To anyone implying that Obama knew about Wright's worst comments...

[redqueen]

Obama said he was present for controversial statements, but not the over-the-top stuff that the rightwing media have blasted for days in depseration.

We all know the man gave more than a few speeches... we're talking decades' worth of sermons here... why pretend that you don't know why there isn't more "there" there?

These comments were few and far between. And you all know it.

[class2068]

1. Sorry, no

To assert that after 17 years of attending Wright's diatribes plus making Wright your "personal minister" and then to claim you are shocked, SHOCKED! at Wright's poison simply defies belief. Obama is revealed not only as a liar and hypocrite but a race-baiter as well. His meandering speech today was all about race, race, race, from a man who insists he's "beyond racial politics." Obama cannot win the general election without the Jewish and white male vote, and, take it from a Jew, he's just lost that.

[NYCGirl]

2. Take it from this Jew — it must suck to be you. NT

[virgdem]

13. Ditto that!!!!

[2rth2pwr]

34. Look, already Obama has helped us move beyond race and religion.

impressive.

[onenote]

40. and have another!

[rucky]

60. this one, too.

and WTF does this have to do with the Jews, anyways?

[groovedaddy]

3. It doesn't appear to me that, given what's gone on, Obama had any choice

but to talk about race, race, race.
I guess some people just feel like he should withdraw and get it over with. Ain't gonna happen.

Obama/Clinton - '08

[haymakeragain]

4. You couldn't be more wrong if you tried.

Are you even trying? Come on, you can do it. Yes you can! Yes you can!

[redqueen]

6. Today was about race, because those very few Wright comments

are considered racist by many who are blasting them.

How many sound byte quotes are there? How many years' worth of sermons? Simple logic...

[DearAbby]

42. Well issue a challenge....

there must be hundreds of hours of sermons on the UUC site by this Pastor...come up with something worse...they shot their wad, this was all they had, they tried to play it like the Dean Scream...Loop it over and over and over again...if they had anything more, they would have used it.

The GOP are afraid of Obama, and with good reason. This man inspires people to action, look at the turnout, the new people his campaign has added to our ranks. The GOP have good reason to be afraid of this man, that is the reason for this attack.

They want Clinton, even campaigned for GOPers to crossover and Vote for Hillary. They want this to be a long divisive primary...but more than that, they want Clinton to be the nominee. I wonder what they have on her, that could be more damaging.

If Obama was so easy to beat, why didnt they allow the primary to run the course, and Obama win the nomination, and hit him with this in October....TIMING PEOPLE...this TIMING should be a clue.

Obama, showed again why the GOP fears him. He gave an outstanding speech today. Each and every Democrat should be standing with pride and applauding.

[The Doctor.]

48. Spot-on.

They are terrified of Obama.

Not as much as they were John Edwards, but they know they won't be able to touch him in the GE.

They can't play the same two sound bytes over and over for the next 7 months without looking more ridiculous than they already do. After Obama sloughs this off, he'll be fairly untouchable.

[redqueen]

53. "TIMING PEOPLE...this TIMING should be a clue"

Exactly.

:hi:

[Johnny__Motown]

7. Take it from this Irish Catholic, it must suck to be you n/t

[democrattotheend]

10. Three generations of white Jews in my family, male and female

And we're all standing with Barack Obama, more proudly now than ever.

[EFerrari]

12. That's exactly what Rush is saying.

This speech will be hailed as the speech of the decade. And as Kittykat said, it will be taught in schools all over this country. Obama that rate thing, a good teacher.

He's going to be a wonderful president.

[ClarkBayh 2008]

15. I'm afraid I must concur

We are not electing class president, debater of the year, spiritual guidance counselor or greatest orator of all time. Those with the best minds & the sharpest wits have never won the presidency without executive or military experience.

This speech will be forgotten in great measure by November while the Wright video will keep rolling and rolling. Obama is a force indeed. However, despite his tenacious commitment to the urgency of now, he may be better off waiting until 2016.

[EFerrari]

23. Clinton has less of both. She really should drop out

and let Obama limp into the White House like that other inexperienced best mind and sharp wit whose speeches are still taught in schools today.

lol

[class2068]

26. What's truly gruesome

is the word that there are 80 HOURS of Wright rants available on DVD. Since Obama did not decry Wright and his racist poison these DVDs can be doled out over the next eight months as 'the gift that keeps giving.' Also comes rumor of videos of other Obama supporters in the same vein.

[Drachasor]

37. Youe're wrong. Abraham Lincoln won it without either

And a number of other senators without executive or military experience have won it as well.

[TheDoorbellRang]

38. Beg to differ

Those with the best minds & the sharpest wits have never won the presidency without executive or military experience.


Lincoln had one term as an Illinois rep in D.C. when he rose to national fame because of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.

That's all he had.

I believe they're called "just words" this season.

[superkia]

45. The people will decide if they will forget the speech and dwell...

on the negatives. I think Americans want positive change, not the same ole same ole. The video clips will play but are the American people so stupid to fall for this type of political games again considering the shape our country? I am going to side with the people and say most are smarter than you are giving them credit for. Maybe you have a circle of friends that aren't very bright and will vote, not on fact but on spin. Good luck you and yours!

