Destructive Tornadoes And Reverend Wright Won't Be Quiet (Monday's Show)
Hi everybody. Happy Monday! Although actually, probably not so happy for those living in Virginia right now. Our coverage kicks off with the BREAKING NEWS that Mother Nature has been using portions of the state to show off what she can do. And it's not pretty. Tornadoes have flattened homes; lives ruined--all the usual horrible stuff. Tis the (cruel) season, I suppose. Chad Meyers does his thing.
So, you know how I'm really sick of Reverend Wright? Well, apparently he was just getting started. Over the past few days he's been on a PR blitz--showing up at Bill Moyers, talking up a big NAACP audience, and rounding things out at the National Press Club in D.C. (By the way, as Anderson Cooper intros all this, the big graphic behind him says, "The 'Wright' Stuff." Okay, they got me, I laughed.) And I'm sure Obama is just pleased as punch to have this story revived from the dead. Geez. With friends like these...you know the rest.
In a Soledad O'Brien piece (she was at the NAACP speech) we learn that Wright feels like all the previous controversy was an attack on the black church and he's angry about all the sound bites. Okay, dude, the whole getting screwed by sound bites thing? Really has nothing to do with the black church. That's what cable news does! They leave out context. They repeat incessantly. And then they get a panel who don't know what they're talking about to yell for a while. (I'm not talking about you, 360. You're perfect. Ahem.)
Anyway, then Wright goes on about how being black is different, but not deficient. Or something. He even says that black people learn differently, which I'm guessing is not going to go over well in some circles. The NAACP audience eats it up though, I'll say that much. After Soledad's piece, Anderson notes that, yeah, this really isn't helping Obama. Soledad agrees, but reminds us that Wright isn't running for anything. So he's incapable of taking a hit in order to help a friend and fellow African American lock up the nomination for president? Nice guy.
Moving on now to 360 pretending they don't play sound bites and take things out of context just like everyone else. In other words, they play us a long clip of Wright at the National Press Club, but first Anderson intros with some show praise. And this is pretty much where Wright completely loses me. His comments are so flippant. He does realize what the stakes are here for Obama (hell, for the country), right? In another time or context I might find him funny, but all I see right now is arrogance. Plus he completely throws Obama under the bus when he paints him as just another politician. That's the opposite of Obama's campaign. Again Wright, you are not helping.
Transitioning to a Candy Crowley piece on how Wright dogs Obama and then we're on to a discussion panel with Roland Martin, David Gergen, Faye Wattleton, and Ed Rollins. Just as I'm trying to come up with the right words to express how I feel about Wright, The Gerg totally nails it (as usual), calling the reverend's actions the most selfish and narcissistic he's seen in years. Even Roland , who's been defending Wright pretty forcefully, admits he thought the National Press Club speech was over the line. Anderson is totally boggled over how the man could be so media/politically dumb, though admittedly those aren't his words. Roland simply says that Wright marches to the beat of his own drummer. Which would be fine, except the beat makes him keep bumping into the guy that's totally trying to be president.
Ed then pipes up that we live in a world of sound bites. Exactly. This wasn't a conspiracy against Wright. It's just the way things are. Only the political junkies are going to watch more than the sound bites anyway. The Gerg thinks that Obama needs to come at this with some anger to show strength. Well, he needs to do something, that's for sure. Telling his friend to shut up would probably be a good start.
From here we go into a Joe Johns piece on black churches because hey, why not, right? I think this is even a repeat. Then we're back to the panel, where Anderson asks if Wright is writing a book, seeing as he's kind of on a PR blitz. Roland notes that people already knew of him before all this. Anderson assures that he'll be getting a bigger advance now. Ha! So cynical. And so right. After the panel we hear from a tornado witness.
The Shot tonight is a clip from Bulgarian American Idol. Yes, it exists. Anyway, they play this woman singing Mariah Carey's "Can't Live, " which she is apparently singing in English, but it took me quite a while to figure that out. It's that bad. So...yeah, there's that. As for the show, they didn't make Wright speak out, but they do control the coverage, which is way too much. I mean, that was basically the whole show. There's a whole hour; I don't understand why we can't have at least three or four topics. C-
So, you know how I'm really sick of Reverend Wright? Well, apparently he was just getting started. Over the past few days he's been on a PR blitz--showing up at Bill Moyers, talking up a big NAACP audience, and rounding things out at the National Press Club in D.C. (By the way, as Anderson Cooper intros all this, the big graphic behind him says, "The 'Wright' Stuff." Okay, they got me, I laughed.) And I'm sure Obama is just pleased as punch to have this story revived from the dead. Geez. With friends like these...you know the rest.
