The mainstream media took what is an obviously finished primary conclusion that Obama will be the nominee and propagated the "importance" that someone's former pastor was an "issue" after Obama had won 11 straight victories. Hillary Clinton was supposed to close the deal on Super Tuesday and didn't.
After Barack Obama handily beat Hillary Clinton in the Mississippi primary 54-43 on March 11, 2008, the next race was 42 days later in Pennsylvania. What was the mainstream media to do with a race that was supposed to have had the deal sealed by Hillary Clinton a month before?
You guessed it.
The mainstream media was panicking, so they had to link a former pastor to the Presidential new frontrunner by a clumsy, intellectually dishonest concoction of half-truths, misquotes, careless and McCarthyistic guilt by association and roll the message out 24-7 and hope that Hillary Clinton would play along. Of course, she did... knowing her campaign was now in the skids with the inner circle and being in debt.
Here's a timeline that I embellished from an AP article (linked below) of the Jeremiah Wright-Barack Obama relationship:
1972 — Wright becomes pastor of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ (
http://www.tucc.org/home.htm).
1985 — Obama begins working as a community organizer in Chicago; meets Wright.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/us/politics/30text-wright.html1988 — Obama embraces Christianity after hearing a Wright sermon on hope.
1992 — Obama joins Trinity United Church; Wright officiates at Obama's wedding.
Feb. 10, 2007 — Obama decides not to have Wright deliver the invocation at the launch of his presidential campaign.
Feb. 22, 2007 — Rolling Stone magazine publishes a profile of Obama that includes Wright using profanity to condemn American racism called "Campaign '08: The Radical Roots of Barack Obama".
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/13390609/campaign_08_the_radical_roots_of_barack_obama/printNOTE: Over a year and a few weeks pass by.
March 11, 2008 — Mississippi primary
Barack Obama beats Hillary Clinton 55-43 after the Clintons had vigorously campaigned in the state.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/03/obama_wins_raci.htmlMarch 13, 2008 — ABC News airs a report on some of Wright's inflammatory remarks. Clips from his sermons begin circulating on TV and the Internet.
This is 40 days before the next race in Pennsylvania.Report:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/DemocraticDebate/story?id=4443788&page=1Misuse of information:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200803130008March 14, 2008 — Obama calls Wright's remarks "completely unacceptable and inexcusable;" says the reverend had stepped down from a campaign advisory committee.
March 18, 2008 — Obama delivers speech on race; criticizes Wright but says he can't "disown" him.
NOTE: This event was added to the mix with the Wright "issue":
April 11, 2008 — Reports of Barack Obama having made a speech in San Francisco, CA where the audio was secretly recorded and these words were extracted from the badly produced recording:
"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton Administration and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," according to the Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/11/AR2008041103965.htmlHillary Clinton immediately responded:
Barack Obama "showed him to be elitist and vulnerable to the kind of Republican attacks that have sunk Democratic candidates in the past."
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080414/a_bitter14.art.htm
April 17, 2008 — Philadelphia Debate (ABC News, Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/us/politics/17debate.html?_r=1&hp&oref=sloginApril 22, 2008 — Pennsylvania Primary
After polls had Clinton leading by 20+% in polls, Clinton wins by 9.2% and only gains gets less than a dozen more delegates than Obama.
http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/A fantastic timeline of that month and 9 days:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/17/pennsylvania-primary-late_n_87069.htmlApril 28, 2008 — Capping a media blitz after weeks of silence, Wright says criticism of his sermons amounts to criticism of black churches in general.
April 29, 2008 — Obama says he is "outraged" by Wright's "divisive and destructive" comments and their relationship has been permanently damaged.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_080430.htmhttp://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/us/politics/30obama.html?_r=1&hp&oref=sloginLinks:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jmRkCx15zRtf8yAn-8Kg1KWcUthgD90BS3UO1Wright on Hannity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNTGRL0OJWQExcellent articles linked:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/jeremiah_a_wright_jr/index.html?inline=nyt-per
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