Rev. Wright Visits With National Press Club w/ poll

We were introduced to Rev. Wright by sound bites. And, like it or not, he is now the most famous pastor in the world. Not, because of his contributions to society in serving the poor, defending his country, or preaching the gospel, but because of his association to a man who will become the next President of the United States. What does Rev. Wright want you to know. On Monday, the most famous pastor in the world will speak to the National Press Club.

I must confess, I am nervous, and that is putting it lightly. The National Press Club will host a breakfast staring our very on Reverend Wright. The event is Sold Out.

The Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., senior pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, will discuss the role of faith in the public square in a presentation entitled, The African American Religious Experience; Theology & Practice, at a National Press Club breakfast on April 28th.
       Dr. Wright will also talk about his pastorate, his development as a theologian and teacher, and the how the issues of social justice and global inequities have shaped his faith and his fight for those who are most marginalized in society. He will address the legacy and tradition of education in his family. And Dr. Wright will put into perspective theologically, historically and politically, his ministry and public service that has been so widely discussed in the media.

The National Press Club breakfast will begin promptly at 8:30 a.m. and Rev. Wright's remarks will begin just after 9:00 a.m., followed by a question-and-answer session.

Part of me wants to say, great, he will be there to speak for himself and clear everything up. But, like Hillary said, I maybe a lot of things, but I am not dumb. I imagine sometime around 9:30 a.m. the earth will shake because they will hit him hard, question after questions. Will Rev. Wright be able to take on members of the National Press Club?

•  I think he knows to be smart with his words

  Plus, it might not be a bad thing for people to see a calmer side. I will choose to be positive about it. Doesn't matter either way, soundbites will continue to be played.

  by ElizabethAM on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:23:17 PM PDT

  •  Did you see his last interview?

    That wasn't smart.  I understand what the guy said in the past, but he isn't helping in the now.

    by HillarysWar on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:31:19 PM PDT

    •  Yeah, well, like I said

      I'm trying to stay positive. Plus, I think some people tune out just when they hear his name anyway or don't want to hear what he has to say unless it's something crazy controversial. I will say a prayer that he watches his mouth. You think Obama and him will talk prior to the upcoming interviews?

      by ElizabethAM on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:33:09 PM PDT

      •  IT's Moyers how many people are going to

        watch it anyway in those red states??? They already farmed it out to the news so they could tear it up and the only thing they came up with was that he is a "politician"

        This wont be an issue.

        by jkb246 on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:07:42 PM PDT

    •  Read this

      MOYERS: In the 20 years that you've been his pastor, have you ever heard him repeat any of your controversial statements as his opinion?
      
      WRIGHT: No.  No.  No.  Absolutely not.

      by MAORCA on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:07:05 PM PDT

      •  bah he did more damage than good.

        I can hear the soundbite tomorrow...... when he did the race speech in Philly he was just being a politician..... will play over and over and over and over and over all day and night on the talk radio stations....

        Wright has his heart in the right place, but he is dealing with professional "gotcha hit squads"  and will get slaughtered at the Q&A session......

        anyone want to help me pull my hair out now?

        by wargolem on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 09:09:41 PM PDT

•  i think the pope is more famous..and let him talk

  this is America and he is one of the brightest theologians in the world...he should have a chance to defend himself, I bet he does great

  by Cronk on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:24:34 PM PDT

  •  He is definitely more

    interesting than the Pope and more in tune with his congregation's needs.

    by gchaucer2 on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:27:03 PM PDT

•  Honest?

  I wish he would just go away. Even his name still in the news is not good for Obama.

  If this Wright baloney came out one week before Pennsylvania, Obama would have lost the state 65-35.

  by MJJLWolf on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:25:49 PM PDT

  •  Wright is on Bill Moyers tomorrow, and

    CNN/MSNBC had clips already.

    It's not too bad, but he does call O a "politician" with how he handled the controversy.  It was said in the pejorative sense of the word.

    by Kab ibn al Ashraf on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:31:36 PM PDT

  •  But, he's not going away....

    ...the GOP will keep bringing it up again and again...  look at NC?  If the challenge is not answered, it will be like the swift boat thing all over again.... and Kerry ducking the question.

