According to MSNBC, an article in WND.com and the LaTimes contains additional damning info on Jeremiah Wright and the Trinity church. This is evidence that the media is promising to keep this story alive.
Sen. Barack Obama's Chicago church reprinted a manifesto by Hamas that defended terrorism as legitimate resistance, refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist and compared the terror group's official charter – which calls for the murder of Jews – to America's Declaration of Independence.
The Hamas piece was published on the "Pastor's Page" of the Trinity United Church of Christ newsletter reserved for Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose anti-American, anti-Israel remarks landed Obama in hot water, prompting the presidential candidate to deliver a major race speech earlier this week.
According to MSNBC who is cycling this story, this story is in the LaTimes but I have not been able to find the link.
Rev. Dean Snyder, Hillary's former Pastor, appears on the morning news to defend him.
More to come.
UPDATE -
Rev. Snyder makes the point that no congregant should be held accountable for everything a Pastor says. He speaks highly of Dr. Wright's work.
More people like this guy should stand up and do so together. This will NOT go away until some semblance of normalcy is painted around Wright and his church. Researchers will keep digging and there are obviously other things to find.
I am not clear on what can be done to kill this story. It's news, albeit news I do not like. While there are many here that prefer to kill a messenger, a real dialogue should happen among Obama's campaign and his supporters about how to kill this story because it has the tendency to be more damaging due to their trying to tie this to Obama's church and not just the Reverend Wright.
One suggestion is to convene a host of mainstream ministers to speak out on behalf of this minister. He seems to have some support out there, but not vocal enough to make an impact.
It's tough when much of the base does not understand the religious sector of our country. But one thing the campaign cannot do is become religious apologists to explain this away. I learned while working the Dean campaign that you cannot reaffirm the thing that people fear most about you. If they fear you are a 'nut,' even an off note cheer can kill you. Well, there are uninformed who still believe Obama is a muslim and others who have not been informed either way. This type of slow drip will adversely affect much of the hard work of his campaign.
Nonetheless, until we figure out something, we will be enduring these disclosures until something gives. My suggestion to his church, STOP HELPING!
ANOTHER UPDATE -
Thanks davidkc for the update on Obama's prior response to this.
And article from a few days ago:
"I have already condemned my former pastor's views on Israel in the strongest possible terms, and I certainly wasn't in church when that outrageously wrong Los Angeles Times piece was re-printed in the bulletin," Obama said in a statement e-mailed to JTA late Thursday.
"Hamas is a terrorist organization, responsible for the deaths of many innocents, and dedicated to Israel's destruction, as evidenced by their bombarding of Sderot in recent months. I support requiring Hamas to meet the international community's conditions of recognizing Israel, renouncing violence, and abiding by past agreements before they are treated as a legitimate actor."
Obama has consistently condemned Hamas and defended Israel's military responses to rocket attacks.
I hope that the MSM will run this quote as well as that is not currently what I am seeing.
UPDATE ON A PERSONAL NOTE -
Unlike the accusations from many who have attacked my attempts to generate a dialogue on the media's approach to this story, I am not a troll or seeking to be a kill joy for those existing in a state of ignorant bliss. Neither am I so naive to assume that if we just ignore the complications here, they will go away. I am also not a professional journalist nor am I pretending to be one - sorry if my writing disappoints. I don't have all the links but am continuing to dig.
Quite the contrary, I have worked tirelessly on local and national Dem campaigns only to watch GOOD candidates get discouraged before they start or destroyed afterwards by just THIS type of foolishness. My true hope is NOT THIS TIME!!! I am struggling to understand what I can do as a supporter to buffer Obama during this trying period and am hoping that there are those here who feel the same. I'm sorry if my original attempts to communicate this were too broken or stunted for some, but I hope that a few of us are willing to talk this through. It won't die on its own.