[LSK]

52. "17 years of attending Wright's diatribes"

YOU DON'T KNOW THAT.

[The Doctor.]

54. I love seeing these old profiles dusted off and brought out.

Wes Clark and Evan Bayh huh? I think they should drop out so they stop hurting Hillary's chances.

:rofl:


So you think they'll be able to keep playing those two 6 second soundbytes every day for the next 7 months without people getting sick of it?

A media student you are not.

[Abacus]

17. You speak for all jews? Interesting...

How do you handle the pressure?

Firstly, how many of Wright's controversial statements have we seen on the media lately? Seems like I'm seeing the same 6(ish) clips over and over. Given that the first remark seems to be shortly after 9/11, that's roughly one outrageous remark per year. It's not at all inconceivable that Obama was not in attendance of those specific remarks. (I showed yesterday that it's exceptionally unlikely that he was at the sermon that Jim Davis said he was within a reasonable amount of error about the date. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5122350&mesg_id=5122350)

Secondly, as the OP said, Obama said he was aware of some controversial remarks about social issues but that he had not heard those specific remarks which were exceptionally outrageous. The next day the media and some posters here falsely tried to say that he had said he'd never witnessed any controversial remarks and I knew then that there would be an attempt to make accusations later.

Thirdly, any withering hopes of being a colorless candidate were dashed completely with the Wright issue. In that context, he had to discuss race.

[leftynyc]

29. Speaking as a Jewess

Speak for yourself. I thought it was the best speech I've ever read (have only read a transcript - will watch later).

[leftynyc]

30. Dupe - sorry

[leftynyc]

31. Dupe - sorry

[mrreowwr_kittty]

41. Michael Savage, is that you?

Welcome to DU and please enjoy your short stay. :hi:

[thoughtcrime1984]

43. Republicans suck

and you are wrong about the white male vote for certain. I can't speak in any way for the Jewish population, but I don't see how he has lost that bloc either.

[LSK]

49. "17 years of attending Wright's diatribes"

YOU DON'T KNOW THAT.

[2rth2pwr]

5. It is not just the statements, it's the fact that Wright was leading his followers

into anger, keeping it fresh and alive. He was instilling these beliefs in the young and impressionable.

[democrattotheend]

8. How many of his sermons have you heard?

How do you know that these few snippets are typical of all of his sermons? How do you know that this is what he was consistently preaching for 20 years?

[redqueen]

11. On how many occasions did he do so? How many sound bytes have you heard?

How many sermons has he delivered?

I'm not saying he didn't say those things... or that on those *few* occasions, that he was feeding the divide and keeping it alive (something Obama called him out for in his speech this morning, in fact)... I'm saying that it's unfair to judge this man on the basis of a *very* small fraction of his comments.

And it's unreasonable to assume that Obama must have known and approved of them, considering how few and far between they obviously were.

[2rth2pwr]

20. How do you know that it was only a few, Obama has said that there were

more. Even one time, a person with his standing can have a major influence in the minds of young people.

[redqueen]

24. Obama has said he heard controversial things.

I think if there were any more of the caliber the M$M has been blasting, they'd unload it now to get rid of Obama.

[2rth2pwr]

33. that's your proof? How about holding on to it until the day before Pennsylvania? Or holding it until

October?

[DearAbby]

50. This man has made an impression on Obama

The Man I saw today, should be a credit to Pastor Wright, and also to others in his life. His Mother, Grandparents, as well as the man who led him to his faith...and clearly shows that there is more to Pastor Wright, than what a few minutes looped into a soundbite has shown you on TeeVee.

I see the evidence in Obama, and the good the church as a whole as done for the community...that is also a credit to Pastor Wright. Dont let MSM shape your views.

[EFerrari]

14. The cr@p that people say about Wright says so much more about them

than about him.

[2rth2pwr]

18. stop dissing Obama

[EFerrari]

19. Oh, I'm not at all. He did a great job today. n/t

[knixphan]

9. Move on. Back to McCain!

Back to the real elephants in the room.

[BlackVelvet04]

16. and nobody told him about those comments? please....

want to buy some land in Florida?

[redqueen]

21. I take him at his word.

:hi:

[2rth2pwr]

22. which word? The times over the weekend when he said he wasn't there when controversial things were

said or todays word that he was there?

[redqueen]

25. You're being disingenuous.

He said he was there when controversial things were said. He said he was not there when the incendiary things were said. Those very *few* things, which have been blasted by the M$M.

[EFerrari]

28. He said he heard controversial comments.

He didn't say he was there during the sermon that has been circulated. He clearly wasn't.

[jackson_dem]

27. Because he knew the guy for 20 decades. He wasn't just his pastor. He is also his mentor

To believe he didn't know is like believing rethugs in the senate didn't know Lott was a racist...