    Better for Wright to be defending himself than Barack...  People will get to see he's a real person, not some caricature on TV.

    Still, I'm a bit nervous... I've seen Wright in interviews... he's not a warm and fuzzy person and can be rather haughty and arrogant...  Obviously, that is not the side we hope to see!

    by LordMike on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:37:58 PM PDT

•  This is just really bad politics

  He shouldn't be appearing on Moyer's or the National Press Club or anywhere until after the general.

  Just being mentioned gives people and worse off the pundits more grist to mill. And you know who'll be wearing the millstone.

  by palantir on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:31:47 PM PDT

  •  He is NOT a Politician!

    He is a pastor.

    He has the right to defend himself, in whatever venue he wants. He didn't ask for this.

    by ATLSandlapper on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:38:40 PM PDT

  •  You are a wuss! are you that scared?, see below

    by Pete Rock on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:49:40 PM PDT

    •  He is a pastor, yes

      but he's made some highly political sermons.

      Was he wrong? NO.

      Does he want Obama to have as easy a time of getting elected? He certainly should.

      By placing himself front and center he puts rocks under Obama's bare feet and there are miles to walk...

      Obama will overcome the political fallout, but, seriously, do you actually think that Pastor Wright's appearances make things easier for him?

      by palantir on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:58:25 PM PDT

      •  No, I don't

        but this was never going to go away (re: NC GOP ad). If Obama cannot win this thing without Rev. Wright at least attempting to correct the public record (with those who will listen), then he cannot win this thing - period. Barack ran with the full knowledge that the Wright thing could blow up. He was obviously hoping that the majority of us would respond to it intelligently.

        And his sermons were not political. They did contain social commentary, but he was not putting himself into the public sphere in order to gain an office or further a political agenda.

        by ATLSandlapper on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:40:14 PM PDT

        •  I'm not sure that you understand what

          political means then. Politics is the effort  expended to effect or inhibit change by forging a concensus. I'm sure you don't think that his 'commentary' on social ills isn't political. He certainly was trying to effect change, to convince his congregation that they needed to consider his words and act on making the change he was advocating. That's politics. It's not just running for office.

          by palantir on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:58:30 PM PDT

      •  Yeah, actually, I do...

        ...Remember that the GOP isn't letting it go...  Look at the ads in NC... Wright can defend himself while Barack's hands stay clean... the more people see Wright in a positive context, as a normal human being and not some caricature, the less effect it will have on Obama's candidacy...  seriously...

        Now, it certainly could go bad... but, it's too early to tell, really...  I can't believe that Wright would go to the media without Obama's consent... he may have even been prodded to go on...

        by LordMike on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:40:42 PM PDT

        •  That's actually a convincing argument.

          I just think it's safer to be a bit less visible.

          by palantir on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 09:00:33 PM PDT

          •  the right wing talk radio has been

            going on and on and on about 3 things for the last 3 months....

            Rev Wright
            William Aiyers
            Michelle saying "first time she was proud of america in her adult life.."

            they twist everything and imply tons of stuff.

            You folks need to read more MLK speeches and get with the program.  We need to start emailing and calling these shows sponsors and tell them we are about to withdraw economic support from them.  But hey who am i, i am just quoting Martin Luther King Jr. when he said....

            Now the other thing we'll have to do is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now, we are poor people, individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively, that means all of us together, collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it.

            We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles, we don't need any Molotov cocktails, we just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you."

            it would work, and did work in the 60's nothing has changed you threaten to stop spending money with these peoples sponsors, and they get scared...  just like nascar paying off Jesse and Al over no black drivers in Nascar. Oh well if your just happy blogging and being armchair quarterbacks and not actually taking action then thats fine with me if you can live with it so can i.

            by wargolem on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 09:17:50 PM PDT

  •  They would mention it anyway

    Come on now you should know better. Look at NC. Ads were ready weeks before just for this primary, not because he is going to be on TV.

    by jkb246 on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:04:30 PM PDT

    •  Yes, but it gives current context to their

      regurgitation.

      by palantir on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:19:50 PM PDT

•  Rev Wright Bio and comments Chicago Tribune

  Be interseting if his Full bio givem at the breakfast

  As Written in the

  Factor Military Duty Into Criticism

  April 3, 2008

  By Lawrence Korb and Ian Moss

  In 1961, a young African-American man, after hearing President John F. Kennedy's challenge to, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but
  what you can do for your country," gave up his student deferment, left college in Virginia and voluntarily joined the Marines.

