Greg Sargent at TPM: "The McCain campaign's claim that Pennsylvania is within reach—and
could be key to a McCain victory—has prompted outside groups allied
with McCain to really get serious about hosing down the state with slime."
[T]he Alaska governor said there should be more discussion about
Wright, Obama's pastor of 20 years at Trinity United Church of Christ
in Chicago. The Democratic candidate denounced Wright and severed ties
with the church last spring after videotapes surfaced showing Wright
making anti-American and anti-Semitic comments from the pulpit. ...
When
Kristol pressed Palin about Wright, she replied, "I don't know why that
association isn't discussed more, because those were appalling things
that that pastor had said about our great country."
She
continued, "To me, that does say something about character. But, you
know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to
bring that up."
That last quote sure sounds like "a John McCain call" for Palin to telegraph Rev. Wright to the media and right wing talk radio. With 4,000 plus news stories in one day, sounds like Palin did her job.
In April and May, the North Carolina GOP and National Republican Congressional Committee aired race-baiting commercials in North Carolina and Mississippi. In March, a McCain strategist was suspended after caught instant messaging and emailing Wright's incendiary videos to reporters. At that time, McCain promised to run a "respectful campaign" but that has changed since his poll numbers are sinking with the stock market.
Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama’s former pastor and longtime spiritual adviser, was to officially step down from his post at Trinity United Church of Christ on June 1. TIME reports the controversial pastor is "hanging on to power in the church he helped build" and "resisting" plans to retire.
Instead, on church bulletins on June 1, Moss was identified simply as "pastor" rather than "senior pastor," even as Wright assumed the title "pastor emeritus." Indeed, Trinity members familiar with the developments say that on May 27, Moss was summoned to the church's massive brown sanctuary for a meeting that included Wright, several church board members and other senior leaders. According to those sources, Moss, 37, expected the meeting to finalize transition plans. Instead, Wright suggested the board merely declare Moss "senior pastor-elect" because the younger cleric needed "supervision" — effectively ensuring Wright remains Trinity's preacher-in-chief. Wright's essential argument hinges on a technicality: Moss is an ordained Baptist minister who has yet to be fully ordained in the United Church of Christ.
Last weekend, Obama resigned from the church after a longtime friend and a visiting pastor, Father Michael Pfleger, denounced Hillary Clinton from the pulpit in a racially charged rant. Obama is no longer a member of the Trinity community, but, the church and his association with the pastor will undoubtedly remain a target in the general election.
Wright's resistance to retirement, and, the desire to 'supervise' the young pastor, exposes a major issue in black churches and the black community, i.e. succession planning and mentoring young leadership. IMHO, this was probably why Obama was not fully accepted by the old guard black civil rights leadership when he exploded on the scene in 2006.
[The] national telephone survey found that just 30% of the nation’s Likely Voters believe Barack Obama denounced his former Pastor, Jeremiah Wright, because he was outraged. Most—58%—say he denounced the Pastor for political convenience. The survey was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday night. Obama made his statements about Wright on Tuesday."
Particularly damaging are the sub-panels:
"Only 33% of voters believe that Obama was surprised by the views Wright expressed at Monday’s press conference. Fifty-two percent (52%) say he was not surprised. Fifty-six percent (56%) say it’s at least somewhat likely that Obama 'shares some of Pastor Wright’s controversial views about the United States.' ... Seventy-four percent (74%) of Republicans believe it’s somewhat or very likely that Obama shares some of Wright’s views."
The national tracking polls, as well as the numbers in Indiana and North Carolina, show a significant erosion of support for Obama. (More later) Meanwhile, the fallout from the Wright media circus dominates headlines in North Carolina. Via The Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, yesterday's front page from the Charlotte News & Observer."
"I’m outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday," Mr. Obama said, speaking to reporters here today. He added, "I find these comments appalling. It contradicts everything that I’m about and who I am."
Seeking to quell the political damage the controversy is dealing to his campaign, Mr. Obama called a press conference after a town meeting here this afternoon to raise the volume of his criticism of his former pastor. In his speech on race last month in Philadelphia, where he tried to put the matter behind him, Mr. Obama said he gave Mr. Wright the benefit of the doubt.
But after watching three days of Mr. Wright’s commentary in televised speeches and interviews, Mr. Obama said, “there are no excuses."
"They offend me, they rightly offend all Americans and they should be denounced,” he said. “That’s what I am doing very clearly and unequivocally here today."
This was obviously a painful decision but necessary. Obama threw his former pastor a lifeline in the Philadelphia speech, which was eloquent and emotional, but, did not directly address the implications of Wright's remarks. Now, the campaign has been completely sideswiped by the five-day Rev. Jeremiah Wright Rehabilitation and Retribution Media Tour. Wright's timing was exquisite and comes at the same time downticket Democrats are linked to Wright's greatest hits. Obama needs to get back on message and talk to voters about the economy, health care and the Iraq War.
