Press Club Chief Disputes Notion That Wright Appearance Was Scheduled to Hurt Obama
The president of the National Press Club is disputing suggestions that the woman who facilitated Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.’s speaking engagement Monday did so out of a desire to hurt Barack Obama politically.
A New York Daily News columnist wrote Tuesday that club member Barbara Reynolds, who as head of the speaker’s committee was the club’s point person for Wright’s appearance, is actually a Hillary Clinton supporter. The opinion piece raised the possibility that Reynolds had ulterior motives in bringing Wright to Washington since the pastor “couldn’t have done more damage to Barack Obama’s campaign if he had tried.”
But National Press Club President Sylvia Smith said she doubts politics had anything to do with it.
“I can’t imagine that it would have been (to hurt Obama),” she said. “That would be a pretty convoluted conspiracy theory.”
Smith said Reynolds actually suggested inviting Wright as a speaker two years ago, but that the club declined since he “wasn’t newsworthy.”
She said she thinks somebody other than Reynolds suggested inviting Wright this time around, and that Reynolds was only assigned as point person because she has connections with Wright and his Trinity United Church of Christ. She stressed that Reynolds was not the deciding factor in the invitation, and that Wright was brought in because he was making news.
Daily News columnist Errol Louis wrote that Reynolds — a journalist and minister who teaches at the Howard University School of Divinity — claimed in a blog on her Reynolds News Service Web site that she voted for Clinton in the Maryland primary as “my way of saying thank you” to Clinton and her husband for the Bill Clinton presidency.
“I don’t know if Reynolds’ eagerness to help Wright stage a disastrous news conference with the national media was a way of trying to help Clinton,” he wrote. “But it’s safe to say she didn’t see any conflict between promoting Wright and supporting Clinton.”
The column was swiftly picked up by bloggers who repeated the assertion that Reynolds was somehow in cahoots with Clinton.
Clinton’s campaign has not responded to a request for comment.
The personal blog where Reynolds expressed her Clinton support could not be found online as of Tuesday afternoon, and Smith said she doesn’t know whom Reynolds supports.
“It doesn’t matter (which candidate she supports),” Smith said. “I do not believe Barbara Reynolds has a political agenda … Even if she did, he’s a newsmaker that we’d want at our podium. It’s irrelevant.”
Reynolds did not return repeated requests for comment from FOXNews.com.
Wright’s used his raucous appearance Monday to taunt reporters and claim the controversy surrounding him was an attack on the black church. It prompted Obama to denounce Wright’s statements Tuesday as “ridiculous” and “appalling.”
Though Reynolds primary allegiances are not clear, she has expressed strong support for Wright and his church. In a blog entry on her Web site from March 17, Reynolds condemned the media for “brutally” trashing him and urged Obama not to “burn the bridges” in distancing himself from his former pastor.
“Pastor Jeremiah Wright is no weird, anti-American hater and separatist cult leader. He loved his country enough to serve in the U.S. Marines … the Jeremiah I know is a sought-after preacher in seminaries across the country,” she wrote.
Click here to read the column on Wright in The New York Daily News.
FOXNews.com’s Judson Berger contributed to this report.
For 20 years Obama supported Rev. Wright and everything he said. Or, at least he didn’t condemn him. But, now that Obama is running for President He condemns him for saying what he has been saying for 20 years. As if yesterday was the first time he had heard the Rev. make those remarks. America beware!
Now,plot thickens. If Ms Reynolds offered the invitation to cause more disruption in Obama’s campaign, she certainly got her money’s worth.
Undoubtedly another Clinton ploy. These are Hillary’s tactics.
One’s character and position amongst his or her peers is determined in large part by the people they associate closely with. If a person wants to appear mainstream, then they want to insure that their friends and associates are mainstream. Obama’s choices of associates eliminates him from qualification to be President of these United States, in my opinion.
Just so Hillary fans don’t get too excited, I don’t feel Hillary ever was qualified to be President of these United States.
John McCain is the only choice left that qualifies to be President of these United States. It is not a game with him. It is called Patriotism!
Hillary Clinton and her supporters are low down and dirty. Winning is everything to her and she will sell her soul , if she has one to be president. POWER will get you nothing. We will take to the streets in front of the White House, and march for days. and you want be the President, John Mccain will. and uou still want win, unless you steal the election like Bush did. We will have another Bush in the White house. You and your husband fooled the American people not anymore.
Errol Louis apparently has an agenda. A writer should not be guessing. Facts should be the only criteria. Opinions should be states as such.
You would need to be stupid not to realize that Hillary’s campaign dug up Rev. Wright and has been using him to promote the idea that Obama is somehow guilty by association. Please remember that Hillary and Bill know all about Wright’s church, they invited him to the White House when Bill was fighting impeachment. They now are dragging the Reverand through the media in the hopes that Omaba will anger the black community. This is a very well thought out plan, but like all Clinton’s tactics it is based on mudslinging and not honestly putting forth better solutions for the Country and working Americans.
The news media has helped Hillary by ignoring Hillary’s lies, her ongoing Federal case and reporting instead on the word ‘bitter’ and Rev Wright. Bill and Hillary have manufactured this entire Rev. Wright controversy to further her campaign. Is this the kind of ‘fighter’ we want in the White House?
She even talks in cirlcles like Clinton
So now that Obama has denounced Wright, I guess it’s OK for Republicans to denounce Wright as well and not be considered racist. I’m so tired of double standards!!!
Obama has finally denounced reverend Wright… Wright did himself in, and proved once again that he’s even more egotistical than imagined. By attacking Obama yesterday, Wright puts himself at odds with the whole black populace and makes clear he holds no affection for Barack. What the media wont tell you, is that Wright was basically forced out of his church over all this, and holds animosity for Obama. He also is now financially broke and seeking new sources of funding. He should only blame himself for this mess he’s in, and every time he opens his mouth he proves all the naysayers points. This is good for Obama, because now there is a clear separation between himself and Wright, if not open hostility. Clearly, the two dont agree on much at all. Gee I wonder who might have helped fund Wrights “Media tour”… But what Hillary doesnt get, is that her star swift-boater, just went Super-nova! Good riddance Wright, and good luck on the talk show circuits…