Schedule Puts Obama in Miami During July ‘07 Wright Sermon
December 2000: Barack Obama's former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright speaks at funeral service at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. (AP Photo/Chicago Sun-Times)
Barack Obama issued a firm denial Monday to a report that he was in church in Chicago last July when his controversial pastor delivered an anti-white sermon.
Doubts were cast on the story Monday as records showed the Democratic presidential contender was in Miami that day.
On the “fact check” portion of Obama’s campaign Web site, the campaign states: “Fact: Obama Did Not Attend Services on July 22.”
Click here to see the denial on Obama’s Web site.
Reports circulated over the weekend that Obama had attended the fiery sermon that day by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. But a copy of Obama’s schedule viewed by FOX News as well as video of Obama speaking appear to place him in Miami that day at a convention of the National Council of La Raza.
A National Council of La Raza official recalls Obama arriving on time that day for a 1:30 p.m. event that was part of the group’s annual national convention.
It is not clear whether he might have been able to attend church in Chicago before or after flying to Miami for his appearance. The National Council of La Raza official told FOXNews.com he was not involved in any travel plans for Obama to arrive at the convention.
Click here to see a video of Obama speaking that day in Miami.
Speaking with reporters Monday, Obama declined to field new questions about Wright. In what is campaign is billing as a major speech on race, Obama said he would in part discuss how some issues are being perceived inside and outside the black church community.
Obama again said he condemned the controversial statements by Wright that had come to light, but he believed the media frenzy has taken a wrong turn on its coverage.
“I think the caricature that is being painted of him is not accurate,” Obama said.
Obama in the last few days has denied being present for any of Wright’s inflammatory speeches at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where Wright retired last month as senior pastor.
Obama’s purported attendance at the sermon was first reported by NewsMax.com freelance reporter Jim Davis; it was noted again Sunday by NewsMax.com writer Ronald Kessler.
Davis reported last Aug. 7 that Obama and his Secret Service detail had been among the parishioners attending the July 22 sermon in which Wright spoke of the “United States of white America” and blamed the Iraq war on “Bush administration bull—-.”
NewsMax issued a clarification Monday to its story, adding that Davis stands by his reporting that Obama attended a service in July fitting the description he first reported, but he no longer was sure it was on July 22.
Click here to read the original report by Jim Davis.
Click here to read the report Sunday by Ronald Kessler.
The report was advanced Monday by columnist Bill Kristol, a FOX News contributor, in his weekly column in The New York Times. Kristol cited Kessler’s report as evidence that Obama is not being fully candid about his relationship with Wright. The New York Times later published a correction to Kristol’s piece.
Click here to read Kristol’s column in The New York Times.
Wright’s comments in the July 22 sermon were mild in comparison to other sermons he delivered, sermons Obama has said he did not attend.
In one sermon Wright repeatedly said, “God damn America”; in another he blasted former President Bill Clinton, saying he “did” blacks “just like he did Monica Lewinsky.”
Following mounting pressure last week, Obama denounced Wright’s words, and Wright stepped down from Obama’s African American Religious Leadership Committee.
Obama told FOX News Friday that he condemned the text of Wright’s controversial sermons, in which he condemned the United States as institutionally racist and blamed the government for HIV and the Sept. 11 attacks. Video clips of the sermons were played in heavy rotation on national television late last week.
“Once I saw them I had to be very clear about the fact that these are not statements that I am comfortable with,” Obama said. “I reject them completely — they are not ones that reflect my values or my ideals or Michelle’s.”
Obama called Wright’s remarks “inflammatory and appalling” in a written statement Friday.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign has yet to comment on the matter. Clinton faced heavy criticism over a racial issue of her own last week after top campaign adviser Geraldine Ferraro said the only reason Obama had gotten so far in the presidential campaign was because he was black. Ferraro resigned from the campaign’s finance committee shortly after her remarks.
