Reverend Wright is a blowhard and an idiot.

[cali]

I just heard exerpts of his Sunday sermon. What an idiot. Blathering on about CNN and Fox News being the gates of hell and how the U.S. is evil because December 7th is the anniversary of the day that we bombed Hiroshima. How fucking ignorant can you get.

As I mentally review Wright's idiocy: His personal attacks on Hillary and Bill Clinton, his comments about the evils of white Americans, the crap about AIDS being invented by the U.S. government to kill off people of color, his petty crap about such insignificant figures as Elizabeth Hasselback, and more, I'm intensely relieved that McCain refused to go there.

Wright's bellicose bellowing was a real threat to Obama. The rich vein of loony soundbites could have been damaging if they'd been played over and over again for 2 months or so.

Wright is a narcissistic hater.

(Oh, and I have no problem with many of his condemnations of American policy.)

[JVS]

1. Blowhard is one word.

[cali]

2. indeed it is. thanks. and now that that ever so vital error has been

corrected, perhaps you can comment on the OP. Or not.

[monmouth]

3. His "15" are fading fast, i.e. grasping for some/any attention...n/t

[Kolesar]

4. Ok, just try to find a 76 year old black man who doesn't hate white people

--Chris Rock

[slackmaster]

28. There are plenty of them out there

I love it when someone on this forum attempts to speak for a whole class of people, especially one they aren't even a member of.

[Kolesar]

38. It's a joke

[Skittles]

5. I figured that out after watching him for five minutes

[malaise]

6. Rev Wright is an erudite scholar

Unfortunately he studied religion and uses his pulpit like most of the 'gody gody' crowd.
Using nukes is evil, let alone using them on innocent civilians.

[Berry Cool]

9. Do tell me you're not saying that we got bombed at Pearl Harbor because we used nukes.

and that therefore the attack was justified...Because if you do, I'll know you have some gaps in your history education.

I will assume you're saying that our use of nukes on the Japanese LATER was "worse" than them attacking us at Pearl Harbor. Which may be true, but I'm not sure there is a point, especially in all the years since in which many countries have eagerly developed or sought to develop nukes, even though they KNOW AND HAVE SEEN what nukes can do and how evil they are (and that was how evil they were many decades ago--not even talking about now).

I'm sorry, I'll just never buy this garbage that there is something unique and evil about the United States that makes us worse than any other country on the planet, any more than I'll buy the bull that we're the best damn country on earth. Either view is a distortion of reality.

[cali]

11. I'm telling you that the oh so erudite Rev. Wright bellowed on and on

in his sermon on Sunday about how the U.S. bombed Hiroshima on December 7, 1941. I'm fully cognizant of the outlines of the history of WWII- unlike Wright.

And I completely agree with your last paragraph- I don't buy American exceptionalism in any guise.

[polmaven]

25. Um...

I think Berry was responding to post #6, which pointed out that "using nukes" is evil.

[polmaven]

24. Yes, using nukes IS evil, but...

December 7 isn't the day Hiroshima was bombed. It is the day Pearl Harbor was bombed.

[roguevalley]

52. his erudition won't be worth a tinker's damn for the stupid stuff he

has said, some of which was taken out of context and doesn't mean what he intended and others that are just what he intended. I respect the suffering of the older generation who have latitude in my book to bitch. But some of the stuff he says is bitterness unbecoming a man of God who is supposed to preach forgiveness. I guess even preachers have their off days.

[Berry Cool]

7. I can understand how he might have a societal bone to pick with his country

given its abhorrent treatment of African Americans over the years. But to convert that into a knee-jerk "Blame America First" philosophy, as he apparently does...I mean, it seems he's decided 9/11 was SOLELY our fault, Pearl Harbor was SOLELY our fault, etc., etc., etc. Other countries are not only motivated to attack us, they apparently have the right to attack us, because we're just so damn collectively dastardly and evil that any attack on the United States by any other country constitutes mere self-defense, I guess. :shrug:

I have a feeling Obama has always been of two minds about him. He's definitely into crazy-uncle-you-have-to-see-at-Thanksgiving territory now.

