Tucker, Hannity & Colmes guest called on Obama to repudiate pastor's 9-11 claims, but he already has

On the April 30 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson called Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) church, the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, "a full-blown hater," citing statements by Wright in which he, according to Carlson, "attack[ed] Israel as a racist state" and claimed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, were "payback for white racism." Carlson asked MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan and nationally syndicated radio host Bill Press, "Should Obama distance himself from Dr. Wright, and if so, can he effectively do that?" Carlson later added: "I want Barack Obama to be as reasonable as he seems. I really do. I have nothing against Barack Obama at all. I like him. And I just want him to distance himself from this stuff." Syndicated columnist Bill Press told Tucker, "I'm sure if he were sitting here and you read those quotes to Barack Obama, he would say -- he would denounce every one of them as he has many things that Reverend Wright has said," but at no point did Carlson or his guests note that The New York Times reported on April 30 that Obama had, in fact, stated that he specifically disagreed with Wright's 9-11 claims, saying: "The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification."

On the April 30 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Virginia Republican Party chairwoman Kate Griffin also brought up Wright's remarks about 9-11. She claimed, "Reverend Wright has said some shocking things, saying that 9-11 is the result of America's violent policies," adding: "Obviously, there's a very close relationship. And what the American people are going to want to hear is where Barack Obama stands on some of these more flagrant anti-white comments." Griffin dismissed Obama's statements quoted in the April 30 New York Times article, saying: "He has been asked many times, and what he does is he avoids the question. He says, 'Oh, I wasn't at church when he said that about 9-11,' or, 'That's between my pastor and me.' Or the best was when he said, 'He's a child of the '60s. He uses the language of concern.' That is not distancing himself from these extremely radical statements." In claiming that Obama "avoids the question," however, Griffin ignored Obama's comments, quoted in the Times article, in which he specifically disagreed with Wright's 9-11 statements. Hosts Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes and Democratic strategist Laura Schwartz, appearing alongside Griffin, also made no mention of Obama's 9-11 comments in the Times, though Colmes did note that Obama "says they don't agree on everything."

Attacks on Obama for his religion or church membership are nothing new on either Tucker or Hannity & Colmes, as Media Matters for America has documented. On the February 9 edition of Tucker, Carlson said Trinity's Black Value System "sounds separatist to me" and "contradicts the basic tenets of Christianity," a subject Carlson said he was "actually qualified to discuss." He also claimed that Trinity's theology is "racially exclusive" and "wrong," adding that "it's hard to call that Christianity." On the February 19 edition of Tucker, Carlson claimed that Obama's faith has become "suddenly conspicuous" -- suggesting that Obama has only recently begun addressing his religious background as part of "a very calculated plan on the part of the Democratic Party to win" religious voters in the 2008 presidential race. On the March 20 edition of Hannity & Colmes, Hannity also called Trinity "separatist," while on the March 1 edition of the show, guest Erik Rush, a columnist for the conservative website WorldNetDaily said that the church's "scary doctrine" is "something that you'd see in more like a cult or an Aryan Brethren Church or something like that."

The Times reported on April 30:

At the same time, Mr. Obama's ties to Trinity have become more complicated than those simply of proud congregation and favorite son. Since Mr. Obama announced his candidacy, the church has received threatening phone calls. On blogs and cable news shows, conservative critics have called it separatist and antiwhite.

Congregants respond by saying critics are misreading the church's tenets, that it is a warm and accepting community and is not hostile to whites. But Mr. Wright's political statements may be more controversial than his theological ones. He has said that Zionism has an element of ''white racism.'' (For its part, the Anti-Defamation League says it has no evidence of any anti-Semitism by Mr. Wright.)

On the Sunday after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Mr. Wright said the attacks were a consequence of violent American policies. Four years later he wrote that the attacks had proved that ''people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just 'disappeared' as the Great White West went on its merry way of ignoring Black concerns.''

Provocative Assertions

Such statements involve ''a certain deeply embedded anti-Americanism,'' said Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative group that studies religious issues and public policy. ''A lot of people are going to say to Mr. Obama, are these your views?''

Mr. Obama says they are not.

''The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification,'' he said in a recent interview. He was not at Trinity the day Mr. Wright delivered his remarks shortly after the attacks, Mr. Obama said, but ''it sounds like he was trying to be provocative.''