[The] television ad from Southaven Mayor Greg Davis tells viewers that his Democratic rival, Travis Childers, a realtor and Prentiss County official, has accepted the endorsement of "liberal Barack Obama." Then, with Childers' face beside footage of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, it says, "When Obama's pastor cursed America, blaming us for 9/11, Childers said nothing."
Then: "When Obama ridiculed rural folks for clinging to guns and religion, Childers said nothing." "He took Obama's endorsement over our conservative values. Conservatives just can't trust Travis Childers," the ad concludes.
Meanwhile, the second spot, produced by the National Republican Congressional Committee and airing in the same district seeks to link Childers to Obama, John Kerry, and Nancy Pelosi. The ad also mocks Obama's "bitter" remarks at the San Francisco fundraiser and links Obama to "the liberal Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi."
The recent spate of Obama flavored right-wing attack advertising is a testament to Obama's "rapid ascent in conservative demonology" and certainly should cause worry to downticket candidates and the national party. It's no surprise to discover Republicans run race-baiting attack ads, but, using them to tar local candidates was not expected. At least not this soon.
Today is Day Five of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Media and Publicity Tour, and, like of the previous days, he continues to dominate cable and local news, and, newspaper headlines. On Thursday, teases for the upcoming Bill Moyers interview were released, on Friday the interview aired on PBS, on Sunday the controversial and longtime pastor of Sen. Barack Obama delivered the keynote address to a fundraiser dinner at the Detroit NAACP. The theme was "Different Not Deficient" (video). FOX and CNN broadcast the full speech to counter charges that the media have played his sermons "out of context" and CNN rebroadcast it several times.
This morning, the pastor delivered a speech to the National Press Club (video) on the history and intricacies of the black church. The Washington Post's Dana Milbank describes the scene as adding "lighter fuel" to to a power keg. "Speaking before an audience that included Marion Barry, Cornel West, Malik Zulu Shabazz of the New Black Panther Party and Nation of Islam official Jamil Muhammad, Wright praised Louis Farrakhan, defended the view that Zionism is racism, accused the United States of terrorism, repeated his view that the government created the AIDS virus to cause the genocide of racial minorities, stood by other past remarks ("God damn America") and held himself out as a spokesman for the black church in America."
[Wright] clearly was not doing Obama any favors, not only by reappearing before a ravenous media thus distracting from Obama's attempt to relate better to white working class voters in Indiana and North Carolina, but by implying Obama's condemnation of some of his sermons was not sincere. "Politicians say what they say and do what they do because of electability," Wright said, arguing that Obama had not seen the sermons played in the media that Obama has called "offensive." "He had to distance himself because he's a politician...Whether he gets elected or not, I'm still going to have to be answerable to God."
Wright defiantly defended some of his more controversial remarks:
"Have you heard the whole sermon?" he asked a questioner about his infamous post-9/11 sermon in which he seemed to blame the terrorist attacks on New York, Washington, DC, and Pennsylvania as blowback from U.S. foreign policy, saying "America's chickens are coming home to roost." ...
Asked about those who wondered about his love of the U.S. in light of his "God damn America" comments during a sermon, Wright said "those citizens who say that have never heard my sermons, nor do they know me...I served six years in the military, does that make me patriotic? How many years did (Vice President Dick) Cheney serve?"
The issue here is not substance. It is tone. At times the reverend comes across as brilliant and scholarly. At other times he is clearly flippant—he joked about running as Obama's vice presidential running mate, gestured behind the moderator, and, at times, was somewhat sarcastic. The combative Wright is totally at odds with the spiritual, healing and historical figure introduced in the Moyers interview . It is not a good idea for Rev. Wright to take questions from the press and appear in a non-controlled environment. In addition to inviting additional media scrutiny, the question and answer period at the NPC luncheon will certainly make the ever-growing highlight reel of Rev. Wright's greatest hits, which are now being used in Republican attack ads against local Democratic candidates in at least two states.
This is now the fifth day of a media circus and sideshow to the Obama campaign. Rev. Wright is now receiving more airtime than Obama, Clinton and McCain combined. Many people in the black community and Obama supporters say Rev. Wright should be "humanized" and allowed to clear his name. Certainly, but, at this point, it's not about rehabilitating Jeremiah Wright's image because that could wait until November. This is about the branding of the Democratic Party. Not sure is Wright trying to establish himself as media figure, trying to rehabilitate his image, or, even trying to diss Obama for the pereception of throwing him under the bus. Meanwhile, the media and Party continue to wring their hands over the fairly predictable results of the Pennsylvania primary (see Ohio and likely Indiana) and the Indiana and North Carolina primaries are around the corner. The time is not "Wright."