[Beacool]

17. Obama needed his street cred

and Wright's church was one way to get them. The one thing that I don't believe for a second is his denial that he never heard any of these incendiary remarks in the 20 years that he attended this church on a bi-weekly basis. To that I say bullshit!!

:eyes:

[Leftist Agitator]

32. 68 Days.

68.

[Beacool]

35. Please.................

Who are we kidding? Wright got thrown under the bus when he no longer served his purpose.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

44. So what if he did?

One's faith is a personal matter and frankly no one else's business. Kinda like marriage. I personally wouldn't stay married to a chronic philanderer who humiliated me before the entire world by lying through his teeth about the affair he had with a young intern, while I defended his honor to everyone who listened. Nope, I would divorce that guy. But it's not my marriage. Just like Obama's church is not my church. :shrug:

[mondo joe]

61. It's no ones business up until you trumpet your faith and affiliation in seeking public

office.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Fumesucker]

10. What does it say about Obama that he sat in Wright's church for many years?

Either Obama was too stupid to realize what you have about Wright, or he sat there in the congregation while knowing Wright is a "narcissistic hater".

Why would Obama do such a thing?

[cali]

12. Or Wright has become more bombastic and incendiary recently

or most of the time he didn't engage in such crap.

[Fumesucker]

13. Right, leopards change their spots all the time..

:eyes:

[uppityperson]

53. People aren't leopards and thoughts/actions aren't spots. You can change your opinion.

"you" meaning the Royal "you", not you fumesucker :eyes:

[Fumesucker]

56. But people of Wright's age are not particularly likely to change that dramatically..

By the time they get to late middle age, most people have pretty well formed their biases and opinions (I'm at that point and although I do change my mind from time to time, it's really not all that frequent and rarely radical).

[SmileyRose]

14. This seems to be the case according to others in that church who've recently left

there's a number of high profile Chicagoans who've left that church within the last couple of years because of Rev Wright's change in tone. In fact, there seems to be an entire segment of long time church members that has dwindled out. People tend to leave at the last straw, not the first.

[endarkenment]

36. It says that we don't give a shit?

Which would be why he won by a landslide.

[Fumesucker]

37. I didn't ask what it meant about US..

What does it mean about Obama?

[endarkenment]

39. It means we don't give a shit about what it means about Obama

so why exactly are you and the OP so concerned?

[Fumesucker]

43. Actually I was asking the OP, since they raised the Wright issue once again

Cali actually seems to be a strong Obama supporter (more so than me), I was wondering myself why s/he was bringing up this issue since it seems counterproductive.

[endarkenment]

47. Then we are in violent disgusted agreement

The OP should make its intentions clear, as right now I view this as total crap.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

48. What's it to you? No one is forcing you to join the church.

I frankly don't care what wacky beliefs people adhere to so long as they don't impose them on me.

[Mike Daniels]

15. Wright's message of continued grievance is the opposite of Obama's message

Obama was correct in cutting the bonds between them. Too bad he didn't do it sooner.

[Beacool]

16. I don't even understand how his church keeps its tax exemption.

Yeah, it appears that now that Obama is safely elected several characters came out of their basements where they must have been hiding during the GE.

I still remember his last Christmas sermon where he riled against Hillary and capped his "uplifting" sermon by saying that Hillary had never been called a "nigg..". Nice touch there pastor, just the kind of positive sermon that I would like to hear on Christmas day. Even more disheartening than his words were how the parishioners reacted to them.

This man may have done a lot of good works for his community, but that doesn't make him less of a pompous jerk than he is. Ditto for Father Pfleger.

x(

[UTUSN]

18. Thank you. You often say what I think much better than I can. & I got flamed to pieces

when he burst on the scene in that 3 day weekend of his and I said what you are saying here. That was before OBAMA ditched him, and the Dittoheads (from our side) defended and attacked. When he was ditched, their heads were spinning ---and grew strangely silent. Flamers never take back their filth.

