Was Jeremiah Wright's speech set up by a Clinton supporter?

Well, here's a most interesting connection we just came across.

Everybody is talking today about how much the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's latest unrepentant militant remarks hurt his most prominent parishoner, Sen. Barack Obama, and his chances to win the Democratic presidential nomination and the general election. So much so that the Obama camp realized the latent danger overnight and the candidate was forced to speak out publicly a second time today, as The Ticket noted here earlier today.

There was little doubt left in today's remarks by Obama, who recently said he could no more disown Wright than he could the black community. He pretty much disowned Wright today. Obama described himself as "outraged" and "saddened" by "the spectacle of what we saw yesterday."

But now, it turns out, we should have been paying a little less attention to Wright's speech and the histrionics of his ensuing news conference and taken a peek at....

who was sitting next to him at the head table for the National Press Club event.

It was the Rev. Dr. Barbara Reynolds, a former editorial board member of USA Today who teaches at the Howard University School of Divinity. An ordained minister, as New York Daily News writer Errol Louis points out in today's column, she was introduced at the press club event as the person "who organized" it.

But guess what? She's also an ardent longtime booster of Obama's sole remaining competitor for the Democratic nomination, none other than Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. It won't take very much at all for Obama supporters to see in Wright's carefully arranged Washington event that was so damaging to Obama the strategic, nefarious manipulation of the Clintons.

Their supporter, Reynolds, helps arrange a speech by the outspoken and egocentric Wright which receives blanket national coverage to the disadvantage of Clinton's opponent. As Louis writes: "The Rev. Jeremiah Wright couldn't have done more damage to Barack Obama's campaign if he had tried. And you have to wonder if that's just what one friend of Wright wanted."

Reynolds has not returned e-mails or phone calls seeking comment, but Louis notes the obvious conflict between her political allegiance and her press club arrangements. He quotes a February blog entry of Reynolds saying, "My vote for Hillary in the Maryland primary was my way of saying thank you" to Clinton and her husband for his administration's successes.

In another entry, Reynolds notes critically of Obama, "It is a sad testimony that to protect his credentials as a unifier above the fray, the senator is fueling the media characterization that Rev. Dr. Wright is some retiring old uncle in the church basement."

Louis notes himself about the Wright appearance: "It's hard to exaggerate how bad the actual news conference was. Wright, steeped in an honorable, fiery tradition of Bible-based social criticism, cheapened his arguments and his movement by mugging for the cameras, rolling his eyes, heaping scorn on his critics and acting as if nobody in the room was learned enough to ask him a question."

(UPDATE: Sylvia Smith, the press club president, confirmed today that Reynolds is on the club's speakers committee. She told Michael Calderone on Politico.com that she still doesn't know whom Reynolds supports for president, adding, "Rev. Wright is newsworthy, period.")

--Andrew Malcolm

                                                                                                                            Photo Credit: Getty

Comments

[You are idiots]

The important piece is an ardent Clinton supporter is defending Wright. He's a but loony, but he's a free man in America and can say what he wants. If you don't go back and listen to his sermons get off your high horse. You don't know sqaut. However I now expect HRC will denounce the organizer for being a friend to Wright. That's the way it works right?

[TheGlobalEndlessPreemptiveWar]

Interesting how the media has made Reverend Wright the most important issue of the week and barely mentions the scandal of the Pentagon's psyop operation using retired generals to sell the war. Ask yourself how many have died in Iraq as a direct result of the Pentagon and media's lies and collusion? How many have died from Reverend Wright's comments?

Reverend Wright is spot on when he talks about US imperialism. And just for the numbskulls out there - when he says God Damn America he is really saying God Damn US Imperialism and the Corrupt US Government. He's not saying God Damn You Joe Sixpack and Jane Zinfandel.

The media is doing it's job very well. Distracting the population, spinning the news and spreading disinformation.

