright having any sort of a public profile at this point seems obvious.

I asked the church about the prospects of Wright further wounding Obama's candidacy, and I was e-mailed material about the divinity conference.

When the uproar over Wright started, Obama chief strategist David Axelrod asked his friends at Jasculca Terman -- a public affairs firm -- to advise Trinity on how to handle the crush of media coverage, and they did, pro bono. Jim Terman, the president of the firm, said, "We were not asked to provide our advice about the reported speech of Rev. Wright in Washington" and did not know about it until it was scheduled.

McCain denounced the North Carolina GOP party ad. "It's not the message of my campaign," he said. He wrote a letter to the state party chairman imploring them to pull the spot. The ad "degrades our civics," McCain said. The Republican National Committee also told the North Carolina party the ad was not "appropriate or helpful."

Obama, in Indiana, said he assumes if McCain "thinks that it's an inappropriate ad, that he can get them to pull it down since he's their nominee and standard bearer." The spot as I write this has not been pulled.

O'Reilly, chatting with Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. on his show Wednesday night, said he was "flabbergasted" that Wright just does not "take a vacation." When O'Reilly is right, he's right.

SunTimes.com
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Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 1,362 • Replies: 23
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blueflame1
 
  1  
Reply Fri 25 Apr, 2008 05:35 am
God damn Bushie lied the world into war and should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. Not Obama, Hillary or McCain will tell it like it is. Rev. Wright would be the better President.
0 Replies
 
Miller
 
  1  
Reply Fri 25 Apr, 2008 05:54 am
blueflame1 wrote:
Rev. Wright would be the better President.


But would Wright give up his $1.6 million house in a gated community in Tinely Park, that's 98% white?
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blueflame1
 
  1  
Reply Fri 25 Apr, 2008 05:56 am
Why should he?
0 Replies
 
Miller
 
  1  
Reply Fri 25 Apr, 2008 06:03 am
blueflame1 wrote:
Why should he?


I thought the White House was in Washington DC.
Has it moved?
0 Replies
 
Miller
 
  1  
Reply Fri 25 Apr, 2008 06:08 am
blueflame1 wrote:
Rev. Wright would be the better President.


Quote:


Digital Edition of National Review

How much of that "loot" went to Wright and Obama?
0 Replies
 
georgeob1
 
  1  
Reply Fri 25 Apr, 2008 07:34 am
I watched some excerpts from the Moyers interview and found Wright to be fairly reasonable and persuasive.

Wright is free to say whatever he wants, whenever he wants.

It really is possible that this story has been overhyped. In any context Wright's famous remarks should be interpreted as a rhetorical excess, invoking some of the worst metaphors of those who push contemporary notions of Black victimhood in this country - as a minimum. He has certainly prospered in his ministry, and I suppose that he wouldn't top anyones list of 'saintliness'. However, the proposition that he is some kind of compulsive anti American revolutionary, or merely a bombastic exploiter in the mold of the Al Sharpton of old, isn't necessarily true.

In the current political season attention-grabbing things like his endlessly quoted remarks are simply grist for the political mill. The surely are a part of what Wright, his church, and Obama's association really mean, but they are not all of it and they don't necessarily characterize the whole.

In terms of unravelling the puzzle of what Obama really is and what his candidacy may really offer for the country, these events are but a piece of the puzzle. There are many other pieces as well.
0 Replies
 
candidone1
 
  1  
Reply Fri 25 Apr, 2008 07:53 am
I'm still trying to figure out the relationship between the thred title and the content of the posting.
If the question was asked..."Will Reverend Wright Ever Shut His Mouth".

I know, Miller, that you believe that any and every black man should just shut their mouths no matter what....but what was it that Wright has now said that would lead even an Obama supporter to say "shut your mouth"?
0 Replies
 
sozobe
 
  1  
Reply Fri 25 Apr, 2008 09:16 am
Nice post, george.
0 Replies
 
Mexica
 
  1  
Reply Fri 25 Apr, 2008 09:48 am
I hope he never shuts his mouth. The guy makes sense.
I'd attend his church just for the political sermons. Very Happy
But once his words are of no use for negative political capital,
he'll be forgotten. I mean, the national media isn't talking about the white guy Chomsky, who has been saying stuff like this for years.
0 Replies
 
Miller
 
  1  
Reply Fri 25 Apr, 2008 07:16 pm
candidone1 wrote:


I know, Miller, that you believe that any and every black man should just shut their mouths ...


Sorry Junior, but as we say on the Street, you don't know sh!t...
0 Replies
 
Ramafuchs
 
  1  
Reply Sat 26 Apr, 2008 02:08 pm
Is the guy who adorn the title of this thread live in CUBA?
0 Replies
 
engineer
 
  1  
Reply Sat 26 Apr, 2008 02:56 pm
Wright is a pastor and has a duty to speak his religion as he sees it. He doesn't have to mince words. Just like the pastors who said Katrina and 911 were punishments from God, he calls it like he sees it. That he's friends with Obama doesn't change that.
0 Replies
 
Ramafuchs
 
  1  
Reply Sat 26 Apr, 2008 03:01 pm
I adore
uphold
appreciate
adorn
the criminals who had some connection with God
and
wreck
damage
destroy the innocents.
0 Replies
 
blueflame1
 
  1  
Reply Sat 26 Apr, 2008 03:02 pm
Why is it so quiet after the Moyers-Wright interview?
by Dave Winer
I expected a roaring debate in the political blogosphere this morning, and on cable news after the Friday night Bill Moyers interview with Rev Jeremiah Wright. Instead, there's eerie quiet.