[ThomWV]

19. When I listened to the entirety of his earlier sermons I found that I agreed with him completely

Back when he was being vilified in the press I took the time to watch and listen to the full sermons he was preaching. I found that the excerpts being shown on TV were apparently being cut out so as to make him look as bad as possible but that in context they were reasonable and rational statements - simply expressed with great passion.

So the first thing I noticed about your post was that you had seen excerpts and then came to your conclusion. It might not be a bad idea to go see the entirety of what he said and then see if you still feel the same way. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying the last time this guy found himself on the nightly news that I think he was unfairly vilified.

[Fumesucker]

22. I agree with you.. n/t

[nichomachus]

20. And yet, you listen to his sermons and write about him

I just usually ignore people if I think they're idiots. He's not a public official, so why even talk about him

Unless, this is some kind of back-door Obama bashing ,. . . .


Hmmmm

Have you checked in on Hillary's friends in The Family lately to see what they're up to?

[rateyes]

21. And, here I thought that the Hiroshima bombing took place in August...

Wright should brush up on his history.

[endarkenment]

23. Let us now refight the primaries for the next four years.

Let us pastorbate until we are raw. Let us denounce our inner terrorist. Let us seek the Evil Clinton in our fellow DU'ers. None of us shall escape the wrath. This is our fate. This is our mission. This is DU.

[slackmaster]

26. No, he's just misunderstood, like Don Imus

:nuke:

[jeepnstein]

27. I thought the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor...

[ThomWV]

29. Nope, it was Iran.

[ProfessorGAC]

33. OK. Mr. Blutarsky

"Don't stop him now. He's on a roll."
GAC

[jberryhill]

30. I doubt I'd make any judgments based on excerpts

The "Jeremiad" as a rhetorical style has a long history.

Some preachers do indeed see their job as to be a "blowhard".

[dendrobium]

31. Why don't they leave Rev. Wright and his Church alone?

Why are this man's sermons being reported? All kinds of things are said at all kinds of churches all over. Why is there a need to follow up on what Rev. Wright has said in his latest sermons? He is free to preach whatever he wants. It is just a continuation of the witch hunt which started during the primaries. Some elements of the media would like to use Rev. Wright's rants to get at their true target - Obama.

Have you seen that crazy Pastor Manning on You tube? There are all kinds of things said in the name of Jesus out there and it really does not belong on the news.

[no limit]

34. Obviously race played a huge role in making Wright a story. But the fact Obama was in that church is

disappointing.

I'm not going to make excuses for the crazy ass churches republicans attend, so I'm sure as hell not going to be making excuses for democrats that attend similar crazy ass churches.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

49. Are crazy ass liberal churches trying to impose their views on everyone?

Not that I've noticed. Comparing reactionary religious nutbaggery to any other kind is invalid. And by "reactionary religious nutbaggery" I include the crazy Islamic variety.

[no limit]

51. is that some kind of test for a church?

as long as they keep to themselves we shouldn't care? Obama was free to attend any church he wished, I have a right to criticise that choice if such a choice deserves criticism. In this case it does.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

54. Yep.

A person's religion doesn't become an issue to me unless and until they try to force it or it's tenets on me. YMMV.

[no limit]

55. I disagree. If I see what mormons do to their women it bothers me

even if they keep to themselves.

When I see a preacher get in the pulpit and spew hate speech to an audiance of people that soak it right up that bothers me too.

I guess to each his own.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

57. If it is being done to the women against their will, I agree.

Unfortunately it too often is in many religions but because because the abuse mostly happens to people deemed less important - women and children - it is dismissed or regarded as "cultural". But that's a perfect example of religious views being imposed on unwilling people. Perhaps I should have been clearer that when I said "impose them on me" that I didn't mean "me" exclusively.

As for Rev. Wright's "hate speech", I would suggest you listen to some of his sermons in their entirety. While I don't agree with everything he says, I do think it is unfair to categorize the man's entire body of work as "hate speech" based on statements taken out of context.