[Adrienne]

I have said all along that Hillary has no integrity. She is a liar and a cheat, and those are the nicest things you can say about her. I will never vote for her. Those of you that do will get what you deserve another 4 years of deceit and corruption. Not to mention the fact that most other countries ate going to see her has representing the same old American politics. It is Obama that has caused people to become excited about the Democratic party. The only difference between Hillary and Bush is she's not as stupid as he is.

[Dave]

If Clinton is the engineer behind all Obama's shortcomings in judgment with regards to personal alignments, I am truly impressed. We need someone that cunning in the whitehouse!

[Katy Cook]

Goodness! The Obama supporters will do ANYTHING to villify Hillary. I honestly like Obama, but the more they attack Hillary the more I am likely to turn against him and vote for no one if Hillary doesn't make it. To say that Hillary is behind the Rev Wright's comments now is just garbage, and I am infuriated by it.

Give me a break, people! You are turning moderates like me against your candidate, and making it less likely that he will win EVEN if he gets the nomination!

[Mike B.]

Seriously?? You think that Rev. Wright was unwittingly manipulated by a well-known Clinton supporter?

To say that the Clintons somehow tricked him into this by their influence on the organizer is an insult to Rev. Wright's intelligence.

He knew what he was doing. He knew the effect he would have. He knew who was organizing the panel.

While he helps Hillary here, this outcome was the result of his conscious choice not some nefarious Clinton plot.

[sam]

Oh Definitely! If not done by Hillary then who would? Why would he even come out now, right at this vital moment. Why did not he gave his speech 1 month ago? It is definitly a politics play by the Clintons......really bad! She is playing a foul game.

[Caroline Miniscule]

>>>Rev. Wright was right. The only people who dont recognize it are rednecks and undercover racists that cant accept the truth and shame of their government's history.

Right about what? He's a black man in a country "controlled" by rich white people. How is it then that he is about to move into a million dollar house in a white neighborhood? (And why is he doing that, anyway? Shouldn't he be nearer his flock)

Obama is a black man in a country "controlled" by rich white people. How is it that, until Wright opened his mouth, Obama was very close to getting the nomination to be...oh, I don't know... the most important poltical figure in the world, otherwise known as the President of the United States?

Condoleeza Rice is a black woman in a country "controlled" by rich white people. I do believe she's Secretary of State.

People of any race in this country can succeed, if they'll embrace the precepts of getting a good education, getting a good job, and having a good life. People who want to sit on their butts and accept welfare because they're "owed" - stay on welfare their entire lives. That isn't the fault of rich white people. Well... actually yes it is. Cut welfare for the uneducated and the unmarried moms .... people'd be forced to go to work. That would solve a lot of problems in this country real quick.

[Pogo]

While U.S. citizens prepare for a declining economy and families lose their homes, the politicians spend their time attacking each other or someone else. "Rev." Wright should be ignored as he speaks only for himself these days.
Congress is stuck in revierse and can't get anything passed. Illinois has a Governor who is probably about to join another Illinois Governor in Prison.
While I have no faith in most of the politicians, the Democrats have helped push me into supporting Sen. McCain with their antics and backbiting.

[Janie]

It all has been a political calculated move by Obama.
He needed distance from wright so they set it up, so he could puplicly denounce him and act angry.
I don't buy it.

[alice m]

Now that answers my question of who clued, whoever made that Wright mashup tape, into what sermons should be watched. A member of Obama's own church or a friend of Wright's like Ms.Reynolds? Someone would have had a lot of time on their hands to sit through at least 10 years of 52 weeks of sermons to find what they needed, without some inside help.

Wright is against the war in Iraq; ditto Obama; ditto many Obama supporters. Why would Wright cozy up with Reynolds if she supports Clintons?

Now I understand Obama's speech today. Back stabbers.

[Ann]

If that sick, slick, political slut, Hillary Clinton, is the candidate, I vote for McCain. Obama was a community organizer - he had to join a neighborhood church because that's where people go for all sorts of activities, including social justice ones. If this country wasn't such a theocracy, people could just do their thing. Religion is such a waste of time. And don't forget, the Clintons invited Wright to the WH for a religious breakfast.