[DearAbby]

56. If Wright was a Mentor to Obama

HE HAS DONE AN OUTSTANDING JOB...you see that man who gave that amazing speech today? If Wright had a small fraction in what and who Obama is today...I STAND AND APPLAUD HIM. He had done an outstanding job.

Also proves there is much more to the man than a 6 minute looped sound bite tried to portray. It shows also, Obama can love and respect people, even with their faults.

Love the sinner, hate the sin.

[BenDavid]

32. If Obama believed any of what he is saying then why did he ever

allow the racial divisiness his campaign launched against Hillary and Bill Clinton? Why didn't he fire Jesse Jackson Jr when he used the racial card against Hillary.

The fact is that Obama can give a good speech. But that is all he has done. He doesn't live up to his words. They are empty words

I did not watch, cause there was no need too, because I keep coming back to Wright's AIDS-as-genocidal-conspiracy charge. No, obama,you are indeed excusing the inexcusable because you didn't impose the proper penalty that your own moral code should have exacted against pastor wright.

and ask yourself, why did obama need to give this hurried up speech today? uh huh to help cover the lies.....

[niyad]

35. the implication that, as a member of this church for nearly 20 years, nobody

bothered to mention to him some of wright's comments when he wasn't there, strains credulity.

according to jonathan alter on KO friday night, wright is well-known in ministerial circles for precisely that kind of sermon, and he was told that a good many audio tapes, at least, exist.

wright's "chickens coming home to roost" speech didn't upset me all that much. ward churchill got pilloried for the same statement. what bothered me was the way obama handled the situation last week, especially his comments on KO.

did his speech today make up for it? we shall have to see.

[ficus1]

44. I am amazed at the collusion amongst the major news organizations

All of them agreeing to hold back on airing further evidence of Wright's overheated rhetoric until October. If there was more video/audio it would already be out there.

Why is it so hard to believe that Wright got carried away a few times and said impolitic and disgraceful things, but that 99.9% of the time that was not the tone set in his sermons?

[redqueen]

51. I think those that prefer to believe he said stuff like that lots of times...

there's just no point arguing with them.

Ah well.

[Bluebear]

36. 'These comments were few and far between. And you all know it.' --Well, no we don't...

I mean nothing in this other than saying we certainly do not 'know' what has gone on during his sermons or how often.

[JPZenger]

39. k and r nt

[ElsewheresDaughter]

46. how, can we as democrats who reel against the likes of Falwell/Robertson give Wright a free pass?

BTW , OBAMA CONFESSED IN HIS SPEECH TODAY THAT HE WAS PRESENT for these sermons

[redqueen]

47. He confessed he was present, did he?

When did he confess this? I missed that part. Please quote it.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

55. yes he did......here from the transcript of Obama's speech.....

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.


after he had repeatedly denied ever hearing the Rev Wrights sermons while he was in church many times in the past few weeks.

[redqueen]

58. He said he heard remarks that could be considered controversial...

do you think the comments that have been blasted for days now by the M$M are the ones that Obama is referring to, when he says that he heard comments that "could be considered controversial"?

Really?

*sigh*

[ElsewheresDaughter]

59. come on...you read the part of the transcript where he confeses that he was present for the sermons.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

[redqueen]

61. You're reading it, but not understanding it.

He condemned the comments that the M$M has been blasting for days, yes.

He heard comments that "could be considered controversial".

The two sentences above *very obviously* do not refer to the same comments.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

62. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes."

What part of that statement do you not understand?

Obama lied to us when he said many times that he "was neverin church when any of those sermons where preached"

[redqueen]

63. Nevermind.

Pointless.

[The Doctor.]

57. If you lived in reality, you'd see that he has not been given a 'free pass'.

Aside from that, Wright's comments are more reality based than saying "God struck us because we let people be gay!"

Wright said that 9/11 was the result of our foreign policy.

There's a pretty big difference there.

[uponit7771]

64. The FACT there's less than a minute of Wrights comments prove to me there aren't that many

[ElsewheresDaughter]

65. tell it to Oprah who left Wrights church years ago after going for only 2 years

she had the good judgement to get far away from the batshit racist and bigoted minister

[boppers]

66. It's not a "rare" or "frequent" thing.

"On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike.

I have already condemned, in unequivocal terms, the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy. For some, nagging questions remain. Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely - just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren't simply controversial. They weren't simply a religious leader's effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.

As such, Reverend Wright's comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems - two wars, a terrorist threat, a falling economy, a chronic health care crisis and potentially devastating climate change; problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all. "

...

"Like other predominantly black churches across the country, Trinity embodies the black community in its entirety - the doctor and the welfare mom, the model student and the former gang-banger. Like other black churches, Trinity's services are full of raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor. They are full of dancing, clapping, screaming and shouting that may seem jarring to the untrained ear. The church contains in full the kindness and cruelty, the fierce intelligence and the shocking ignorance, the struggles and successes, the love and yes, the bitterness and bias that make up the black experience in America.

And this helps explain, perhaps, my relationship with Reverend Wright. As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect."



People wanting to get all indignant would claim even one instance was too frequent, and likely have no idea what a black church is like.