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RE: There are twenty years worth of sermons
I posted this clip earlier, in defense of Rev. Wright. I thought people might want to see a positive clip, as opposed to all the ones Fox has distributed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yOR_srOUI0
Some people just went on a rant about how awful a person I am. Please, look before you leap.
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Comments (3)
The math mitigates the spin. There are all sorts of numbers floating around. I have no idea if mine are correct. But they give a flavor.
Assuming forty minutes a week of sermon (Obama said Wright gave three sermons a week), fifty weeks a year, twenty-five years, we get 3,750 sermons, 833 hours, and 50,000 minutes.
The clips shown are what, about a minute? That's one minute out of 50,000 that Fox (or Republicans or anti-Obama Democrats) have been able to find. And find they will; I'm sure interns went through the entire repertory, given that these sermons are supposed to be on DVD, CD, or online. That shows how little of Wright's words are hateful.
If Obama went to Sunday service half the time, he only heard one sixth of the sermons. He could have easily missed the four or so hateful moments, just as he said. (One "hateful" moment is supposedly a quote from someone else.)
However, this kind of argument is nowhere near as powerful as the one minute clip. However, when I discuss this with people, I am not interested in resurrecting Wright's career but in disputing the charge that Obama listened to stuff like the clips for twenty years and did nothing. Or that his children listened.
April 3, 2008 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think in retrospect Wright seems like a very talented preacher.
Political smearmongers and pundits obviously know little about the church, especially black church.
I think some apologies are owed to this man. But don't hold your breath. Few are as arrogant and unrepentant than the media.
April 3, 2008 11:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think Wright is actually a pretty talented preacher.
Some apologies may be in order from the media.
April 3, 2008 11:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
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