Why Are We Babbling About Rev. Wright?

Will the exaltation of Rev. Wright fill one child's belly?

Will the damnation of Rev. Wright get one child healthcare?

Will the exhaltation of Rev. Wright move the USA off of fossil fuels?

Will the damnation of Rev. Wright stop one foreclosure?

Then why in the crap are we babbling like idiots about an irrelevancy at the behest of the Corporate Numbskull Networks?

If we want to 'take sides' on something could we please make it about something important to OUR NATION'S WELFARE?

RMD

•  Because it sells papers and

  helps fill the time between commercials and updates on Brittany's marriage.

  by MajorFlaw on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:38:18 AM PDT

  •  Because msnbc have no news

    to report. Besides Keith, MSNBC SUCKS.

    by christine20 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:59:18 AM PDT

•  The corporate media

  is babbling about Reverend Wright b/c he outed it for what it is.  Tabloid journalism.  Propagandists for the Bushies.  Lazy asses who don't read anything of substance.  They work in 10-30 second sound bytes.  Reverend Wright will go on and on for days b/c the media has been caught with its pants down and now it has to spin itself out of the truth.

  by Libby Shaw on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:38:22 AM PDT

•  I was upset this morning watching him

  but the feeling didn't last. He was a distraction. He's not Obama. But Obama needs to grab the bull by the horns and set the media narrative for the next week.

  Wright is a sideshow.

  by Earl3 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:38:56 AM PDT

  •  My suggestion to everyone: turn OFF the teevee...

    ...the media is setting the tone for this horsecrap and people are allowing it.  Send 'em a message; turn off the teevee, change the channel, do something else.  BOYCOTT.  Effect their ratings...maybe they'll change their behavior.

    by Donise on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:32:31 AM PDT

  •  if people define a situation as real

    ...it is real in its consequences.

    That is one of the bedrock principles of sociology, and one the media have learned well.  So go on feeling he's a sideshow.  Your momma will be watching story after story on him on tv today, and it will color how she thingks.

    And another thing.  Wright's no embarrassment to me.  I wish more people would speak roughly to those in power.

    by kay dub on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:39:57 AM PDT

•  Well,

  I for one am not that interested in Wright. But if other Kossacks want to write about him, it's their choice. And it's your choice, as it is mine, whether to read the diaries.

  by droogie6655321 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:40:34 AM PDT

•  New rule

  Everytime someone posts a Rev. Wright diary, everybody has to drink a shot ...

  by Gator1980 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:40:46 AM PDT

  •  we'll all die

    Hey BB endorses this plan

    by Hey BB on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:05:01 AM PDT

  •  Make mine an orange juice ;-)

    by Donise on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:33:39 AM PDT

  •  Here Here!

    by crazyshirley2100 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 09:49:22 AM PDT

•  This is why I've always been

  concerned over involving religion too much in politics.  Hasn't taken long for our political coverage to turn into forums on religious beliefs.  Do we want people discussing political issues or debating theology?

  by tjb22 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:42:00 AM PDT

•  Because your diary title, diary's body, and tags

  each have some variation of the words Reverend Wright?

  Oh, and the media is obsessed with trivial shit. Not the issues. But that goes without saying.

  by velvet blasphemy on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:44:21 AM PDT

•  Wright is worthy of discussion

  Listen, the media hit job on Wright was an attack on the black church. Defending this religious institution is important.

  by HouTxLib on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:45:18 AM PDT

•  Did anyone comment on Andrea Mitchell...

  On MTP yesterday, Andrea Mitchell made startling comments about the role of race in this election, which she observed in PA. Her remarks were, to me, startling because they were unfiltered, and she did not qualify them. She said that polls don't/can't reflect how much race affects voting.

  I thought she was very brave to make this observation on the most watched political program on tv.

  by DorothyT on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:46:44 AM PDT

  •  Here's Andrea Mitchell's quote on MTP

    This is why we're talking about race.

    From the MSNBC website:

    MR. RUSSERT:  Has Hillary Clinton successfully put a question mark over Barack Obama's head, "Who is this guy"?