Obama may have been in Miami on this one occassion. The fact still remains that Obama has attended this racist and treasonous Church for 20 years. He had heard this same type of hate many times and anyone who believes anything different is only fooling themselves.
blah blah blah
ever met a politician that didn’t lie???
didn’t think so
It doesn’t matter if Obama was there for that sermon or not. This is the message, belief and theology of this pastor, Wright. Check into it yourself. The issue is not just one sermon on one Sunday and the issue is not was Obama there that Sunday. It does not matter if Obama was there that Sunday or not. Wright is a close friend of Obama and has been for 20 years. You can’t tell me Obama did know how “Uncle” Wright feels about white Americas. Why don’t you check out copies of more of Wright’s sermons, say over a years time??
Every one in Wright’s church seemed to applaud every word he said. Watch and listen to the video. Then the press wants us to believe this was just one sermon and Obama wasn’t there and it is all OK. Obama and Orpha would not attend Wright’s church, knowing how he preaches against white people and against America. Watch the reaction of the people in Wright’s congregation and you tell me they don’t agree with him.
This saddens me. I don’t know much about Obama and neither does anyone else. I have always thought a lot of Ophra and I thought she was was color blind I was color blind to the fact that she was back woman, but if she attends Wright’s church, she must not be color blind to the fact that a am a white man.
Toby in Alaska
EDITORIAL MISTAKE (cough cough) - The title of of this article as distributed on Google.com and other search engines reads incorrectly; the title as seen on search engines reads “Report Places Obama at Controversial July ‘07 Wright Sermon …” when in fact the article addresses exactly the opposite - that the report verifies that Obama was SOMEWHERE ELSE during the sermon. Get it right.
Those that mockingly called Obama the Messiah are now trying to crucify his campaign.
Looks like the Pharisees at newsmax have been caught in a lie.
Every sermon Wright gave is anti-white. So, instead of attending this particular sermon Obama was meeting with hispanic racists (La Raza=The Race)? This is supposed to make this seem better for him?
SEEMS LIKE ANOTHER PLAN BY THE MEDIA TO INJECT RACE IN THIS CAMPAIGN! LETS TALK ABOUT REAL ISSUES! IF AMERICA IS SUPPOSE TO HAVE A “SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE”, AND THIS CANDIDATE DOESNT CONDOME NOR REFLECT THESE IDEAS IN HIS CAMPAIGN, WHY THE HELL SHOULD ANY OF THIS MATTER? AND WHY ARE WE PREJUDING THIS CANDIDATE BASE ON THE REMARKS MADE BY ANOTHER PERSON? WE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT OBAMA IS THE CANDIDATE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT AND NOT THE PREACHER. NO ONE WANTS TO MENTION CONTROVERSAL COMMENTS MADE BY MCCAIN’S SPIRITUAL ADVISER, AND YET THE MEDIA IS MAKING A CIRCUS OUT OF THIS NONSENSE. GROW UP MEDIA!! IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON TO OTHER MORE IMPORTANT ISSUES.
After all these years of preaching, Why now? Is this about Pastor Wright or Obama? Are you trying to discredit Obama through Pastor Wright?
Everybody knows that is Pastor Wright flavor; he always deals with historical issues and events. He is an intelligent African-American man, who has served his community well. The sentence was taken out of context. What ever he said was true. We were held as slaves in the land of the free–in America. We have suffered under the Nazis in the land of the free-in America. You can pull out any thing you want to justify discrediting Obama.
I trust this tactic of destruction of credibilty regardng Obama blows up in the media’s face.
like being at a la raza function is better than not being at the lunatic church?
Who cares whether Obama was in church for the Ill fated sermon. The fact that this presidential hopeful spent the past twenty years looking up to this lunatic fringe as a spiritual advisor calls into question Obam’a judgement and leanings. Had Clinton or McCain gone to a church like this for 20 years their campaigns would be dead in the water!
I do not think you can give Barrack a pass on this one. There are too many questionable characters in this man’s past to hope he can do well as president.
Frankly I think Obama is not being truthful when it comes to Rev. Wright.