[no limit]

59. Just because these women agree to it doesn't mean they do it willingly

the culture there is set up so these women will be outcasts if they don't tow the crazy religion right. If you want to have a debate on how to deal with that then that would be a good debate to have not really applicable to this topic. But it still bothers me to have to see this.

In respect to Wright I know for a fact the guy has done a lot of good. And I agree with you that it is not fair to judge his entire career based on a few lines. But I would disagree with you that these lines were taken out of context. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, if I am missing the context behind saying the government invented aids then please feel free to correct me. But to be fair I have not seen most of the sermons and I have no evidance that Obama heard any of these lines, but there is something about these churches that really upsets me.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

65. Rev. Wright was not the only pastor there.

He was but one of many pastors the Obamas heard over 20 years. Many of his counterparts were a lot less bombastic than he is. There was a youtube out during the height of the controversy where UCC pastors from all over the country who had spoken as guests or worked on programs at Trinity defended both Reverend Wright and the church.

Look, I'm an atheist and basically think all organized religion is bullhockey. But I strongly object when people equate liberal churches to conservative reactionary ones as if they are just sides of the same coin. Certainly, they should all be held to the same laws and standards regarding taxation and politics but to claim that Rev. Wright is as hateful and bigotted as Rev. Hagee or Jerry Falwell is just ridiculous.

As for the AIDS thing, it's a fairly common belief in the black community. Considering that the U.S. government performed a horrible experiment on poor black men (allowing them to go untreated for syphillis so they could study its effects) it's really not that much of a stretch for some people to imagine that they created AIDS to destroy the black community. It's not like our government has a history of being kind to non-white people. Look what they did to the indigenous people and lets not forget that whole slavery thing, followed by Jim Crow. Besides, there are equally implausible conspiracy theories about a variety of subjects floated here at DU every day. Are you as offended by them?

[no limit]

66. I am absolutely offended by those things when they pop up on DU

I love this community, I don't like being associated with these people and their claims.

After thinking about this a bit you are right, to compare trinity to some of the right wing churches isn't fair for me to do. I think I'm just really pissed off about religion being the litmus test for the presidency, not really fair to blame Obama for that.

[PVnRT]

40. Wait....Dec. 7th is when we bombed Hiroshima? What day did the Germans attack Pearl Harbor?

[Nikki Stone1]

41. Hey, I do agree that CNN and Fox News are the gates of hell

Other than that....
:)

[Dreamer Tatum]

42. I don't see how he can be considered a Reverend of anything

other than in the Church of Gimme Attention (for which he is already Supreme Pontiff).

Fortunately, the message that will come from Washington supersedes the one from Chicago.

[Critters2]

45. He also violated his professional code of ethics by returning to the pulpit

from which he retired. If I did that, I'd be reprimanded. But trust me, he won't be disciplined.


Again.

[EFerrari]

63. It was an anniversary celebration and he was filling in:

"In honor of Trinity's 47th anniversary, Wright preached three worship services in place of Rev. Otis Moss, who was attending his father's farewell from the pulpit of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-wright-08-dec08,0,6598372.story?track=rss

It's too bad we can't get more petty around here.

[struggle4progress]

46. No link? Nothing like a transcript?

[Orsino]

50. So he's not a complete idiot, then.

I think he's right about a lot of things, too.

[glowing]

58. I didn't hear the sermon.. so, I won't agree or disagree with you..

but I've heard a few that are pretty darn good.. and inspiring. People are too complicated to continue and black and white them and make meaningless speculation on people we don't know.. its very republican to be judgemental.. I'm learning this. I'm trying to NOT comment on people that I don't know.

[harun]

62. I haven't heard many but the ones I have are good.

So I won't comment on this posters observations either.

[BoneDaddy]

60. Like many preachers

they love the sound of their own voice way too much. He's a tool.

[EFerrari]

64. Where's your link? Because that's not how his words are being reported.

"Noting the date, Dec. 7, which marks the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Wright instead chose to focus on the thousands of Japanese civilians who died four years later when the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-wright-08-dec08,0,6598372.story?track=rss