    MS. MITCHELL:  She has and he has in some of his statements.  And I do think--let me just say something from being on the ground in Pennsylvania and in Ohio--I think racism is a real factor here.  I don't think it's being polled correctly because I don't think it can be polled correctly.  I think it is what you see in some of his failure to connect with a particular sector of the electorate.  And I'm not sure how you get your arms around it, but I think it is a real issue that there is a resistance to him on some level in the electorate, and you hear these things from voters when you talk to them.  "Oh, I heard that he's not really a Christian." "Oh, well, he didn't, you know, put his hand over his heart." All this willingness to believe totally erroneous things about Barack Obama, which begins to congeal, and I think it's a problem.

    by DorothyT on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:53:57 AM PDT

    •  White elderly women want their first

      Lady President.  That affects the polling.  They will not be voting for McCain.  So this isn't about race.

      Mitchell fails to point out those "white" states that Obama won.

      by Fools on the Hill on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:12:30 AM PDT

      •  She's missing a lot.

        And frankly, as a resident of the state of Ohio, I'm insulted that she claims that those of us here and in Pennsylvania are evidently more racist than people anywhere else in the country.

        We have our share of racists, no doubt...but the implication is that we are somehow especially so.  

        by tjb22 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:25:20 AM PDT

        •  Agree. The general implication has been that

          the entire Appalachian region from North to South is filled with poor, white, racists.     I haven't seen any evidence that is actually the case.

          by deadinthewater on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:37:56 AM PDT

          •  We're no more racist in Ohio,

            than in other states.  And yeah, there's a small corner that can be considered "Appalachian", but again, are they any more racist there, than say, people living in California?  I believe Hillary won in that primary, too.  How about New York?

            by tjb22 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:41:52 AM PDT

    •  that's interesting

      the woman who asked the stupid flag pin question, nash mccabe, (who said she wouldn't vote for him.) was mentioned in a NYT article about race.

      the article speculated that the reason for so many of those strange explanations for not voting for obama (such as flag pins) is actually race.

      by condorcet on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:15:14 AM PDT

•  Kudos, RedMeatDem,

  your diary is true.

  by bonesy on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:47:06 AM PDT

•  Because he is an unalloyed

  asset for Barack Obama.  The more Wright is discussed, the better it is for the campaign.

  Right?

  by bugscuffle on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:48:57 AM PDT

•  God works in mysterious ways

  And even if you don't believe in God, the discussion surrounding Wright raises some important topics that may have nothing directly to do with Wright or Obama's campaign.  I guess that I'm not quite as dismissive as you seem to be.

  by winsock on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:52:28 AM PDT

  •  Maybe I'm crazy,

    but I don't think the majority of whites in this country would be as offended by Wright's remarks this weekend as the media likes to believe.

    I believe they are offended...and yup...they're fighting back because Wright has criticized them.

    by tjb22 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:55:54 AM PDT

    •  I agree with you tjb22

      Wright also reminded the lazy derrieres in the media that he served in the military for six years while those who got us into Iraq received deferments or assignments to the National Guard where ahem W. was AWOL much of the time.  Wright did not say that literally about W. but implied it.  He also talked about Iran/Contra and ministers in the South who wore preacher's robes on Sunday morning while sporting white clan robes on Sunday night.

      Wright talked about a lot of stuff the guilty parties would rather not remember.  

      by Libby Shaw on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:28:07 AM PDT

      •  They think "ordinary" people

        are offended...well, let me tell you, the "ordinary" people I know feel as if we've all been held in little regard by those "guilty parties".

        by tjb22 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:37:25 AM PDT

•  I don't know

  Why are you talking about Rev. Wright?

  I guess you saw that there were only two dozen or so diaries about him today, and felt the need to fill the void with this masterpiece of analysis.

  by DemCurious on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:52:32 AM PDT

•  It's not us...

  It's the media that has made this a referendum on culture and race.

  Sen Obama has tried to get past it, we've tried to get past it...but they won't let it go. They are trying to frame him as a radical terrorist, and we either let that dialog continue, or engage it.

  I'm a black guy, and believe you me this has been an AWFUL time at work. Three people (so far) have basically asked me "so, what do you think about this Wright crackpot". Generally speaking, I don't feel 'black' at work, but hoo boy do I ever now.