The most I could find was this post on Protein Wisdom saying that Moyers didn't play hardball with Wright. It's true, he didn't. Instead he did what I wish more journalists would, he interviewed him in a way that helped us get to know the person. He let him speak his piece, so we could listen.

There's so much to admire about Rev Wright, but first, the shame of the professional media, who hounded not only Wright, but members of his congregation, incluing a woman in a hospice, to try to uncover more dirt about Wright and thereby embarass Barack Obama.

Wright isn't running for office, he points out, it isn't his job to get our vote, it's his job to help his congregation, to help them understand the world they live in, to help them do better in that world, and to prepare them for what they believe comes in the afterlife.

Watching Wright, I wondered if Sean Hannity's preacher could stand up to the kind of objectification this man has withstood. What about Tim Russert's? How about the people who are close to Charlie Gibson and Andrea Mitchell? And how about the CEOs of Time-Warner, GE, the Sulzbergers and the Murdochs? These people have never run for office, they've never been vetted or elected. Could they come out so well after being put through the wringer that Wright has been through.

I think the silence comes from the fact that there still is some humanity in the press and in the blogosphere, and those who watched Moyers and really listened to Wright, realized that he's not a liability to Obama, he's an asset. At least some of the polish, the quiet confidence, self-respect, intelligence and grace we see in Obama must have rubbed off this man.

Watching Wright gave me pride in being an American, and shame at the same time, for coming from a country so willing to objectify and villify this person before checking out whether the characterization was accurate. Even the supposedly courageous and thorough NY Times calls his oratory "racist" in an editorial in today's paper. Based on what? I've watched the sermons that have been excerpted; if these are racist, then every other preacher in the US is racist too.

Wright says the religion of the people on the deck of a slave ship must be different from the religion from the people under the deck. On the deck, god is justifying the practice of slavery, and below -- god gives them hope that someday they will be free. My people, the Jews, understand this very well, it's part of our tradition. We've just celebrated the holiday of Passover, a feast that's all about the pride of an enslaved people. If we're still telling the story, passing it down from generation to generation, after 3000 years, why should we be critical of the African-Americans who are telling the story of their enslavement, which ended only 145 years ago, and whose manifestations are still with us today.

We, the United States, have made mistakes, and those mistakes are as much who we are as our triumphs. The failures leave behind people and their culture, their music, their legends, their religion and their hopes. Sure it seems strange when you hear it for the first time, but that's good! Because the second time it's not so strange, and eventually it becomes part of our melting pot, and enriches all our lives.

If you haven't watched the Wright interview, make the time to do so. You won't be sorry.
link
0 Replies
 
sozobe
 
  1  
Reply Sat 26 Apr, 2008 03:41 pm
blueflame1 wrote:
Why is it so quiet after the Moyers-Wright interview?
by Dave Winer


I was thinking exactly the same thing! Didn't have a chance to see it, prowled around looking today, and have found precious little. Not sure what to make of it.

You saw it, right, blueflame? What did you think?

One of the things I found indicated that one of the incendiary quotes -- "chickens coming home to roost," was merely Wright QUOTING someone else, not his own words. But I don't know if he was quoting them approvingly or not.


Dave Winer wrote:
At least some of the polish, the quiet confidence, self-respect, intelligence and grace we see in Obama must have rubbed off this man.


I don't know -- I think the fact that this man has polish, quiet confidence, self-respect, intelligence, and grace is part of why Obama chose this man's church. I don't think Wright acquired that after he met Obama; I think he's always had it.

I also think he's able to shift modes (something else Obama can do), and that some people have a hard time with that. It's one of those things I identify with in terms of being bi-cultural. (I'll say different things and act differently in an all-Deaf social situation than I would likely say or act in an all-hearing social situation.)




***

Just thought "hey, bet there's a transcript up now," checked, there is:

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04252008/transcript1.html

No time to read now but looking forward to it.
0 Replies
 
blueflame1
 
  1  
Reply Sat 26 Apr, 2008 04:26 pm
sozobe, yes I was rivited. Wright is a great man. Moyers played a large segment of the most "incindiery" speech and it's clear how the taking of snippets of the speech out of context was unfair and detestable. A man like Wright who walks the walk when it comes to compassion for people down on their luck or in need of a break would attack the killing of the innocent and the horror of American prisons etc. And yes the chickens coming home to roost statement was a quote of a white former US Ambassador. Wright said in the speech violence begets violence. Well duh. He certainly wasn't the first to tell us that obvious truth. I would reccomend watching rather than just reading if you could. The video is on line. But watching and reading is better and I plan on reading the transcript. I think the silence and lack of attacks the day after the show is due to the greatness of what Wright said in the interview. It's time for Hillary and her supporters to let go of the stupid soundbites. Crucifying such a man for purely political purposes is detestable. I'm not a church goer but if I was to go then Trinity would be a wise choice.
0 Replies
 
Vietnamnurse
 
  1  
Reply Sat 26 Apr, 2008 05:23 pm
Missed it, but my cousin watched many of his entire sermans. The man is indeed a wonderful human being. The right wing with Hillary's help has picked out the portions that they want to use against him.

A pox on their houses. Evil or Very Mad
0 Replies
 
blueflame1
 
  1  
Reply Sat 26 Apr, 2008 05:37 pm
Rev. Wright says God damn the death and destruction America brought to Iraq. Hillary says we gave them freedom. God damn that.
0 Replies
 
Vietnamnurse
 
  1  
Reply Sat 26 Apr, 2008 05:57 pm
Amen,to that Blueflame!
0 Replies
 
 

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