Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.
The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments. But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church.
Obama says he didn't know Wright had divisive or anti-US views until recently?? Nobody is going to buy that.
Jeremiah Wright's sermons and his ideas are bone-jarring. I don't think I've met anybody who is as full of bitterness and resentment and rage as Jeremiah Wright is. And if I did run into somebody like Wright, I'd avoid that freak like the plague.
No way would I dedicate a book to him or give to his causes or let him baptize my kids.
UPDATE 4:00: Noam Scheiber at the lefty The New Republic: "How plausible it is that Obama wouldn't have known about Wright's, er, greatest hits. Obama strongly implies he didn't know his pastor had a habit of giving nutty sermons up until the outset of his presidential campaign. Is that believable?"
