What a mess the Jeremiah Wright story was. And part of me is marveling at all of the pressure inside politics and the media last week that led to the reporting of what was, in effect, a non-story. It was slightly Shakespeare-esque. First, you have all of the elements of a uniquely American drama and a political raw nerve -- race, God, PAC money and baseball.
The Jeremiah Wright story that ran in last week's New York Times is political posturing at its finest. It was a story about a story that was never told. Seriously, folks!
The Times reported that Obama fundraiser Jim Messina tried to make political hay out of a supposed attempt by Mitt Romney's supporters to rehash the connection between President Barack Obama and his former Pastor Jeremiah Wright. Wright you will remember is Obama's former Pastor from Chicago who got in a lot of trouble for making anti-Semitic remarks, among other incendiary comments. Not only did Obama leave the church, he held a major speech on race just to clarify that he didn't share Wright's views.
What I love about the New York Times story is that Mitt Romney was never interested in running those ads. But that didn't stop Messina from fanning the flames and feigning a major offensive. Apparently, Joe Ricketts, whose family is part of the group that owns the Chicago Cubs, took a pass on funding them, too.
Of course, we all know where there is smoke there is fire. And it is conceivable that somebody other than Ricketts and Romney actually thought it could help Romney to dredge up the Jeremiah Wright controversy. But the good news is Ricketts was never going to pay for those ads and even if he wanted to, Romney wouldn't have let him.
I just don't know which is worse -- wasting valuable time on issues that aren't issues at all in an election year or the reality that most Americans may be too busy or too tired to realize that the story wasn't really a story in the long run.
This post is part of a weekly conversation with our Moms Matter 2012 political bloggers. To see the original question and what the other writers have to say, read Does Jeremiah Wright Matter in This Election?
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Comments 9
The Wright story is interesting since Obama paid the man $150k to keep silent about their relationship. If Romney EVER did anything of that nature it would be all over this site and the NYT.
Biased opinions is why the lame stream media ratings have dropped. A politician can't even criticize the president without getting ridiculed by the press. That is scary and pathetic. Obama is not perfect and anyone in this country is free to judge.
Good grief, RTPC Carolina, I bet you don't even understand what communism and socialism is, as I can clearly see since you throw both of these economic systems in one pot. Why do people keep on voting for representatives and presidents which are billionaires ? Can't y'all get it that these people just will look out for the "welfare" of rich people. Do you really believe that Obama would be able to remedy this horrible mess "W" got us into, in just 4 years? Do you believe in the Easter Bunny?