  I want this to go away as much as anyone, but I don't think the MSM or the Right is going to release it yet.

  by Darkmoth on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:53:44 AM PDT

•  Some are gutless about dealing with race

  The Rev Wright's various comments would not amount to anything unusual, nor would the mainstream media's "dogwhistling" be worthy of note were the people nervous about his comments really completely aware of what anyone black has had to go through.  If they were, they would have signed on to the whole program.

  I think a lot of the posters here seem very naive about the racial component to politics and what intestinal fortituted might be required to deal with it.

  If you pay attention to the song, "We Shall Overcome," you hear the addition to the main line - hold on.

  That is a depiction of what it has taken.  Rev. Wright did the right thing, getting up in front of hostile microphones and using the moment to address the issues faced by people in the black churches across America every day.

  I think that deserves respect, not a lot of nervousness about whether a black man ought to say what makes white people cringe because it is the truth.

  If people here are having to get used to it because they have never personally have ever been made to fear prejudice, that is probably a sign that there is progress to be made.

  I would ask all those who think Obama's campaign may be injured by the Rev Wright's brand of honesty, to meditate on their own fears and prejudices, and to resolve to rally around Obama for his courage in facing all this.  He knew that eventually his entering the race for president would bring this aspect of America out.  To become president he has to do what the song says: hold on.

  So do we.

  by Stuart Heady on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 07:59:25 AM PDT

  •  Reconciliation - Education - Different is NOT....

    ... Deficient!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Amen to Reverand Wright...

    From a middle aged white lady who GETS IT!!!!!!!!

    by Donise on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:37:24 AM PDT

•  Wel its not changing my support for Obama

  How bout you?

  by SolarAngel on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:00:46 AM PDT

•  why are you...?

  oh, never mind

  by voila on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:02:18 AM PDT

•  Maybe because he is on a speaking tour n/t

  by RokkiBlueboa on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:11:51 AM PDT

•  Talking about Rev. Wright is all they got

  Otherwise, they might have to report about Hillary voting for the five-year plus, $3 trillion war in Iraq.  Or Hillary being on the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart when they were dumping American suppliers in favor of China, engaging in sexist promotion practices, busting unions, making health care impossible for their workers, destroying small downtowns, sucking up local tax abatements at the expense of education, etc., etc., etc.

  by Pangloss on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:24:27 AM PDT

  •  voting records

    would be great!  How many times Obama voted 'present' and the text of those bills. You mentionned a few of Clinton's above.

    by Parthenia on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:36:11 AM PDT

•  Amen -- distraction technique

  Agreed!  Let us please focus on the issues our nation is facing.  My preferences (are you reading this CM?)

  healthcare
  economy -- respecting and caring for the "little folks"
  -- FOOD for all
  -- Responsible research for alternative energy.. not ripping off another's food supply
  not putting something on the market before it is fully tested for safety
  not buying claims of greater yield for GM modified and not safe food or fuel, etc.

  For me, the above would be a nice start.

  by Parthenia on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:33:04 AM PDT

•  Yep I wish Anna Nicole Smith had waited until

  this month to overdose and maybe Paris Hilton will be caught driving drunk again and this Rev. Wright thing will disappear so the MSM can report real impacting news.

  by TNforkerry on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:43:35 AM PDT

  •  Well, Hannah Montana

    did have a semi-nude photo taken for Vanity Fair...

    by tjb22 on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:47:43 AM PDT

•  The media is full of bigots and closet racists

  The problem is not Rev. Wright.

  The problem is the changing landscape of the American culture. And the media is the last barrier, the last stronghold to defend the status-quo and the house of lies. The Clintons are trying implicitly to remind people of that fact.
  Reason why many people have the impression that Hillary is helping McCain. In fact she is not. But they have the same bottom line!

  by Real Change on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:44:32 AM PDT

•  The Evil trinity

  Liars, pollsters, and the media!

  by Kwaku Azar on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 08:47:50 AM PDT

•  White people don't want Black folk to be proud

  They have to squash that shit, nip it in the bud. White folks are losing power. I hear their concern in Dem meetings, at anti war rallies and neighborhood trash clean up weekends. They're afraid brown/black/whoever don't need them anymore. We're weaning ourselves from the teat and it's scary.

  The media is creating this Rev. Wright controvery so no other Black person gets a big head  and starts speaking out forcefully against corruption, government and white supremacy

  by LoLoLaLa on Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 09:09:46 AM PDT