[DreadPirate]

Clearly a conflict of interest. Reynolds should ask forgiveness before another minister for her nefarious and political favor for Teh'Clintons.

[cettlb]

This is something that Hillary will do. Trust her as far as you can throw her and Bill.

[James Pro]

THIS SHOULD COME AS NO SURPRISE!!!! IF ANY OF CLINTON FANS WHAT TO KNOW THE REAL TRUTH BEFORE IT'S TO LATE GOTO ( hillarythemovie.avi ) IF YOU STILL FEEL THE SAME WAY ABOUT HER WHEN YOU FINISH WATCHING IT. THEN FLY ME AN EMAIL AT ( anthonypro59 at yahoo dot com ). SEE THE TRUTH THE CLINTONS WILL NOT LET THE PRESS SAY IN THE NEWS...

[Verona]

I say "Yes" -- IMHO this spectacle has Bill and Hillary Clinton written all over it.

Recall "Primary Colors" (1998)? In that movie, based on the 1992 Bill Clinton US Presidential race, we saw "...the shocking lack of personal morals of a 'natural' candidate for the office.... (and) the inner deal-making that everyone connected with the campaign makes to achieve the vision they started with, no matter how ugly the cheating, talented candidate gets on his road to the election."

[Adam P.]

Oh boy, should have seen this one coming. While I'll give it probability of being true, that matters just as much as Reverend Wright's comments themselves in respect to Obama's electability.

But more importantly, whatever happened to that wonderful thing called "separation of church and state"? It looks like an even more hollow claim now.

[JOSEPH]

what a slimy slug Hillary is, this woman will do anything and everything to get the nomination, she is so obsessed with winning there is no obstacle with this what so called woman

[kat1park]

If we are comparing judgment issues, his relationship with Rev. Wright and Hillary's judgment about Iraq and Bosnia and the fraud case that she's now involved in, are not even in the same arena. Let's face it, Obama has much better judgment than she does. At least you won't hear about people associated with his administration being murdered or mysteriously disappearing or committing suicide. Let's face it, Rev. Wright is a non-issue. He's a distraction created by the Clintons because they believe Americans do not have long attention spans and distractions work. The voters are the ones who have to ultimately stand up and say we will not be tricked into ignoring the real issues so that you can steal a nomination. Before Rev. Wright, Hillary Clinton wasn't the better candidate? What has changed? Nothing. The only difference is that her camp has been successful, with the media's help, in focusing everyone's attention on Rev. Wright in order to take attention away from the fact that she is not the stronger of the 2 candidates. Vote responsibly. Obama's mother is white. I don't care who his pastor is, as he said today, his very DNA goes against him being racist. Do you love your mother? He loves his too. If you can't admit anything else, at least admit that the man hating white people defies logic given that his own mother is white.

[jammer]

Funds from Auchi's loan may have helped finance a complex series of transactions between Rezko and Democratic Presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama involving the 2005 purchase of Obama's Chicago mansion and Rezko's purchase of an adjoining landlocked parcel.

The Times of London reports:

"A company related to Mr. Auchi, who has a conviction for corruption in France, registered the loan to Mr. Obama's bagman Antoin ʽTony' Rezko on May, 23 2005. Mr. Auchi says the loan, through the Panamanian company Fintrade Services SA, was for $3.5 million.

"Three weeks later, Mr. Obama bought a house on the city's South Side while Mr Rezko's wife bought the garden plot next door from the same seller on the same day, June 15. Mr. Obama says he never used Mrs. Rezko's still-empty lot, which could only be accessed through his property. But he admits he paid his gardener to mow the lawn."

Rezko's relationship with Barack Obama goes back to at least 1990, when Obama's law firm did work relating to a Rezko housing development. Rezko was a key early-money fund raiser in Obama's state Senate campaigns and his failed run at the US Congress. In June 2005, when the mansion was purchased, Rezko was widely known to be under federal investigation. Rezko also is a key fundraiser for Illinois Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich.

