I really do not understand how you reached the conclusions that you did Joan.

I thought Rev. Wright came across very well, patriotic even. He professed his love for our country and how he disagrees with our policies at times.

If you weren't playing the gotcha game and so eagerly taking his comments out of context, you would've caught the actual comments that should be damaging to Obama. But like most of our establishment press, you're too fucking lazy to actually do your work.

The most damaging part was when he said that Obama was a politician and his speech in Philly, was Obama saying what politicians say. THAT IS A SUBSTANTIVE CRITIQUE OF OBAMA. Not this petty, who loves America the most bullshit. You sound like a republican.

Bottom line is MANY religious leaders condemn the population of the U.S. EVERY sunday! Rev. Wright is no more or less offensive than all the other ministers telling us we're all going to hell.

Now here is the tricky part. IF you find Rev. Wright really objectionable but have never thought about all the others who say similar things, then the problem is not with Rev. Wright or Obama, but with you.

This is similar to the OJ trial. People enraged he got off, but these people were not enraged by the multitude of innocent black people historically and currently incarcerated or executed.

I would like to note that I personally do find Rev. Wright offensive but no more so than I find any other religious leader. And as well I do think OJ was guilty but to me its just another sad chapter in this country's sad excuse for a justice system.

The Right-wing media will put out a tape per week, from now until election day. While all of John McCain's contacts witht the Hagee's of America will get a 100% free pass, as always.

And the Mainstream media will be played by the Republicans right through President McCain's second term in office, at the end of which we will start hearing our reporters and pundits declaring, "How did the Republicans manage to fool and manipulate us, AGAIN?"

you are right, I do not have a Black friend. But does that matter, suffering is universal.

Please don't be obtuse, because the only insult is to yourself.

Nobody's paying much mind to your petty power trips.

I could not disagree with Joan MORE on this piece if my life depended on it. Talk about selective hearing. It is proof positive that you only hear what you want to hear and block the rest. I thought the interview was interesting and offered a tremendous insight to the man.

It was very clear to me BEFORE the interview that the sermons were open to interpretation and that some of the parts were not Wrights words..he was repeating the words of others in a dramatic fashion. He said so plain and clear in the sermon, but it was conveniently left out of the soundbites. He, like many others who are afforded the rights to free speech, can repeat what he wants and voice his pleasures and displeasures with our government. Wright is not running for office.

We have never elected or not elected any leaders based on something their pastor said or the views of their churches. I didn't feel sorry for the man at all and I don't think he was looking for sympathy.

I'm sure Obama would rather not have to deal with this again, but so be it. I don't think SERIOUS people that look at the condition of our country right now are going to base their votes solely on this. If they do, they were never open to vote for the man anyway and now they have an excuse to base it on.

In the same week that Hagee said AGAIN that the horrors of Hurricane Katrina was God's way of punishing for homosexual activity in New Orleans..which to me, is the STUPIDEST thing a supposed man of the church could say, do we see some long write up about it in Salon anywhere? Of course not.

You have failed miserably to understand the Wright phenomenon. It is this: despite the efforts of many good people, the plight of blacks in this country - particularly in the cities - has substantially worsened. Just the numbers of black in jails has skyrocketed. High School grad rates plummeted. New Orleans black culture, gutted by Katrina, is left to rot in a way that no white culture would have been forgotten. Unemployment amongst blacks is as bad as it has ever been. The point then, in this abject state of the black culture, is not so much the truth of the averments made by Rev. Wright: it is the callous disregard, by a white-dominated society, of the plight of the blacks which empowers and gives voice to a "screamer" and exaggerator like Rev. Wright. The uneducated underclass which is the urban black is all too ready, based upon day to day experience, to believe outlandish Rev Wright assertions about AIDs being a government plot. The point is not the truth of what he asserts; the point is that the day to day aliention of the urban black is rightfully absorbed and then remedied by a conscientious and well-educated black like Obama who has, by joining that congregation upon arriving in Chicago, absorbed and understood the plight of the urban black.

Do you not trust her to speak for herself?

Moreowver it seems to me that you are the one trying to control the conversation. I am merely trying to get some questions from my first post answered because I am genuinely curious. Is something wrong with that? Why do people not want to address the questions that I asked? Is there some particular reason why they want to avoid answering?

and I agree with many of your points here. But I have listened to Cecil Williams preach black liberation theology for decades now, and I still would like to see a responsible journalist travel to Chicago and really talk to some of TUCC's congregation. As I'm sure you know, many are white. If Rev. Wright indeed is as you have characterized him, why do they continue to attend? Wouldn't that be an interesting area of inquiry?

I continue to be completely baffled at the missing support of the black clergy for Rev. Wright. Especially someone like Cecil, with his reputation and his penchant for talking, should have been all over television and talk shows explaining the theology and helping people (I guess I should say white people) understand what is going on here. The only person I've seen who has Rev. Wright's back is the president of the national UCC denomination, who I assume knew what was going on at TUCC and approved.

I cannot imagine that Rev. Wright did not ask Barack how he felt about the Moyers invitation before he accepted. Perhaps, unbeknownst to you and me, Barack would like to get this all hashed out now, long before November.

I, too, have despaired about this election. But I still believe, after a lifetime of sitting in black churches, that the black church constitutes a subculture in America that few white people understand the depth or meaning of and that bears looking into and understanding. Just because white America just found out about this subculture does not mean it wasn't there all along, performing a vital service to its community, and does not mean that it is dangerous or to be feared.

I beg you to seek further.