Caplis again made inaccurate claim about Obama's statements regarding Wright
Summary: Dan Caplis of 630 KHOW-AM made another false claim about Sen. Barack Obama, asserting that the Democratic presidential candidate had never "specifically in any detail" repudiated the controversial remarks of his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. In fact, at an April 29 press conference, Obama stated that Wright's comments -- including remarks about AIDS and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan -- "should be denounced. And that's what I'm doing very clearly and unequivocally here today."
On the May 7 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Caplis & Silverman Show, Dan Caplis disagreed with co-host Craig Silverman's statement that Sen. Barack Obama "repudiated the statements" of his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Caplis asserted, "If you really go back and read what" Obama said, "[h]e never took 'em on, one by one, and specifically in any detail unpacked 'em and repudiated 'em." However, according to the transcript of an April 29 news conference, after specifically addressing Wright's controversial remarks about AIDS and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, Obama stated that Wright's comments "rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced. And that's what I'm doing very clearly and unequivocally here today." Also, Obama previously had specifically disagreed with Wright's controversial remarks about the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
Colorado Media Matters has documented numerous instances in which Caplis has made false or misleading statements about Obama.
From the May 7 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Caplis & Silverman Show:
SILVERMAN: Here's another big difference: Barack Obama has repudiated the statements of Reverend Wright. I have not heard John McCain repudiate [the late Rev. Jerry] Falwell and [700 Club co-host Pat] Robertson blaming the ACLU and other -- gay people and feminists -- for 9-11.
CAPLIS: Well, first of all, you're wrong about Obama. If you really go back and read what he said, and I know that you have -- you know, he edged up to it. He alluded to it. But this business that "Obama separates himself from Reverend Wright," or "Obama repudiates this and that" -- I think when you get right down to what he said, no. He never took 'em on, one by one, and specifically in any detail unpacked 'em and repudiated 'em. Just as he's never given a laundry list, to the best of my knowledge, of different reasons to love America and great things America has done. Now, I'm not aware one way or the other whether John McCain has been asked to repudiate the comments we just heard from Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson -- the late Jerry Falwell. I don't know one way or the other; you apparently do. Have you heard McCain asked that question, and has McCain refused to criticize those remarks, because I know as soon as he found out about the [televangelist John] Hagee remarks about Catholics, he criticized those remarks.
SILVERMAN: I don't have the answer. But the thing is, anybody who listens to our show knows how we feel about Reverend Wright, and we again got to state our opinions. I do think the more interesting topic -- maybe Robertson, and Falwell, and the Reverend Wright are correct. Maybe God does choose sides. Maybe even in political campaigns and the direction of a country. I'm kind of dimissive, but maybe I'm wrong. After all, it is in the Bible.
In fact, during his April 29 news conference, Obama stated that he was "outraged" by Wright's comments and denounced them as "divisive and destructive," "offensive," "appalling," and contradictory of "everything that I'm about and who I am." Moreover, contrary to Caplis' claim that Obama never "specifically in any detail" repudiated Wright's remarks, Obama asserted during the news conference:
But when he [Wright] states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century, when he equates the United States wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses. They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced. And that's what I'm doing very clearly and unequivocally here today.
From "Obama's Remarks on Wright," published April 29 in The New York Times:
SENATOR BARACK OBAMA: Before I start taking questions I want to open it up with a couple of comments about what we saw and heard yesterday. I have spent my entire adult life trying to bridge the gap between different kinds of people. That's in my DNA, trying to promote mutual understanding to insist that we all share common hopes and common dreams as Americans and as human beings. That's who I am. That's what I believe. That's what this campaign has been about.
Yesterday, we saw a very different vision of America. I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened over the spectacle that we saw yesterday.
You know, I have been a member of Trinity United Church of Christ since 1992. I have known Reverend Wright for almost 20 years. The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church.
They certainly don't portray accurately my values and beliefs. And if Reverend Wright thinks that that's political posturing, as he put it, then he doesn't know me very well. And based on his remarks yesterday, well, I may not know him as well as I thought, either.
Now, I've already denounced the comments that had appeared in these previous sermons. As I said, I had not heard them before. And I gave him the benefit of the doubt in my speech in Philadelphia, explaining that he has done enormous good in the church. He's built a wonderful congregation. The people of Trinity are wonderful people. And what attracted me has always been their ministry's reach beyond the church walls.
But when he states and then amplifies such ridiculous propositions as the U.S. government somehow being involved in AIDS, when he suggests that Minister Farrakhan somehow represents one of the greatest voices of the 20th and 21st century, when he equates the United States wartime efforts with terrorism, then there are no excuses. They offend me. They rightly offend all Americans. And they should be denounced. And that's what I'm doing very clearly and unequivocally here today.
Let me just close by saying this: I -- we started this campaign with the idea that the problems that we face as a country are too great to continue to be divided, that, in fact, all across America people are hungry to get out of the old divisive politics of the past.
I have spoken and written about the need for us to all recognize each other as Americans, regardless of race or religion or region of the country; that the only way we can deal with critical issues, like energy and health care and education and the war on terrorism, is if we are joined together. And the reason our campaign has been so successful is because we had moved beyond these old arguments.
What we saw yesterday out of Reverend Wright was a resurfacing and, I believe, an exploitation of those old divisions. Whatever his intentions, that was the result. It is antithetical to our campaign. It is antithetical to what I am about. It is not what I think American stands for.
And I want to be very clear that moving forward, Reverend Wright does not speak for me. He does not speak for our campaign. I cannot prevent him from continuing to make these outrageous remarks.
But what I do want him to be very clear about, as well as all of you and the American people, is that when I say I find these comments appalling, I mean it. It contradicts everything that I'm about and who I am. [emphases added]
Further contradicting Caplis' claim that Obama never "separate[d] himself" from Wright, an April 30 Times article reported that Obama "broke forcefully" with Wright during the April 29 news conference:
Senator Barack Obama broke forcefully on Tuesday with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., in an effort to curtail a drama of race, values, patriotism and betrayal that has enveloped his presidential candidacy at a critical juncture.
At a news conference here, Mr. Obama denounced remarks Mr. Wright made in a series of televised appearances over the last several days. In the appearances, Mr. Wright has suggested that the United States was attacked because it engaged in terrorism on other people and that the government was capable of having used the AIDS virus to commit genocide against minorities. His remarks also cast Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, in a positive light.
In tones sharply different from those Mr. Obama used on Monday, when he blamed the news media and his rivals for focusing on Mr. Wright, and far harsher than those he used in his speech on race in Philadelphia last month, Mr. Obama tried to cut all his ties to -- and to discredit -- Mr. Wright, the man who presided at Mr. Obama's wedding and baptized his two daughters.
Obama also publicly has disagreed with Wright's statements regarding the 9-11 attacks, as Media Matters for America has noted. As the Times reported on April 30, 2007:
On the Sunday after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Mr. Wright said the attacks were a consequence of violent American policies. Four years later he wrote that the attacks had proved that "people of color had not gone away, faded into the woodwork or just 'disappeared' as the Great White West went on its merry way of ignoring Black concerns."
Provocative Assertions
Such statements involve "a certain deeply embedded anti-Americanism," said Michael Cromartie, vice president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative group that studies religious issues and public policy. "A lot of people are going to say to Mr. Obama, are these your views?"
Mr. Obama says they are not.
"The violence of 9/11 was inexcusable and without justification," he said in a recent interview. He was not at Trinity the day Mr. Wright delivered his remarks shortly after the attacks, Mr. Obama said, but "it sounds like he was trying to be provocative." [emphases added]
—C. H.