The sudden emergence of Auchi into this story indicates Rezko's deals may include a money trail leading back to dead Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Auchi's Saddam links trace back to a failed 1959 assassination attempt on the life of then-Iraqi-prime-minister Abdul Karim Qasim.

Auchi's General Mediterranean Holdings company was also the largest private shareholder in Banque Nationale de Paris which later merged with Paribas to become BNP Paribas. At Saddam's insistence, billions of dollars of Oil for Food transactions passed through BNP from its 1995 inception until 2001.

In January 2004, Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada published a list of 270 Oil for Food beneficiaries. The list was translated and published on line by The Middle East Media Research Institute. Hundreds of millions of dollars of Oil for Food money was illegally diverted to buy Saddam favor from the United Nations, possibly reaching as high as Secretary general Kofi Annan's son. Also receiving million's from Saddam's slush fund were heads of state and their associates from Russia, France, China, and numerous Islamic countries.

The Auchi-Obama links go beyond the mansion deal. The Times of London February 1 reports uncovering, "state documents in Illinois recording that Fintrade Services, a Panamanian company, lent money to (an) Obama fundraiser in May 2005. Fintrade's directors include Ibtisam Auchi, the name of Mr. Auchi's wife."

Auchi, a Chaldean Christian, was later pardoned by Qasim. As Saddam's Baath party took power, Auchi prospered. He went to work for the Iraqi Ministry of Oil in 1967. He rose to be Oil Ministry Director of Planning and Development before leaving Iraq in 1979. His brother was apparently killed by Saddam's regime as were family of many high-ranking Baathists. But there are also claims that Auchi continued secretly working for Saddam's intelligence services, a kind of dual reality not uncommon in the twisted world of Saddam's upper echelons.

What is certain is that Auchi prospered mightily collecting "commissions" on sale of weapons and other goods to Iraq in the 1980s and 1990s. Living in the UK, he is now listed as Britain's 18th-richest man. The Times of London reports, "On the 20th anniversary of his business in 1999, Mr. Auchi received a greeting card signed by 130 politicians, including (Prime Minister) Tony Blair, (Conservative Party leader) William Hague and (Liberal-Democratic Party leader) Charles Kennedy...."

In spite of his British connections and an earlier 2004 US visit, Auchi was denied entry into the US in 2005. It is believed that he was attempting in 2005 to win a US visa with the help of Rezko several as-yet-unnamed Illinois political figures. Among Auchi's many international awards is a 2005 election as an "Honorary Member in the International College of Surgeons in Chicago, Illinois." Obama has denied trying to help Auchi.

Auchi has played a role in BNP since the late 1970s. When BNP was privatized by the French government in 1993, Auchi acquired stock in the banking giant through his Luxembourg-based company, General Mediterranean Holdings. Auchi played a key role in BNP's 2000 merger with Paribas. According to the New York Times, "As recently as 2001, General Mediterranean Holdings described itself in an annual report as one of largest single shareholders in BNP Paribas." Saddam used Oil for Food fraud to channel millions of dollars to heads of state, activists, terrorists, and journalists--many of whom returned the favor by backing Saddam in 2003 when the US finally invaded.

In 2003 Auchi was convicted in France for receiving about $100 million in illegal commissions as part of a scandal involving the French oil giant Elf Aquitane. The UK Guardian wrote:

"(Elf was) the biggest fraud inquiry in Europe since the Second World War. Elf became a private bank for its executives who spent £200 million on political favours, mistresses, jewellery, fine art, villas and apartments."

Auchi's General Mediterranean Holdings also has connections to the new Iraq-connections which lead right back to Tony Rezko. Auchi's company helped finance a 250 megawatt power plant in the Kurdish town of Chamchamal, Iraq, teaming up with Rezko and Iraq's former Minister of Electricity, Aiham Alsamarrae. Alsamarrae, a Chicago resident with dual US-Iraqi citizenship is accused of graft involving Iraq reconstruction projects-an embarrassing connection for the war critic Obama.

