Excerpts have been released of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's first extended post-controversy interview, with Bill Moyers. On balance, his comments don't seem particularly helpful to Obama.
He does say that Obama never echoed his controversial statements: "Absolutely not."
But, he doesn't seem particularly apologetic, or anxious to suggest that the particular remarks were out of character, instead criticizing the motives of those who circulated tapes his remarks:
“It’s to paint me as something — ‘Something’s wrong with me. There’s nothing wrong with this country … for its policies. We’re perfect. Our hands are free. Our hands have no blood on them’ That’s not a failure to communicate. The message that is being communicated by the sound bites is exactly what those pushing those sound bites want to communicate.”
And, just the slightest hint that maybe Obama's big race speech wasn't necessarily sincere:
"He says what he has to say as a politician. I say what I have to say as a pastor. But they’re two different worlds.... I do what I do. He does what politicians do. So that what happened in Philadelphia where he had to respond to the sound bytes, he responded as a politician.”
Comments (1)
Are you going to write another piece about this or just run with those soundbites? It was actually a really interesting interview and I think for those that watched it, it was convincing.