Roland on CNN tonight at 7 pm CST

I'll be on Election Center with Campbell Brown tonight. Guess what? We're talking Rev. Jeremiah Wright!

Comments

[Donald Blount]

Roland,
Continue to do your thing Brother. If the media is truly just trying to report the news that why does it seem to me that they are engaged in shaping public opinion. I hope if the question is asked of you... Can Barack move beyond this? Your answer would be... How can he if you keep asking the same questions and showing the same videos of Rev. Wright

[Donald Blount]

Roland,
Continue to do your thing Brother. If the media is truly just trying to report the news that why does it seem to me that they are engaged in shaping public opinion. I hope if the question is asked of you... Can Barack move beyond this? Your answer would be... How can he if you keep asking the same questions and showing the same videos of Rev. Wright

[rikyrah]

Roland,

Keep on keeping on. You are always on the money. Keep on debating and keeping it honest.

[Karen S.]

Hello Roland:

Can you please tell me WHY Obama has not pointed out that under the Constitution of the United States, Reverend Wright has the RIGHT TO DISSENT and the RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH no matter how unpopular the theme might be.

The Obama campaign should have hit on this note hard and often. In my opinion, neither Imus or Dog the Bounty Hunter should have lost their jobs because of those basic rights but in this 'silly season' of political correctness, we are quickly losing the very rights that have made this country unique and attractive to so many.

[Cynthia, TX]

Karen, I think with the Don Imus and Dog the Bounty Hunter situation was different. You basically had to individuals that worked for large corporations and part of their policies on employee and public relations is this type of language is not acceptable. So, they had to be fired because of that. If they in turn worked for themselves then I think they would have been able to get by with the comments. Again, those comments put Human to the face of those young ladies and it was nationally viewed horrible. If I am wrong on that forgive me.

[Jody Gaddy]

Black people:
1) Get your own TV stations
Oprah has done a wonderful job resenting us in some parts of the nation, but we need strong TV networks to compete with CNN, FOX, and others

2) Hannity, Wolf Blitzer, Lou Doub, and the rest of the known racists on TVs can only be challenged from your own grounded base

[Karen S.]

Makes sense...thanks Cynthia.

[Cynthia, TX]

Take a look at this photo. Hmm wonder if this is going to get posted all over the blogsphere?

Photo of Rev. Wright and President Clinton

http://images.politico.com/global/clintonwright.jpg

[Y.Oates]

All this mess about Rev.Wright and Senator Obama literally brings tears to my eyes. How can we tell our beautiful children that they can be anything? Maybe we have been fooling ourselves into believing that a black man can be president. I personally think that the media and the Clintons will try and do whatever it takes to destroy Senator Obama. We need to ask "was it ever a fair fight"?

[Jay]

BREAKING NEWS: There has been a breach of security into Barack Obama's records. The Attorney General is investigating.

[Karen S.]

Has anybody heard how Reverend Wright is holding up since this smear began?

[KIT]

I am so sick of this mess with Jeremiah Wright. It is such a double-standard and I am sure that going after this man is political, but also racial too.

Now this mess with breaching Sen. Obama's passport records and nobody in the State Department knows anything and this is a Secret Service protected Democratic front-runner.

[KIT]

I am so sick of this mess with Jeremiah Wright. It is such a double-standard and I am sure that going after this man is political, but also racial too.

Now this mess with breaching Sen. Obama's passport records and nobody in the State Department knows anything and this is a Secret Service protected Democratic front-runner.

[Jay]

BREAKING: Obama Passport Breached: Two State Dept Officials Fired, Investigation Underway

http://politicss101.wordpress.com/

[Kejobe]

Roland I hope CNN is doing its investigation about Jerimiah Wright being a guset of Bill Clinton during the Monica Lawenksy scandal. This story is now on Politico.com

Keep your rightoues mind and keep the faith

[Greg]

You know we need to take this for what it is, whites in this country and in the media are doing what they do best; they are twisting this Rev. Wright crap to keep a very good man from being President "notice i said man and not black man". The fact is they have nothing on Obama and they didn't think he would get this far thats why they never made a deal about the types of Rev. Wright a yr ago. They fear the idea of a black man as their President. Another fact is whites are arrogant and lazy; they don't care to understand how blacks think or feel, it is why we are at war now with the middle east too lazy and arrogant to understand how other people view things in life. Its much easier to write people off only because you don't care to learn. We as blacks understand a lot better, we have our views and we have been forced to learn the views of whites in this country, because of this we can see what Rev. Wright said and say "so what its true"; and go on with our lives. Obama tried to help them understand but they took what he said and somehow made it negative. The fact that the media is going on and on, and even going as far as to get more watchers pissed so that they won't vote for him is sad; someone needs to word it up and tell Dobbs and the rest that they are walking a very thin line of hate. The Clinton camp is getting what they have been trying to do for a while now, make Obama look like another black man pulling the race card, when it has been them suggesting race from the start. I'm sorry to say but it looks like Obama will be thrown into the corner with Rev. Jackson and Al Sharpton as another black man talking about racism in America; which we know whites hate to talk about.