Returning in 2003 to post-Saddam Iraq, Alsamarrae had been made Minister of Electricity under the occupation government of Paul Bremer. Alsamarrae escaped in what he called "the Chicago way" from the Green Zone in December, 2006 after being held for four months in relation to a $2 billion Iraqi reconstruction corruption case. He is now living in his Chicago mansion.

Writing in Human Events, March 3, 2008, John Batchelor reports on an Alsammarae-Obama-Rezko connection:

"...in April 2005, one month before Mr. Alsammarae left his post, his Ministry of Electricity signed a contract for $50 million with Companion Security to provide training to Iraqis to guard electrical plants by flying them to Illinois for classes.

"Companion Security was headed by a former Chicago policeman with a troubled history, Daniel T. Frawley, in partnership with Mr. Rezko and in association with Daniel Mahru, the lawyer for the original contract and Mr. Rezko's former business partner. In April 2006, Mr. Frawley entered negotiations with Governor Rod Blagojevich's staff to lease a military facility in Illinois to be a training camp. In August 2006, Mr. Frawley started negotiations with Mr. Obama's U.S. Senate staff to complete the contract....

"The timeline of Companion discussions in 2006 is important to note: April 2006 Frawley speaks to governor's office; August 2006 Frawley speaks to senator's office; October 2006 indictment of Rezko revealed; October 2006 Rezko arrested upon return from Syria; October 2006 Alsammarae convicted in Baghdad and makes his first escape attempt; December 2006 Alsammarae escapes from Baghdad. ...

"(In 2004) Mr. Auchi traveled by private aircraft to Midway Airport in Chicago and then to a fete at the Four Season Hotel, where he met with his business partner in

Chicago real estate, Mr. Rezko, as well as with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Also present that night, according to a fresh report by James Bone and Dominic Kennedy of the London Times, was State Senator Barack Obama, who had recently won the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat...."

Most politicians try to keep their financial backers out of trouble until after the election. But Rezko, is already indicted by a federal grand jury. And now hi

[I am the Egg Man]

Obamamania, you must be lucid or on some type of psychotropic drugs.. get real. you are indignant and throwing the racist card is nothing but a mere ploy on your 13 year old mind maiking comments about white people.. you are a student of ognorant history. you need to come down to north carolina and see how we feel about our heritage. Obamamania is typical of how you place judgement on whites for something that has nothing to do with color.. this is a matter of what happens when someone has been found out and your thoughts do nothing more than humor me and the rest of the readers. Obama is slipping in the polls. he knows it and is intelligent enough to move on. Try focusing more on what Obama can do instead of what Clinton "might" be doing.. get a life OBAMAMANIA. . YOU ARE IGNORANT OF REALITY AND THERES NOTHING THAT CAN BE SAID OTHER THAN GET OVER IT ! AND TRY NOT TO BE SUCH A CRYBABY.. HAHAHAHA.. THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH POLITICS. ITS JUST THAT YOU CANT STAND TO SEE YOUR MAN BEING FOUND OUT.. HUMOR US WITH SOME MORE OF YOUR VERBAL GARBAGE.. YOU NEED TO SEE A PSYCHOTHERAPIST !

[Catya F]

There was a good reason the Founding Fathers endeavored to separate church and state. Can we put this faux issue behind us and get down to some damn real ones? Planned starvation? Oil? War? Rampant corporate greed? (and that's just the issues emanating directly from the Oval Office.)

I just wish the reporters would get real, even if the entertainment tonight commentators won't...oh, wait...they're the same!

[Bob H. of NC]

I live in Asheville, North Carolina. I got a "push-poll" call 2 days ago, trying to influence my vote in the approaching NC primary. It was so obviously pro-Clinton and anti-Obama, it was laughable. It was obviously not a real poll, but an attempt to sway my vote by presenting very inaccurate stories re: Obama and Clinton. Always positive for Clinton, always negative for Obama. This was paid for by either the NC GOP or the Clinton campaign. The "questions" were so pitifully transparent that by the end of the "poll", the woman calling (obviously black) and I were both laughing. She actually pleaded with me to go through the entire list of questions so she wouldn't lose her job. A year ago, I admired Hillary Clinton. Today, I don't feel that way.

