"Good Morning America" co-host Diane Sawyer on Friday uncritically highlighted an address given by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright on Thursday and parroted his talking points about being a scapegoat. In a tease for the segment, she recited, "Reverend Jeremiah Wright is now speaking out again. He says he was turned into a weapon of mass destruction."
Regarding his speech, given in a church in Milford, Connecticut, Sawyer blandly added that Senator Barack Obama "distanced himself from Reverend Wright during the campaign and labeled some of his sermons divisive." She then proceeded to play a 47 second long clip of Wright complaining that the media intended to use his sermons to destroy Obama. An ABC graphic almost apologetically read, "First Comments From Rev Wright: Media's 'Weapon on Mass Destruction'"
And yet, it was shows like "Good Morning America" that largely ignored many of Wright's more extreme sermons, such as in April of 2003 when he erroneously asserted, "The government lied about inventing the HIV virus as a means of genocide against people of color!"
In fact, far from trashing Wright, "Good Morning America" reporter David Wright cooed on April 25, 2008, "But the soft-spoken man who sits down with [journalist] Bill Moyers couldn't seem more different from that fire-brand preacher we've all seen in those sound bites."
On April 30, 2008, Wright followed up and sympathetically discussed Obama's very public break with his pastor: "Imagine having to publicly denounce the minister who married you, who baptized your kids, who prayed with you the day you announced your candidacy for president."
A transcript of the November 7 segment, which aired at 7:12am, follows:
7am tease
DIANE SAWYER: And also, this morning, the man who created such an explosion during the campaign, then went silent. Reverend Jeremiah Wright is now speaking out again. He says he was turned into a weapon of mass destruction. And he tells how he feels about the election of Barack Obama.
7:12am
DIANE SAWYER: And now, last night, President-elect Obama's controversial former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, reemerged, debating race, religion and American history at a Connecticut church. Senator Obama, of course, had distanced himself from Reverend Wright during the campaign and labeled some of his sermons divisive. Last night, Wright reflected on that and how the coverage of him affected, he says, his family.
ABC GRAPHIC: First Comments From Rev Wright: Media's "Weapon on Mass Destruction"
REVEREND JEREMIAH WRIGHT: My youngest child came home from school and said to me, "Are you and Barack cool? I said, "Of course, we are. Why do you ask that?" "I just had kids talking in school." I said, "Now, that's a media thing." 90 percent of people sitting in church do not agree with everything their pastor is saying. What I say or don't say, it is not an index in terms of what Senator Obama believed or believes. The media did not want that sermon heard. Their intention was to use me as a weapon of mass destruction to destroy that man's candidacy. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Barack Obama, their successes individually should not lull us to sleep to think this is now it's all over. Everything is solved. There are some serious structural problems that keep people locked into poverty.
SAWYER: And, so, we hear from Reverend Wright once again.
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.




















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Boo effing hoo
November 7, 2008 - 16:25 ET by Mica the MagnificentDiane left out: After the interview Jeremiah went back to his $10 million dollar home in a gated cracker neighborhood paid for by the poor folk of Chicago.
And if you could get through that bomb throwing anarchist stuff, Bill Ayers is a sweetheart
Diane Sawyer has no redeeming value as a newsperson.
November 7, 2008 - 16:31 ET by ThalpyDiane Sawyer has no redeeming value as a newsperson.
Dear Diane... The right
November 7, 2008 - 16:35 ET by Clear thinkerDear Diane...
The right Rev. Wright is a RACIST!!!
Obama Teacher Shames North Carolina
Making Fun of AGW http://giovanniworld.wordpress.com/
nafarious character
November 7, 2008 - 16:38 ET by JIMMY1660rev wright!!! being a victim?? as i watched several of the film clips of the good rev. there was no mistaking his mind set. he is a very hateful man. electing BHO will not change his mind, he has made millions of dollars off his hate speeches, while keeping his npeople down, if he were not Black, i'm sure the FBI would be taking a close look at him and his terrorist hate mongering.
once again MSM has let the American people down: just report the news and let the good people judge the Rev and his like. no, they cover it up before and continue to make excuses for his behavior. as BHO moves through his term in office, the American public will ask,"what have we done?"
allow me to Love America
off to see the wizard
November 7, 2008 - 16:42 ET by katainkentbereft of mind, heart and courage.
Anddddd the winner of the
November 7, 2008 - 16:58 ET by GlennAnddddd the winner of the ass clown of the day award goes to...... Diane Sawyer for taking a racist preacher and trying to make him a victim.....
Hate is hate, Dianne.
November 7, 2008 - 16:59 ET by Andrew H.Hate is hate, Dianne. Dismiss it, ignore it, pretend... but it's there and most media people are like you.
Liberalism is a convenient lie.
There's that patented
November 7, 2008 - 18:17 ET by suzycreamcheeseThere's that patented constipated look Sawyer uses when she wants to show compassion for the racists, terrorists, and dictators she interviews.
Rev. Wright was the WMD
November 7, 2008 - 18:32 ET by Gary HallRev. Wright was the WMD; only, the MSM knew how not to use it.
The Reverend Wright is a weapon of mass destruction. Had the Ms. Sawyer, and the MSM, acted like investigative reporters during the primary race between Senator's Obama and Hillary and put this out for the Democratic party to chew on, all hell would have broken out. Might have even seen riots in the streets?
It seems the Democrats [MSM] hid from their audience a video -- available here -- in which the Rev. Wright rants about, contrary to popular opinion, how one President Bill Clinton, did the talk but not the walk; Wright attacked the Clinton's - both Bill and Hillary - on the basis of his record and how she will treat the black community as president. According to Wright, Bill Clinton was no friend to the black community. The transcript of the linked video, please:
Anyone happen to hear Ms. Sawyer ask Rev. Wright if he meant it when he suggested that President Bill Clinton did, and Hillary would, as president (I don't know, was he suggesting F---ed or S---ed) the black community?
Gary...excellent
November 7, 2008 - 18:41 ET by LionKingThe MSM did not do their job. With Bush, they would chase any possible story; same with Palin.
Notable stories the MSM ignored:
Just a few off the top of my head.