''Reverend Wright is a child of the 60s, and he often expresses himself in that language of concern with institutional racism and the struggles the African-American community has gone through,'' Mr. Obama said. ''He analyzes public events in the context of race. I tend to look at them through the context of social justice and inequality.''

The Times article was not mentioned, however, on the April 30 edition of Tucker:

CARLSON: But Jeremiah Wright is at least a mixed bag politically. His work to improve conditions in impoverished black neighborhoods may be laudable, but his rhetoric includes attacks against white people and against Israel. Should Obama distance himself from Dr. Wright, and if so, can he effectively do that?

We welcome back to discuss that MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan and nationally syndicated radio show host Bill Press. Now, I have kind of liked Barack Obama from the very beginning. He seems moderate in tone. I spent all morning reading Jeremiah Wright online. All the church newsletters are available. The guy is a full-blown hater, actually. This is just pulled at random.

Here is his attack on Natalee Holloway as a slut. "Black women are being raped daily in Africa. One white girl from Alabama gets drunk at a graduation trip to Aruba, goes off and gives it up while in a foreign country and that stays in the news for months." In other words, she is a slut.

Nine-eleven, he says: "White America got their wake-up call after 9-11. White America and the Western world came to realize people of color had not gone away, faded in the woodwork, or just disappeared as the Great White West kept on its merry way of ignoring black concerns." So 9-11 was payback for white racism. I mean, it goes on, and I will read more. But your first thoughts on this, Bill.

PRESS: My first thought is --

CARLSON: It's not mainstream, is it?

PRESS: I think it's curious that not so long ago we were -- people were criticizing Barack Obama for being too radical a Muslim. And now he seems to be maybe being criticized for being too radical a Christian, number one. And my second thought is --

CARLSON: There is nothing Christian about this stuff.

PRESS: -- that -- but he is a Christian, I'm saying. But second thought is, Jeremiah Wright is not running for president. Barack Obama is. I'm sure if he were sitting here and you read those quotes to Barack Obama, he would say -- he would denounce every one of them as he has many things that Reverend Wright has said.

[...]

CARLSON: Here is the Israeli thing, we were talking about this at the commercial break. This is quoting now the Reverend Wright: "The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for over 40 years now. Divestment has now hit the table again as a strategy to wake the business community and wake up Americans concerning the injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism."

He compares Israel to South Africa repeatedly. He attacks Israel as a racist state.

BUCHANAN: This is the Jimmy Carter -- that Israel is Apartheid, and the disinvestment is this whole idea that is going around the campuses to cut off any university investments in Israel. I think Barack Obama is going to have to explain that.

PRESS: I was just going to say, let's be clear that that is Reverend Wright talking, not Barack Obama.

CARLSON: Absolutely. None of this is Barack Obama. Though he has defended this guy. I criticized him on the air a couple of months ago. Got all this hate mail calling me a racist for criticizing this guy. And Barack Obama defended him. I don't see how he can defend this guy.

PRESS: I think you raise a legitimate question about his relationship and what part of this guy he agrees with and what part he doesn't agree with. And that's for Barack Obama to answer. But I wouldn't automatically say that any piece of hate that you find spewing out of Jeremiah Wright's mouth is necessarily the point of view of Barack Obama. He has to explain it.

BUCHANAN: As a former candidate, they take these guys, they say, here is Buchanan, here is his friend, and here is what his friend said. And then you have got to spend the rest of the day or the week trying to explain it or defend it or renounce it.

CARLSON: That's right. I want Barack Obama to be as reasonable as he seems. I really do. I have nothing against Barack Obama at all. I like him. And I just want him to distance himself from this stuff because it is so --

BUCHANAN: It's going to be tough to distance himself from somebody.

PRESS: And you also said, very quickly, that this preacher has done a lot of good in Chicago for a lot of --

CARLSON: I don't know that he has. I'm just being nice. He sounds like a total hater to me.

The Times report was mentioned on the April 30 Hannity & Colmes, but not Obama's specific disagreement with Wright's 9-11 comments:

COLMES: Now, Kate, I get a sense that certain conservatives would love it if Wright's views got in the way of Barack Obama's chances or somehow infringed on his ability to be a good candidate, so let me get this straight. If you're a member of a congregation, you have to agree with everything your pastor says or rabbi says, for example, or you're besmirched if you don't go along and dovetail with everything that leader of the congregation believes in?