Last night, a similar tone in Detroit at the annual dinner for the local NAACP. The audience of 10,000 gave the Rev. Wright a standing ovation after introductory remarks described him as the "hottest brother in America" and his media profile was compared to the "crucifixion" of Jesus Christ. Interesting.
The entire speech can be seen here or above. There is no doubt that Wright is a powerful speaker and quite entertaining—we've heard him preach twice in Chicago—and his "Different Not Deficient" speech played well to a friendly crowd. The section on right-brain/left-brain and race-based learning and socialization technique was somewhat curious and not unlike the theories of "The Bell Curve." The section on accents was perfectly appropriate for the theme, however, the decision to mock John F. Kennedy's accent is raising eyebrows and being slammed, and, certainly ironic given the Kennedyesque branding of the Obama campaign. Similarly, the remarks about the Arabic derivation of Barack Obama's name was historical, but, speaking Arabic and giving a shout out to the Nation of Islam is already being blasted by FOX, Limbaugh, etc. Curious to hear what others thought of the speech.
Over the weekend, Wright will give the keynote address at a fundraiser for the Detroit branch of the NAACP. On Monday, the reverend will headline an event at the Press Club in Washington DC, but, it is his television appearance later tonight that is causing some to squirm. The interview with Wright (plus video) that will be broadcast tonight on Bill Moyers' Journal is the first time the reverend has spoken to the press since the controversy erupted over his sermons.
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?
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.
Most striking is Wright's description of Obama's "race speech" as "the politician talking."
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.
There is nothing wrong with describing that speech as damage control because that's exactly what it was. There is also nothing wrong with saying Obama "says" or "does what politicians do", because that is also true, but, both of these facts are often ignored by the MSM and the e-telligentsia. The video snippets in heavy rotation on CNN, FOX and MSNBC are giving the talking heads a field day.
Meanwhile, the North Carolina and Indiana primaries are in full swing, and, last night, the North Carolina Republican Party launched a controversial and highly publicized attack ad against Democratic gubernatorial candidates. The attack ad featured a clip from Wright's "God Damn America" sermon and called Obama and the two Dem candidates "extremists." This is not the best time for the reverend to speak out. Any day that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is in the news is not a good day for the Obama campaign.
The Barack Obama campaign and its supporters would like to believe the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy is "settled" but unfortunately the Republicans and right-wing attack machine are just getting started. Above is a YouTube of a television commercial for the North Carolina Republican Party that replays Rev. Wright's greatest hits "God damn America!") and saturates the airwaves in the Tarheel State. It paints Obama as "too extreme" and Democratic gubernatorial candidates Richard Moore and Beverly Perdue as "too extreme" because they endorsed Obama.
"Take the logic or what you will," deadpans Obama blogger Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic, who is shocked! shocked! to find the Republicans would produce a "misleading" spot connecting any Obama-supporting Democrat to Rev. Wright. Dush, that';s exactly what they will do.
Ambinder also links to an email from presumptive Republican nominee Sen John McCain who denounces and rejects the attack ad. "Interesting to see if they respond, especially since the target is also local Democratic leaders," notes Taylor Marsh. "Considering Clinton and Obama are facing off in North Carolina soon, this ad does the negative work so Hillary doesn't have to."
Oh, and the ad is all over FOX, MSNBC and CNN, Even if the spot is pulled, mission accomplished. It's a familiar pattern: Ugly advertising, lots of media exposure. McCain quickly rejects and denounces, the media fawns over his "principles" ...
A tense evening in Philadelphia, as Sen. Barack Obama found himself consistently on the defensive as he and Sen. Hillary Clinton debated over values, patriotism and his longtime associations with controversial figures. (Transcript) Debates have never been Obama's forte—he excels at prepared speeches and on the campaign stump—and the "result,was arguably one of Mr. Obama’s weakest debate performances," Adam Nagourney at The New York Times. "He at
times appeared annoyed."
First thing's first. The questions from the two moderators from ABC News, Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous, were very aggressive, but, the questions were not "unfair". They are journalists and did their jobs. Obama is the front runner in the Democratic nomination and will be subjected to much more scrutiny—he has benefited from tremendous press, and, gentle treatment in the CNN and especially MSNBC "debates", which is probably why the "progressive" blogosphere is in a dramatic meltdown after last night's debate. It's almost surrealistic. There never was any similar dramatic outrage over "substance" and "gotcha questions" in the many NBC and MSNBC debates. Fair is fair and we should demand the same standards for all Democrats. It doesn't become any easier in the fall. This is just the beginning.