In a Soledad O'Brien piece (she was at the NAACP speech) we learn that Wright feels like all the previous controversy was an attack on the black church and he's angry about all the sound bites. Okay, dude, the whole getting screwed by sound bites thing? Really has nothing to do with the black church. That's what cable news does! They leave out context. They repeat incessantly. And then they get a panel who don't know what they're talking about to yell for a while. (I'm not talking about you, 360. You're perfect. Ahem.)
Anyway, then Wright goes on about how being black is different, but not deficient. Or something. He even says that black people learn differently, which I'm guessing is not going to go over well in some circles. The NAACP audience eats it up though, I'll say that much. After Soledad's piece, Anderson notes that, yeah, this really isn't helping Obama. Soledad agrees, but reminds us that Wright isn't running for anything. So he's incapable of taking a hit in order to help a friend and fellow African American lock up the nomination for president? Nice guy.
Moving on now to 360 pretending they don't play sound bites and take things out of context just like everyone else. In other words, they play us a long clip of Wright at the National Press Club, but first Anderson intros with some show praise. And this is pretty much where Wright completely loses me. His comments are so flippant. He does realize what the stakes are here for Obama (hell, for the country), right? In another time or context I might find him funny, but all I see right now is arrogance. Plus he completely throws Obama under the bus when he paints him as just another politician. That's the opposite of Obama's campaign. Again Wright, you are not helping.
Transitioning to a Candy Crowley piece on how Wright dogs Obama and then we're on to a discussion panel with Roland Martin, David Gergen, Faye Wattleton, and Ed Rollins. Just as I'm trying to come up with the right words to express how I feel about Wright, The Gerg totally nails it (as usual), calling the reverend's actions the most selfish and narcissistic he's seen in years. Even Roland , who's been defending Wright pretty forcefully, admits he thought the National Press Club speech was over the line. Anderson is totally boggled over how the man could be so media/politically dumb, though admittedly those aren't his words. Roland simply says that Wright marches to the beat of his own drummer. Which would be fine, except the beat makes him keep bumping into the guy that's totally trying to be president.
Ed then pipes up that we live in a world of sound bites. Exactly. This wasn't a conspiracy against Wright. It's just the way things are. Only the political junkies are going to watch more than the sound bites anyway. The Gerg thinks that Obama needs to come at this with some anger to show strength. Well, he needs to do something, that's for sure. Telling his friend to shut up would probably be a good start.
From here we go into a Joe Johns piece on black churches because hey, why not, right? I think this is even a repeat. Then we're back to the panel, where Anderson asks if Wright is writing a book, seeing as he's kind of on a PR blitz. Roland notes that people already knew of him before all this. Anderson assures that he'll be getting a bigger advance now. Ha! So cynical. And so right. After the panel we hear from a tornado witness.
The Shot tonight is a clip from Bulgarian American Idol. Yes, it exists. Anyway, they play this woman singing Mariah Carey's "Can't Live, " which she is apparently singing in English, but it took me quite a while to figure that out. It's that bad. So...yeah, there's that. As for the show, they didn't make Wright speak out, but they do control the coverage, which is way too much. I mean, that was basically the whole show. There's a whole hour; I don't understand why we can't have at least three or four topics. C-
posted by eliza at 1:00 AM
3 Comments:
Hi Eliza,
I totally agreed with the Gerg, I felt he was angry for Obama. The pastor by choice is hurting Obama. If Wright stopped at PBS, that would be enough but he must be in love with the sound of his own voice. Obama needs to disown this guy, Wright, who has betrayed him on many levels. Wright clearly doesn't care if his actions hurts Obama's chances. It's bad enough Obama is fighting two Clintons, McCain, Carville, Fox News, Mark Penn, Gov. Rendell, Geraldino Ferraro, but your pastor is also dragging you down, too? I agree with you, he's got to come out and be strong against the pastor. He just has to. I think Wright needs to revisit religious teachings about "pride goeth before a fall". Anne
Isn't it too late for him to disown Rev. Wright? He didn't distance himself when the controversial comments first came out; he claimed Rev. Wright was like "an uncle." The only difference now is Rev. Wright threw in the comment that Obama "will do what he needs to do to get elected."
I missed your reviews, Eliza! Hope all is well and you start writing soon!
Regards,
Barbara
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