[Kejobe]

Roland, keep the faith, and keep your rigteous mind, brother you are doing a great job. David Gergen too is great at how he is presenting to America from a white man's perspective.

Kejobe

[celestine]

I am multiracial and have found this whole issue brought to a good light. I am a bit older than Barack and have been taken to almost every church style there is. I was brought up to respect my elder's and to listen and learn from them. I find Barack's style of trying to bring people of different nationalities refreshing and that his campaign has got the media to focus in on the race issue's here in America is a justifiable nuiance. I cannot hate any race in me, nor can I hate other race's because they are not like mine. Thank You for all you do and suggest on CNN, brought me to your site and I love the challenge's you are putting out to Shawn and the FOX network. Nessa

[Gayle Sledge]

Roland,
Why don't you tell Anderson that the DNC need to denounce Hillary as she pushes Democratic voters to the Republican party? This is the second time she has literally undermine our Democratic electorate. Trying to accuse Obama and others based on something the FL & MI politicians caused....give me a break!

[candygirl, Illinois]

Roland, I saw you on AC 360 tonight along with David Gergen. I just wanted to thank you for challenging CNN to keep it real with this race issue. You were visible upset but you made alot of good points on how all this is getting out of hand. CNN isn't being a responsible media outlet right now.

Once again thank David Gergen on my behalf because it is very nice to see some honest people on television.

[Karen]

Mr Martin, here's a interesting link I found. It's a picture of none other than the famous Bill Clinton with Rev Wright at a whitehouse function. And I believe if you check those recently released schedules of Senator Hillary Clinton's you'll may find she was in attendance that day. Ha! Talking about chickens coming home to roost!

[MichaeldeZayas]

Your performance on 360 tonight was inspiring. I've been waiting for someone to say what you did: hey roducers of CNN, how long will you keep being petty, d your job, don't succumb. It's an uphill battle and your performance is refreshing!

[Karen]

http://thinkonthesethings.wordpress.com/

[Mary McFadden of Columbia South Carolina]

Roland - Thank you for being my voice!!! I thought I was the only one that noticed Mr. Hannity's apparent strong dislike of Barack Obama. It is obvious that Mr. Hannity, as well as others, are simply afraid of a black man running this country. Barack Obama is not simply a black man but a competent black man capable of uniting America. Fox News, on the other hand, is the "National Enquirer" of tv news; it is the "slum" of politics. Bill O'Reilly is no different. Those in opposition of Barack Obama are attempting to tear him down and we must continue to uplift him in donations, verbal support, and yes, in PRAYER. Barack Obama is our next president!!!!

[Kat]

Roland, I just saw you on 360 quite by accident. This white girl was cheering you on. The media totally MISSED the point of Obama's speech, and don't see how they are contributing to the problem. I loved you trying to call CNN higher, and how all three of you shut Anderson down.

God Bless You!

[JT]

I read about your performance tonight on DailyKos. I'm sorry I missed it, but I prefer KO on MSNBC - he's the only one with any integrity these days as far as hosts go. Here's hoping you get your own show one day. At any rate, I heard you did a great job injecting some reality into CNN's ugly attempt at shilling a sound-bite. Keep up the great work!

[DivideNConquer]

If Sean Hannity wants to play games, let's play--let's get him to start answering his association with Hal Turner--a neo nazi. This story needs to be spread to all over!

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050620/blumenthal

[Jewelle Taylor Gibbs]

Roland, Here's a tip for you to confirm: Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a member of former President Clinton's team of clergy advisers during his second term. Rev. Wright had at least two photos of himself with Pres. Clinton in his office, showing that he had visited the White House on several occasions. That puts this whole controversy in a different light and explains why Hillary's campaign has been so quiet about the Wright controversy during the past week. Please check this out and let the world know if it is true; then let's hear from Hillary Clinton to get her comments on why Rev. Wright was one of her husband's "spiritual advisers". What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

[Tina]

Roland, Great Reporting. I stay tuned to CNN whenever you are on. I can't understand the media these days and not just CNN. I thought these people are suppose to be journalists. I use to write for my high school paper and we were better journalists than these people. All they are looking for is something to keep ratings up. It seems the concept of research is completely foreign to them. If it wasn't for you I doubt we would have ever heard the entire sermon. It makes me so sad to see this thing turn into a racial issue. It seems as if people don't even get that Obama is 50% white. What better person to truly represent ALL the people of America.
AGAIN, GREAT JOB!