[sushi eating volvo driver]

I'll take Obamas frayed connections to Wright any day over Clintons new found connections to Limbaugh, Scaife, Fox News and bill o'reilly.

At least Wright has a reason to be angry. The most disgusting and pathetic sight is the rich white male playing a victim which is the bread and butter of Fox News and its ilk. Oh reverse racism boo-hoo! I'm a white male myself who's not even rich and I hope if I ever start whining and playing the victim about reverse racism i get slapped.

The fact that Clinton's chumming up to the same people who tried to destroy her and Bill during the 90's shows shows that she is motivated by nothing but a lust for power and money. I'm guessing another Clinton presidency will increase their fortune from $100 million to a few billion.

[Hoss]

I'm so glad that we have both the media and the candidates themselves to keep voters from hearing about the issues instead of this wonderful tabloid drivel. Campaign 2008 has taken what little dignity was left in any semblance of reasoned, responsible public debate and cast it to the winds. Surely this is not what the Founders meant when they enshrined the four freedoms in the First Amendment!

[nyctenant]

What Wright is doing to Obama is Black on Black crime!
So, it must be the Whites' fault...

[Kris Davey]

No doubt. Hillary & family will go to any extent to get nominated. Well can't blame them. This is what politics is about.

[kat1park]

Ex-obama supporter, Wright did this. Not Obama. What's your point? When will you guys get it? Rev. Wright does and says what he wants to. He doesn't represent Obama when he is doing that. What is so difficult to understand about that? I don't represent my pastor. He doesn't represent me. No matter what he says. I'm my own person. I represent myself. Regardless of what I listen to or where, I still get to decide who I am and whether or not I agree with everything that comes out of a person's mouth. And I can decide to listen to what someone says and take the good and leave the bad. I do not have to agree with every single word that comes out of someone's mouth. Your arguments have no basis in reality or fact. Obama's mother is white. He is not racist. How many of you hate your mother? Use common sense.

[Lynn]

Please come out to Washington and visit the press club and see the mountain of rules they have to determine who does and does not get to speak at press club events. One person does not organize anything there.

[Polls dropping so I'M OUTRAGED?]

This will come back to bite Hillary and backfire a great deal. It will hasten her exit from the race. Clinton will do anything to get elected. Fortunately, as bill used to say, the American people will figure it out.
-----------------------

AL, its time to face reality. Give it up.
you put up a good fight but IT IS WHAT IT IS.

[Mandelay]

Yes, of course, Hillary did this. But it didn't start with the press club; it started over 20 years ago when Hillary first began writing Rev. Wright's sermons. Then, through a carefully planned series of events made to look like coincidence, she lured Barack Obama into joining Wright's church and you know the rest. But seriously, by calling Wright a "crazy old uncle," Obama seems to have earned the Wrath of Wright all on his own.

[Alasdair]

This is all just ridiculous, Hillary may or may not have set it up (and I wouldn't put it past her), but either way she's unfit to be President at all. She has actually gone on record saying something to the effect of her time as first lady being like an internship for the presidency.... All I can say to that is 'Wow'.

Obama is an intelligent free-thinking man with the guys and drive to do what he must to win, but still keeps his morals intact as he does so. Hillary is weak and stupid, she took back her husband after he so publicly humiliated her? It was obvious at that point she'd be using that connection to get into the White House.

Just remember the entire Clinton family brought shame to this country, and they deserve to live a while as those "regular working class" people they constantly talk about helping.

[Ann Knapp]

Here we go again! Blame the Clintons. Please........give me a break. What you see is what you get. He was reflecting the truth of what Obama listened to for 20 yrs. The NAACP program was not set up by the same person. It was no different than the press meeting. In fact the man who introduced Rev. Wright all but said you better elect Obama or there is going to be another Watts type explosion if the Dems don't pick him. How long will people be naive to how the black community feels towards the white community? What Rev. Wright spoke has more truth to it than most blacks want people to know as it is too easy to continue blame whites for all their problems, even yet. Poor Obama, the real truth is out of the bag now.