  In 1963, this man, having completed his two years of service in the Marines,volunteered again to become a Navy corpsman. (They provide medical
  assistance to the Marines as well as to Navy personnel.)

  The man did so well in corpsman school that he was the valedictorian and became a cardiopulmonary technician. Not surprisingly, he was assigned to
  the Navy's premier medical facility, Bethesda Naval Hospital , as a member of the commander in chief's medical team, and helped care for President Lyndon
  B. Johnson after his 1966 surgery. For his service on the team, which he left in 1967, the White House awarded him three letters of commendation.

  What is even more remarkable is that this man entered the Marines and Navy not many years after the two branches began to become integrated.

  While this young man was serving six years on active duty, Vice President Dick Cheney, who was born the same year as the Marine/sailor, received five deferments, four for being an undergraduate and graduate student andone for being a prospective father. Presidents Bill Clinton
  and George W. Bush, both five years younger than the
  African-American youth, used their student deferments to stay in college
  until 1968. Both then avoided going on active duty through family
  connections.

  Who is the real patriot? The young man who interrupted his studies to serve his country for six years or our three political leaders who beat the system? Are the patriots the people who actually sacrifice something or those who merely talk about their love of the country?

  After leaving the service of his country, the young African-American finished his final year of college, entered the seminary, was ordained as a
  minister, and eventually became pastor of a large church in one of America 's biggest cities.

  This man is Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the retiring pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, who has been in the news for comments he made over the last three decades.

  Since these comments became public we have heard criticisms, condemnations,denouncements and rejections of his comments and him.

  We've seen on television, in a seemingly endless loop, sound bites of a select few of Rev. Wright's many sermons.

  Some of the Wright's comments are inexcusable and inappropriate and should be condemned, but in calling him "unpatriotic," let us not forget that this is a man who gave up six of the most productive years of his life to serve
  his country.

  How many of Wright's detractors, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly to name but a few, volunteered for service, and did so under the often tumultuous
  circumstances of a newly integrated armed forces and a society in the midst of a civil rights struggle? Not many.

  While words do count, so do actions.

  Let us not forget that, for whatever Rev. Wright may have said over the last 30 years, he has demonstrated his patriotism.

  Lawrence Korb and Ian Moss are, respectively, Navy and Marine Corps
  veterans. They work at The Center For American Progress. Korb served as
  assistant secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration

  by RomeyDa on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:34:12 PM PDT

•  Better sooner then later...

  ...to know if Wright is going to be a protracted engagement or periodic ambushes. Best to know as much as possible in advance and be better prepared to counter.

  by kalihikane on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:38:18 PM PDT

•  i thought at first he should wait

  but the best way to contrast him and Obama  is for him to differentiate himself and his life his work and his  ministry from Obama's quest for the presidency. The fact that Obama is going on Fox this weekend is no accident.  It is courageous of Obama...even tho it is nervewracking for us......politically...Fox will continue to pound and dissect but it will free him to campaign in both places as the 527's start landing.......he is going to be aggressive.........mark my words.

  by vmm918 on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:39:11 PM PDT

•  you think they will show it on C-Span

  at some point?

  by sc kitty on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:43:22 PM PDT

•  What a bunch of wusses "afraid of Wright"

    The guy is a pastor, a six year Marine who served honorably. The RW hystericals define him with a few out of context clips and you jelly spines piss and moan about how awful it is that he has a chance to talk to a national audience and clear the air as to putting forth his OWN views, not the ones Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh and other liars and slimers impute to him.

   Imagine how many Democrats and independents have a very fragmentary and sketchy idea of the man based on the thousands of thirty second sound bites.

   If it wasn't for Obama trying to give a sober fair appraisal and the friendship of people who know him first hand in Chicago, slimers would dominate the talks skows fake discussions and questions.

  Would you rely on the lazy  beholden Stephanapolus Gibson  news readers to be followers of their masters at Disney/ABC and try to mold opinion?

  Screw them.  They are pygmies and craven twits.

