"God damn America!"—nuanced, yeah: like a punch in the nose!
When it comes to attempting to explain away the unexplainable, nothing's more hackneyed than claiming the offensive statement was "taken out of context."
To be sure, Jason Johnson trotted out that cliché while guest-hosting MSNBC's AM Joy Sunday morning in excusing Rev. Jeremiah Wright's infamous screaming "not God Bless America! God Damn America!"
But give Eddie Glaude credit. The Princeton prof and frequent MSNBC guest came up with a somewhat more original excuse: critics of Wright's damnation of America fail to understand the reverend's "theological nuance." Right. There's "nuance" in Wright saying "God damn America" is "in the Bible."
Johnson and Glaude were put in the unenviable position of trying to explain away "God damn America" because Raphael Warnock, the Democrat in the Georgia senatorial run-off against Kelly Loeffler, went on national TV and defended Wright and his execrable utterance in 2008. And inevitably, the Republicans here calling out Wright and Warnock as radical were not only "stupid," but racist:
LOEFFLER CAMPAIGN AD: Raphael Warnock is dangerous. No wonder he defended this: [clip of Jeremiah Wright] "Not God Bless America. God d--- America!" Raphael Warnock: the radical's radical.
JASON JOHNSON: This is not the first time a pastor has been taken out of context. Reverend Jeremiah Wright, seen in that ad, was President Obama's pastor for more than 20 years. Obama had to renounce Wright because of similar attacks during the 2008 campaign.
WRIGHT: God Bless America? No, no, no. Not God Bless America. God damn America. It's in the Bible!
. . .
EDDIE GLAUDE JR.: We know that this [the criticism of Wright/Warnock] is a bad-faith misrepresentation of black-liberation theology. We know there's no real effort to understand the theological nuance here . . . It's just stupid racial dog-whistle. It's not even a whistle, Jason --
JOHNSON: No, it's a claxon [loud horn]. They're screaming. They're basically saying, he's black! He's black!
That's an absurd accusation. If Warnock had been defending a pastor of pallor who made the same despicable statement cursing our country, Loeffler would surely be bringing it to the attention of Georgia voters in a similar way.
MSNBC's lame attempt to defend Raphael Warnock's defense of Jeremiah Wright's infamous "God damn America" line was sponsored in part by Liberty Mutual and T-Mobile. Contact them at the Conservatives Fight Back links to let them know what you think of their sponsorship of the defense of Wright's vile statement.