[David T]

You should read about Rev. Barbara Reynolds before you start rolling conspiracy theories. On March 17th she wrote about Wright and excoriated the press's treatment of him. No doubt she supported his being a speaker to give him a chance to defend himself. Just because people with the eye of a poltical "analyst" say he "cheapened his arguments and his movement by mugging for the cameras, rolling his eyes, heaping scorn on his critics and acting as if nobody in the room was learned enough to ask him a question." Maybe other people didn't see it that way.

Maybe it was a carefully crafted move between Obama and Wright to make Wright appear so completely over the top that Obama could finally confront this now in the open and move on rather than have it drag on for months in August, September and October. Sounds just as plausible to me.

Obama is going to win the nomination and it is a good thing. I get the feeling that fewer Obama supporters would vote for Clinton if she wins the nomination than Clinton supporters would vote for Obama if he wins? Don’t lose focus on what really matters in November, this “my way or the highway” attitude has to stop or the dems might as well not nominate anyone.

Reference: http://reynoldsworldnews.blogspot.com/2008/03/pastor-jeremiah-wright.html#links

[Dick B.]

The issue is not Clinton's presumed supporter organizing this event (shame on you for such a conspiracy theory), it is Rev. Wright's thoughts/beliefs and what the association of Barak Obama with this man for 20 years may say about Barak's world view. I think it was appropriate to have thought about JFK's Catholic religion, and Romeny's religion and what that might say about how they would perform in the Presidency. It is not racist to ask the same question about Obama's belonging to a black community where Rev. Wright holds a very important position. This may not be about policy positions, but it is fair to wonder how a candidate's world view affect's their actual policy as opposed to that which is groomed for public view in the election cycle.

I do not find myself convinced by Obama's belated clarification of how he and Rev. Wright differ.

[Joe]

No, Hillary didn't have to make him act like anything. She didn't have to.

Nowhere in the article does it say anything more than that one of her biggest campaigners set up the press conference.

Why is everyone arguing against arguments that no one made? They're called straw men, so it's very sexist of you to employ them.

Please argue against straw women (or straw hermaphrodites, neuters, or indeterminately gendered objects) instead next time.

[Mandelay]

Yes, of course, Hillary did this. But it didn't start with the press club; it started over 20 years ago when Hillary first began writing Rev. Wright's sermons. Then, through a carefully planned series of events made to look like coincidence, she lured Barack Obama into joining Wright's church and you know the rest. But seriously, by calling Wright a "crazy old uncle," Obama seems to have earned the Wrath of Wright all on his own.

[JL]

I agree, it looks very fishy, and the same thought entered my mind. Wright demonstrates no allegiance to Obama nor any constructive purpose that I can perceive. It occurred to me that a big pile of bucks could convince Wright to go on the road and say things that hurt Obama.

[ForTheSheepies]

Do a little research for yourselves sheepies and you'll see that the claim that the US government bioweapon research created the AIDS virus is not far fetched at all.

Google:

NSSM 200 - Kissinger's blueprint for depopulation

House Bill 15090

PNAC - Rebuilding America's Defenses (calls for the use of race specific bioweapons)

Dr Len Horowitz

Boyd Ed Graves

This is the stuff that comes straight from the US government's mouth but the media consistently fails to report it. However it is available for any one of you to Google yourselves and do a little research of your own.

Wake up sheepies.

[Tom]

The article only brings words such as "pathetic" and "weak" to mind. Poor Obama.

[WV-DC]

So big deal, Dr. Reynolds is a Clinton supporter. Fact is, Wright was likely an Obama supporter . . . at least until Obama dissed him.