  When is the last time they had a worthwhile conversation that didn't bubble in and out of the "infotainment tonight" model?

  by Pete Rock on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:44:02 PM PDT

•  One should never be afraid of the truth!

  Rev. Wright is an intelligent, well-spoken man, with a long, distinguished record of service to our country. He attended to LBJ and Bill Clinton in their times of need, and has done the same for Obama.

  If you bothered to watch the videos of the sermons, instead of the 5-second, out-of-context soundbites, you would know that his words have been distorted and twisted by the media.

  The man deserves, and we should demand, the opportunity to set the record straight. There is nothing to fear about watching him be interviewed or to see him address the National Press Club. It will only help to correct the false image of him that the media has been portraying.

  by astral66 on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:54:10 PM PDT

  •  Absolutely!

    The rehabilitation of JW and the exposure of the smear campaign against Wright and by extension Obama will happen as the real man emerges.

    The right wing has been foaming at the mouth about his supposed America damned statements. Time they were put straight. They only flourish (their fear and fright themes) when the truth is not allowed to confront the packs of lies. That starts with Bush and goes down to every republican footsoldier and parrot that they have.

    by Pete Rock on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:04:38 PM PDT

•  It should be obvious to everyone by now

  that the GOP 'story' on Wright has taken hold, and there's no shaking. It doesn't matter how lucid and reasonably he explains himself, the press will leave the building and eat him alive.

  What bugs me about the whole affair is the refusal to acknowledge that Wright was speaking IN HIS CAPACITY AS SPOKESMAN FOR GOD. Haveing been a pastor, I know that a Christian pastor speaking the mind of God must speak as a Christian, not as an American. Patriotism is not only irrelevant in the pulpit, it is acidic and counter-productive to the purposes of the church.

  IOW, he was doing his job when he said those things. Now, we might wish he chose different words; or that he soft-pedaled it; or that he corrupted his office and betrayed the his oath by turning into a flag-waving cheerleader (like some other, uh, so-called preachers). But he spoke as he was called to.

  Further, when a preacher speaks, whether he's physically in his church or at the Press Club, he remains a spokesman for God.

  Asking if Wright is patriotic is like asking 'have you stopped beating your wife?'. There is no answer that will no indict the one being asked.

  by Foxwizard on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:56:42 PM PDT

•  He and Obama have guts galore

  They are both bright and they say what they believe.  I respect them both and have high expectations that they will help the American people grow.

  by don mikulecky on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 07:57:45 PM PDT

•  whatever

  Whatever you think of Wright, the guy ain't helping Obama. Whenever Wright speaks he makes news and furthers the linkage between himself and Obama. The best thing he could do is just be quiet.

  by boomersun on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:07:00 PM PDT

  •  Read this pls

    MOYERS:
    In the 20 years that you've been his pastor, have you ever heard him repeat any of your controversial statements as his opinion?

    WRIGHT:
    No.  No.  No.  Absolutely not.

    by MAORCA on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:12:22 PM PDT

•  Some people would like Wright to

  disappear until November. But that would be a story, too. Where is Rev Wright? Obama would be asked that by the stooges in the press at every opportunity. Fox would have a stakeout at his, and all of his relatives' houses. There would be rumors of an Axlerod memo telling him to lay low.

  They have their bogus issue. They will use it. People who can't bring themselves to vote for someone Black have a reason and nothing will change their minds.

  by blindyone on Thu Apr 24, 2008 at 08:20:05 PM PDT

•  Here article by Tom Hayden on HILLARY,,GO OBAMA

  Here closing paragraph
  Why Hillary Makes My Wife SCREAM

  Scream Since no one in the party leadership seems able or willing to intervene against this self-destructive downward spiral, perhaps progressives need to consider responding in the only way politicians sometimes understand. If they can't hear us screaming at the television sets, we can send a message that the Clintons are acting as if they prefer John McCain to Barack Obama. And follow it up with another message: if Clinton doesn't immediately cease her path of destruction, millions of young voters and black voters may not send checks, may not knock on doors, and may not even vote for her if she becomes the nominee. That's not a threat, that's the reality she is creating.

  by RomeyDa on Fri Apr 25, 2008 at 07:32:32 PM PDT