Obama's Pastor - My view

I saw this post at Atheist Revolution and had to more or less agree with AR on this one.

Originally, from ABC News (this is two entire quotes, both of which have been summarized or drawn out of context to give an appearance other then what was presented).

This is another case of only hearing as much of someone's quote as their detractors want you to hear. They piecemeal the quote to suit their attacks and leave any remnants of the truth lost in the trail of their 'creative editing.' It disgusts me when news organizations, like Faux News, intentionally misrepresent the truth.

Story The First Quote (Reverend Wright - Obama's pastor):

The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.

We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye.

We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost.

The Second Quote (Reverend Wright):

The winds of Katrina blew the cover off America. The hurricane exposed the hypocrisy, protecting white folks' property took priority over saving black folks' lives. This storm called Katrina says far more about a racist government than it does about the wrath of God.

The United States government has failed the vast majority of our citizens of African descent. For every one Oprah, a billionaire, you've got five million blacks who are out of work. For every one Colin Powell, a millionaire, you've got 10 million blacks who cannot read. For every one Condoskeeza [sic] Rice, you've got one million in prison. For every one Tiger Woods, who needs to get beat, at the Masters, with his cap-blazing hips, playing on a course that discriminates against women. For every one Tiger Woods, we got 10,000 black kids who will never see a golf course.

The Third Quote (Reverend Meeks - not a friend of Obama, a member of the democratic Naitonal Party):

You have got some preachers that are house [bleep]. You have some elected officials that are house [bleep]. And rather than them trying to break this up, they are going to fight you to protect that white man.

Now, honestly reading everything that Reverend Wright has to say, I see he is angry. He feels that in many ways the country has abandoned him and his kind. I may not completely agree with him, but I certainly see some of his points. What I don't see here is the militant racist and anti-American that the news claims he is. He's a pissed off citizen - and I'd say he has a right to be. I'm a pissed off citizen, too. That doesn't mean I'm not a patriot and it doesn't mean I'm a racist. But if you take me COMPLETELY out of context, you could quote as saying just about anything you wanted.

Rev. Meeks on the other hand, is not a 'close personal friend of Obama.' He's nothing more then a democratic super-delegate who has announced his support for Obama. By mis-quoting Wright and honestly quoting Meeks and associating Obama to both, Faux News (here) insinuates a pattern of 'racist associates.' This in turn was picked up by many networks before anyone began to refute it.

Disgusting. And this is from the 'We Report, You Decide' network.