[DEB]

HILLARY,
THE MONEY YOU PAID WRIGHT OUT OF YOUR109 MILLION DOLLARS, WILL COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU...GOD DONT LIKE UGLY, AND WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.....AND YOUR CHIICKENS WILL COME TO ROOSE SOON HRC!!!

[peabody3000]

if we link mccain to the keating 5, or hillary to BJ bubba, now there are some meaningful connections

in the meantime obama has the most reasoned views of politics going in this campaign. a kooky preacher cant change that, no matter how badly this rev wants to make a bad impression

[DEB]

HILLARY,
THE MONEY YOU PAID WRIGHT OUT OF YOUR109 MILLION DOLLARS, WILL COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU...GOD DONT LIKE UGLY, AND WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.....AND YOUR CHIICKENS WILL COME TO ROOSE SOON HRC!!!

[Robert]

This is Absolutely Ridiculous !! ... the reporter of this article, Andrew Malcolm, Should be Ashamed of himself to try to put such a spin on this situation....Blaming Clinton's campaign...Don't be crazy....It is what it is...Wright is who he is and says what he believes and wants to say....Barrack Omits Wright has been a Mentor to Him for 20 Years......THATS THE ISSUE !! .....Obama, who recently said he could no more disown Wright than he could the black community.... He pretty much disowned Wright today...6 weeks ago he said Wright was like Family and could not denounce him….Whats Changed ?.....NOTHING ......Obama will Say Anything or Do Anything to Be President !!!.....P.S. You can't wallow with the likes of Rev. Wright, Antoin "Tony" Rezko and Louis Farrakhan and not get dirty !!!

[tom]

after years and years of what all these reporters know..why doesn't the great press start asking clinton about some of these people..Kevin Ives and Don Henry: Died August 1987. Reportedly, they had stumbled upon the Arkansas Mena Drug Operation (many stories and articles have been written about Clinton's affiliation with the Mena Mafia) It was first reported that these two young boys died as a result of falling asleep on a railroad track. It was later revealed that Ives had received a crushed skull prior to being placed on the tracks and Henry had been stabbed to death. The following 7 deaths were all of people who reportedly had knowledge and information concerning the mysterious, unsolved murders of Kevin Ives and Don Henry:

Keith Coney:died July 1988 from injuries sustained from a motorcycle accident. Some reports indicated that he was being chased by an unidentified vehicle.
Keith McKaskle: died Nov. 1988 from multiple stab wounds
Greg Collins: died Jan. 1989 from a gunshot wound to the head. No suspect was ever found.
Jeff Rhodes: died April 1989 from a gunshot wound to the head. His body was burned and thrown in a dumpster.
James Milam: died 1989. His death was ruled as being from natural causes, until his head was later recovered from a trash bin!
Richard Winters: died July 1990 from injuries sustained during a robbery attempt. He was a suspect in the death of Kevin Ives and Don Henry. Some reports claim the robbery was only a setup.
Jordan Kettleson: died June 1990. He died from gunshot wounds and was found sitting in his truck.

[Dont let Hamas pick our president]

Desertion by the credulous and naïve from the Obama camp are becoming most contagious and nearing if not
surpassing pandemic proportions. The Barack bubble is
bursting and Amahdinejad,Chavez,Kim Jong-Ill and other
Cstros will not be coming to a theater near you. You can
fool some of the people some of the time but not all the
people all of the time.

[PJinOH]

True colors!

Because I'm.....what "pattern"?!?!

[Margie]

I CAN'T SEE THAT OBAMA WOULD MAKE GOOD HUSBAND MATERIAL. HE ALLOWS PEOPLE TO MAKE EXCUSES FOR HIM AND PROTECT HIM. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHO ARE DUPED NEED TO REALIZE THAT OUR ADVERSARIES WOULD NOT GIVE HIM SLACK IF HE WERE PRESIDENT. OBAMA'S A WIMP; HILLARY'S TOUGHER THAN HIM.

[The People]

Doesn't really matter, McCain will win hands down. All the Demo. ping-ponging is just intertainment.

Sorry, but true...