[rikyrah]

Roland,

You did a great job. Did you see them try and lie, and using that Dick Morris Memo - that's the new part of it- either Obama was a willing member, or he used Trinity to gain ' street cred'. Read Dick Morris' new column; he outlines it there.

Thing is, they don't know CRAP about Chicago. If Obama wanted to be politically connect, Trinity in 1985 just was NOT the place to be. There were any number of churches will lots of connections to the political machine in Chicago - Trinity wasn't one of them. Also, the bull about Obama's ' Black cred' being questioned - that didn't come until 2000 against Bobby Rush -a whole FIFTEEN YEARS after he became involved with Trinity. But, you keep on Roland. You're the only one telling THE TRUTH with a historical, and Chicago perspective.

I also saw you challenge the man to watch the entire sermon, and he so pompously said that he didn't need to see it - they don't give a rat's ass about CONTEXT - at all. Because that would mean learning THE TRUTH. They aren't interested in THE TRUTH.

[ABoyd]

I think what was really surprising/shocking to a lot of people (esp non-black) about Rev Wright's sermon was the firey delivery. The Black community is used to hearing the firey messages-hoop-I think more so than the white congregations.

I think what Rev Wright actually said was not unlike our mothers and grand mothers have told us through the years, "Be careful, God don't like ugly." This was the essence of the so called "damning of America" in Rev Wright's speech. Out of his love for America,, he wanted to warn our American leaders that if we don't stop the hypocrisy and sacrafice of innocent lives for our own gains of money and power then God is going to judge us. What is so wrong with that?

I would venture to say that 75% of the people disagree with President Bush's political decisions-- yeah right... In addition these people along with the media express their discontent with the political decisions of the leadership in very vivid, excited, and firey terms. Does this mean that they do not love our country or are unpatriotic?? Of course not. Anyway, you get my point.

I am in the process of listening to Barack's book "Audacity of Hope" on CD. (I listen while I drive and my kids now know that any objection to the volume generally does no good). But if you listen to Barack's book you must know the sincerity of his motives. His speech on Tuesday was a precious moment in time. I would say to the people who want to get to know Barack better, if you think his speech was awesome, you should read or listen to his book. (I have not yet read "Dreams from My Father", but I heard Chris Matthews assert that it is equally as revealing of Barack's true and sincere motives.

Roland, I love seeing & hearing your views in the political anlysts arena. I heard you on one of the news shows tonight and heard you give the essence.com. I thank God for the balance that you along with people like Chris Matthews, Eugene Robinson, & Keith Olberman bring to the table.

ADBoyd-Go U of M

[Bema]

Dear Roland, thank you so much for your fairness and intelligence. I am always glad to see you on the panel because it is so very refreshing to hear you speak--your Christianity shines through. You make our Lord proud.

I have been appalled and disheartened by the sanctimonious unbendingly unforgiving attitudes of so many in regard to Dr. Wright's sermon. He who be without sin cast the first stone. Who among us has not thought or said things that were potentially objectionable, particularly when quoted out of context . And who among us does not have a friend, family member or pastor who has said things or done things that made us uncomfortable? And yet if we were to discard every long-term friendship or relationship simply because someone said or did something careless or objectionable we would have no friends, spouses, family or co-workers left at all. Instead we are called to forgive as we have been forgiven. To extend mercy as we ourselves have received mercy. We do not condemn lest we be condemned. We remove the log in our eyes to see the speck in our neighbor's. Grace extended is grace received.

In this spirit, several years ago, I applauded Senator Clinton, a modern intelligent woman, for staying with her husband ex-President Clinton when many vocal juvenile voices were calling for her to walk away from her marriage. To her credit and despite the humiliation she must have felt, she stuck with her husband. I am sure Chelsea and Bill appreciated her decision to work out a difficult situation. SImilarly I applaud Senator McCain for sticking with his wife through a deep family crisis involving drugs when it was clearly a political liability to do so. Again, I am sure Mrs. McCain and her family are glad he did.

Human relationships are complicated. It says far more of a person's maturity and character that s/he can disagree profoundly with another human being, recognizing (without excusing the fact) that we are all flawed, and yet remain in relationship because one understands the hard road that person has traveled. This is the manner of humble mature people. It is also the Jesus way.

One final point: Everyone keeps talking about who among the candidates has the right judgment to be commander in chief. This is an important test. As important (if not more important), however, is who has the right temperament to be commander in chief. Fortunately this campaign has been a natural experiment for comparing the two democratic candidates. We have seen Hilary in her moments of crisis (and we Know of McCain's legendary temper). In these times, we have seen her mightily annoyed over perceived press unfairness (say getting the first question in a debate), bully, leverage gender, turn on a fellow democrat, throw mud, attempt to change the rules, be conciliatory and magnanimous one moment, viciously demeaning the next etc. etc.

