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From The Corner
Durbin’s New Defense of Obama on the Wright Issue [Byron York]
The Obama campaign has just wrapped up a conference call with reporters. On the call, top Obama supporter Sen. Dick Durbin claimed that “many” of the controversial statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright were made before Barack Obama joined Trinity United Church of Christ. “Many of the quotes that have been disclosed publicly were made by Reverend Wright at a time before Barack Obama became part of his congregation and in places where Barack Obama was not even present,” Durbin said. Later, asked about fallout from the Wright affair among Democrats, Durbin said, “Let me just say that the people I have spoken to understand, as I hope we all do, that to hold Sen. Obama accountable for speeches and sermons that were given before he joined the church is fundamentally unfair.”
To my knowledge, Wright’s statements “God damn America,” “America’s-chickens-are-coming-home-to-roost,” and “U.S. of KKK A” were made while Obama was part of the Trinity congregation, although the senator says he was not present in church for any of them. I don’t believe Obama has claimed that they were made before he joined the church, and I’m not sure why Durbin is using that argument now.
The Obama campaign quickly ended the call after the second Wright question.
03/17 04:16 PM