GRIFFIN: Alan, Reverend Wright has said some shocking things, saying that 9-11 is the result of America's violent policies --

COLMES: What does that have to do with Barack Obama?

GRIFFIN: -- comparing -- it has a lot to do with him. This is not a minister who's just talking about vague differences in theology. This is a man who calls America the United States of white America, the Great White West.

COLMES: And is that what Barack Obama believes?

GRIFFIN: You know what? Barack Obama credits his conversion to Christianity to this man. He studied his speeches while he was at Harvard. He is a student of his pastor.

COLMES: You want to smear Barack Obama with whatever this man says that you don't agree with.

GRIFFIN: Obviously, there's a very close relationship. And what the American people are going to want to hear is where Barack Obama stands on some of these more flagrant anti-white comments.

COLMES: Well, why don't ask you him or find out before you choose to smear Barack Obama with things that he may not agree with that his pastor says?

GRIFFIN: I believe he has been asked. He has been asked many times, and what he does is he avoids the question. He says, "Oh, I wasn't at church when he said that about 9-11," or, "That's between my pastor and me." Or the best was when he said, "He's a child of the '60s. He uses the language of concern." That is not distancing himself from these extremely radical statements.

COLMES: Laura Schwartz, this smear piece on Barack Obama, trying to smear him because of controversial positions his pastor may have.

GRIFFIN: From The New York Times.

COLMES: Yes, the Times reporting the story. Laura Schwartz, he says he respects Wright's work for the poor, the fight against injustice. He says they don't agree on everything, is what Barack said, and they never had a thorough conversation on all aspects of politics. I don't know why Barack's detractors can't accept that.

SCHWARTZ: You know, the church does a lot of great things in the community here in Chicago. I know many of its members and those that just attend on a regular basis, because I believe your faith is just that. It's your faith. It's not your church leader's. And we don't practice everything that we're preached to about.

HANNITY: Laura, we don't have a lot of time. I want to get into something here.

SCHWARTZ: And I think he's made that distinction. Sure.

HANNITY: First of all, Barack says that this pastor, this minister was the inspiration for his book, The Audacity of Hope. That's number one. Barack made the decision to disinvite him when he announced that he was running for president here.

This is hardly, you know, a smear, unless Alan is claiming The New York Times is smearing Barack Obama. But after the 9-11 attacks, the Sunday after the terrorist attacks, he blamed America. He blamed our country. And, you know, for you to say that there's not a connection here is a little bit absurd to me. You don't think there's any connection?

SCHWARTZ: Well, you know, to your two points. First, "Audacity of Hope," which was a sermon, I believe, he gave in 1988 that Barack Obama credits to a great part of his conversion and to the book that he wrote, The Audacity of Hope, that was a beautiful sermon. That was invigorating. It was spiritual. It opened his eyes to many things.

HANNITY: He blames the United States for the attacks on 9-11.

SCHWARTZ: I'm talking about the 1988 sermon called "The Audacity of Hope." It's wonderful. I encourage people to read it.

HANNITY: I understand that.

SCHWARTZ: Now, to your second point, on the invocation, Obama did the right thing by not having him give that, because you know what? That puts on a national stage, and it puts your connection with things that have come up since that sermon.

HANNITY: What does it say -- if there was a Republican candidate, Laura, who had as their church premise on their website "commitment to the white community, commitment to the white family, adherence to the white work ethic, pledge to make all the fruits of developing acquired skills available to the white community," wouldn't that be deemed as racist? And wouldn't that --

SCHWARTZ: And offensive.

HANNITY: -- candidate have to disavow themselves from that church?

SCHWARTZ: I think so, to a certain extent, whereas, in our country, when we talk about racial differences, the African-American essence has a different place in the community from what they've come up through than the white Americans.

HANNITY: Does it sound racist to you?

SCHWARTZ: To talk about the black community? No, because he preaches what the essence of the African-American experience that --

GRIFFIN: It's anti-white and anti-American.

COLMES: We've got to run. Kate, we're just out of time. We thank you both very much.