Thread: Rev Jeremiah Wright lands Barack Obama in trouble again

The Times
March 28, 2008

Rev Jeremiah Wright lands Barack Obama in trouble again

Tom Baldwin Washington
Barack Obama faced fresh controversy yesterday over the anti-Israel views propagated by his former pastor even as he was being welcomed to New York by Michael Bloomberg, the city's Jewish Mayor.

The disclosure of articles published by the Rev Jeremiah Wright's church newsletter threatened to overshadow his speech outlining his economic plans. The articles included a column by the Hamas leader, Mousa Abu Marzook, which asked: “Why should any Palestinian recognise the monstrous crimes carried out by Israel's founders and continued by its deformed modern apartheid state?"

[b]Mr Obama swiftly denounced the decision to reprint the article but faced further embarrassment over comments from Mr Wright, quoted in another church magazine, which referred to Italians as “garlic nosesâ€

NBC5.com

Rev. Wright Slurs Italians In 2007 Eulogy
Chicago Italian Group Denounces Comments, Doesn't Blame Obama

POSTED: 5:15 pm CDT March 27, 2008
UPDATED: 7:31 pm CDT March 27, 2008

CHICAGO -- He's made controversial comments about the U.S. government as well as Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright -- Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor -- has come under fire once again, NBC5's Rob Stafford reported.

Wright's latest controversy comes from a eulogy he wrote for Asa Hilliard. The article appeared in a November/December 2007 edition of Trumpet, a magazine run by Wright's daughters. He was quoted as calling Italians "garlic noses" and saying Jesus' crucifixion was "a public lynching Italian-style."

The comments were written before Obama publicly denounced other controversial statements by Wright.

On behalf of the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans, Domnic DiFrisco spoke about Wright's statements. He said he was "saddened by the words of a purported Christian minister."

Chicago's Italian American Human Relations Foundation called the comments an example of hatred, but member Louis Raygo said he does not hold Obama responsible.

"Do I blame him for the words of somebody else? No. And this doesn't come as an endorsement of Mr. Obama or a non-endorsement. I just don't like guilt by association," Raygo said.

In a Thursday interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, Obama called new stories about Wright a distraction.

"Part of what I hope to do in this campaign and as president is to get us beyond these divisions that distract us from our common challenges and our common opportunities and move the country forward," Obama said.

But on Wednesday, Obama, speaking to a crowd of supporters, appeared to defend Wright.

"This was somebody who was preaching three sermons a week for 30 years and so it got boiled down -- they found five or six of his most offense statements," Obama said.

DiFrisco, who supports Obama, said that if the senator doesn't do more to separate himself from Wright, he'll lose votes from Italian Americans.

"Barack Obama is being closely linked to a man who spews hatred. And it is so unlike his character that we need to know why he didn't change pews earlier," DiFrisco said.

http://www.nbc5.com/news/15726560/detail.html

BS. I can't imagine that someone that seems so racist and filled with hate has only had 5 sermons, in his 30yrs + years in the pulpit, on offensive matters. Obama is defending this man so that tells you how Obama feels about whites, jews or other non-blacks. If he tolerates this kind of speech and continues going to this church year after year, he belives these statements. The problem is, is that his supporters are making excuses and are ignoring the obvious. His formative years as a Muslim, then Catholic, being ashamed of being part white etc. is not credentials I like in a candidate. I am not afraid of having a black president, just not this one.

"Barack Obama is being closely linked to a man who spews hatred. And it is so unlike his character that we need to know why he didn't change pews earlier," DiFrisco said.

Uhhh, maybe because he AGREES with him?!?!?!