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.
Obama’s been hiding behind the skirts of the media and his campaign and always blaming others for his problems. Hillary had nothing to do with this. Obama should step down now while he still has some integrity left and go back to the senate floor until he grows up.
Anyone who says the Clintons were behind this are giving them WAY too much credit.
wright proves the fact most people know many blacks have used inferior degrees to get fed, jobs & call themselves doctor for years . do you think wright acted like an educated person before the press club . does powel ,rice,& many others no! they have a real eduation & have worked very hard rather than use race as an crutch & abuse their own race & the poor.where did the millons come from wright has in his downtown bank?
I have come to the conclusion that Obama supporters that blame Clinton for Wright are blind sheep following! This is the by farthest let me qoute Obama here the most “ridiculous” comments yet that I have been reading. I bet she put Michelle Obama up to her anti american comment as well, heck lets blame Hillary for the JFK assination while we are at it. With this division between the supporters of each nominee contender so tainted, all I can say is Congrats to President McCain.
Of course the Press Club will dispute any claims of this. Duh!!! This was a plot against Obama. Kinda goes along with Congressman Clyburns’ claim that Clinton was trying to destroy Obama’s chance for the presidency. Clyburn stated that Clinton knew she couldn’t win the election and was doing everything to destroy Obama’s chances. He also stated that Clinton wanted McCain to win this election so she would have a chance in 2012. This was on CNN at a press conference a couple of weeks ago.
Obama is tough! He will survive!
Obama for President - Yes We Can!!!
Of course not……the Clintons will stoop to anything. Ms Reynolds was just happened to be the one that did the dirty work for them.
None of the candidates should get a single vote. They are all crazy in one way or another!
No one should be suprized by this invitation. It is simply more of the same Clinton tactic.
Wright should not even be talking about something he knows nothing about. Like God!
His performance is truely appaling, disgusting, arrogant, stupid and ugly.
He should hide his head in shame!
I cannot believe that Jeremiah Wright and his nastiness has taken center stage during this election while Clinton goes blithlely along as if she is squeaky-clean. If the press would have us focus on a relationship with a candidate’s pastor of an 8000-member church you would think that relationships would be important for all candidates. Clinton’s relationship with her husband and his philanderings? Clinton’s relationship with Levin, Rosen, etc? I also wonder if the press is digging into the involvement that Barbara Reynolds had with Jeremiah Wright’s invitation to expound at the National Press Club “performance.” It certainly smells a little fishy.
Hillary seems to be behind the whole thing.
OF COURSE CLINTON WAS INVOLVED IN THIS THING! HER NAMES ALL OVER IT. WRIGHT IS VERY WELL IN CLINTONS BACK POCKET!! WRIGHT WILL PUT MONEY BEFORE OBAMA LIKE MANY OTHERS HAVE DONE FOR THE CLINTONS!!