Wright calls sermon reactions 'unsettling'
He speaks of Obama, media
In his first extended interview since his sermons and long relationship with Barack Obama became an issue in the presidential campaign, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. says that he and his church were treated unfairly.
Voters have been bombarded for more than a month by video snippets of Wright in the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago calling God's wrath on America, accusing the government of flooding black neighborhoods with drugs, and saying "America's chickens are coming home to roost" after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Wright does not back away from those remarks in an interview to air tonight on PBS's "Bill Moyers Journal." Instead, he says that those who aired those remarks wanted to portray him as "un-American" or "some sort of fanatic" to hurt Obama.
"I felt it was unjust. I felt it was untrue. I felt - for those who were doing that - were doing it for some very devious reasons," Wright said, according to excerpts released by PBS yesterday.
Obama, in a widely praised speech on race and politics last month, denounced the controversial remarks but said he could not denounce Wright, instead describing the historical reasons for his spiritual mentor's anger.
Asked about that speech, Wright replied, "He's a politician, I'm a pastor. I do what I do. He does what politicians do."
Obama has said he was not in the pews to hear those comments, and Wright says he has never heard Obama repeat them as his own opinion. Democratic rival Hillary Clinton has said that if her pastor had made such remarks, she would have left the church.
In the PBS interview, Wright said that, as an activist, he is accustomed to being "at odds with the establishment," but the response to the sermons has been "very, very unsettling."
"The blowing up of sermons preached 15, seven, six years ago and now becoming a media event, not the full sermon, but the snippets from the sermon . . . having made me the target of hatred, yes, that is something very new."
Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee tried yesterday to step up the pressure on John McCain to stop North Carolina Republicans from airing an ad featuring Wright and calling Obama "just too extreme for North Carolina." McCain has urged the North Carolina GOP not to air what he described as a degrading ad, and said yesterday, "I will bring every pressure to bear that I can to stop it."
But the state party said it plans to start the spot on Monday, declaring that it is a local matter since it criticizes two Democratic gubernatorial candidates for endorsing Obama. However, at least two TV stations in the state have decided not to air the ad.
The DNC said that McCain isn't doing enough, especially since Republican leaders in North Carolina have ties to his campaign.
"The fact that Senator McCain can't get his own party to take down this misleading, personal attack ad raises serious questions about his promise to the American people that he will run a civil, respectful campaign," said an Obama campaign spokesman.
Mike Duncan, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said: "Both Senator McCain and the RNC have been very clear about running a respectful campaign based on the issues."
