What Rev. Wright Actually Said

Amazing.

One of the most common ways to deflect criticism of a claim is to assert that it was taken out of context. In my experience, that's rarely true. I find it particularly funny when that ploy is used when the only context that could possibly do the trick is one like "What I am about to say is false..."

But in this case, at least some of the clips being shown of Wright reallio-trulio were taken out of context. I'm not sure why the Obama campaign didn't point this out. The context, in fact, is one in which Wright is apparently expressing something Edward Peck said on Fox News (it's the "chickens have come home to roost" claim). Quoting someone quoting someone else and suggesting that they're expressing their own view is one of the sleaziest tricks in the book, and whoever did it deserves to be exposed. It's really despicable. Dunno about the other clips, though.

Having watched the whole clip, I have to say that Wright comes off here as a pretty reasonable and interesting guy, though I don't agree with everything he seems to be saying (for example, it seems we're on different sides of the Hiroshima issue)...but we do, of course, have some fairly deep moral and metaphysical differences. Incidentally, I have to say that I don't really find most of the stuff in the clips being circulated that shocking or off-putting anyway. I'm not sure whether people are seriously denying that there is a very clear sense in which this country is run by rich, white men or what. I mean, there's a clear sense in which it isn't, too, but that's a different point.