Now contrast her demeanor on these occasions with that of Senator Obama's during his current crisis-- a far more serious flap. He has been measured, unflappable, reasoned, personable, elevating us all to a higher plane of discourse. Everyone says these two should be viewed as candidates applying for a job so let's personalize this: if one could choose one's boss, who would you choose? I think the answer is obvious if one is to combine judgment with temperament. If judgment and temperament in a boss are critical attributes in our mundane jobs, how much more critical is this mix of temperament and judgment in a leader at a time of national crisis? The world is an increasingly volatile and unpredictable place. We need both cool heads and smart minds in times of crises. This is an argument I wish Senator Obama would make. Framed this way the choice is quite obvious. Not only has he shown the right judgment, he has also demonstrated the most even temperament in times of crisis.

Well I have rambled on too long. Once again, thanks Roland for being a voice of reason and fairness in an increasingly silly mean-spirited discourse in which pharisaical souls who cloak partisan ideology and nationalism in a cloak of religion push an agenda of division rather than unity. Thanks for calling them out. God bless.

[dBone-MasonSquare]

Roland
I just watched two of Rev. Wright's unedited sermons and I want to cry for what the media has done to this man. It's hard to imagine that the clips we've seen played continuously on the news have merely been taken out of context. But it's true! When the tapes are played in full, there is nothing hateful in what Wright says. He is NOT speaking against whites. Rather, he is speaking against hate and violence.

I urge everyone to listen to Wright's words in context. I cannot believe the media so artfully cut these clips so as to mislead the American people. Or that they conveniently left out of their commentary that Wright is a veteran who was at LBJ's side when LBJ underwent surgery. He has received three presidential commendations and was invited to the White House twice! He was one of the "core" ministers President Clinton invited to the White House to hear his confession regarding Monica Lewinsky.

Again, please watch the videos. I have continued to support Barack through all of this but I must admit I felt uneasy about this issue. Now, I can rest easy. In fact, I'm even more in support of him since he did not bow to pressure to denounce Rev. Wright.

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TRINITYCHGO

[Jette R.]

Hi Roland,

Just want to encourage you. You are a breath of fresh air on the airwaves. And, I look forward to your commentaries on CNN.com (Clinton News Network).
Thanks for listening to the sermons and setting the record straight. I have not voted Democrat in a presidential election since my first vote for Jessie Jackson. Eventhough I do not agree with Mr. Obama on some social issues, I am ready for change and sick of politics as usual. Just a few weeks ago, my sister and I were saying that this Brotha is not gonna march to the nomination, everything was too perfect...then last week happen; the other shoe dropped. I was astonished at the constant repetiveness both on radio and TV, of Dr. Wright's sermon snippets. This was not news to me...Fox News was playing this stuff for a year. If you hear something long enough it becomes the truth. I'm not a journalist, but I would think they ought to seek truth. Most blacks knew that this stuff was taken out of context. If you go to socially conscious black church with a fiery pastor this is common place. If you go to a "bourgey" black church you were in shocked just like some non-whites. In the final analysis "what goes around, comes around" in other words "you reap, what you sow".

[Jey]

Roland,
As you know, I'm not a brown noser. That said, you were brilliant last night on AC360 last night. A general consensus was evident in the room (except Anderson) which was proof that you’ve been working overtime. Even Gergen and the other gent (as we all are) acknowledged that they are truly exhausted by the lack of quality news reporting and what constitutes a story at CNN anymore.

CNN used to be a trusted leader in news - now, not so much. And sometimes the racism, bias, and desperation is so blatant and irresponsible, it's almost unpalatable (like FOX). It would be a shame if CNNs reputation spiraled into an unrecognizable and irreversible downward decent into the abyss to become irrelevant.

I salute you for challenging CNN to be different from the rest. There is a huge segment of the population that yearns for intelligent and responsible news reporting that no one seems to be tapping into, lately. What an opportunity for the first network to respond to this group of viewers with a fresh new approach to quality. Old viewers will return and who knows how many millions in Obama's voting block will tune into CNN as a trusted resource for fair and equal news coverage. Think the advertisers will line up for millions of new viewers (carrots)?

Keep up the good work! You make us proud by keeping it real.

[Ann]

Roland:
It has now become time to separate the men from the boys! Senator Obama has spoken to Americans as adults and challenged us to live up to that challenge regarding race. Obviously, the haters who blog, the right wing radio nut cases and Fox news have no interest in meeting this challenge – they have their own agenda. If America is going to heal, we need to let the world know who this bunch of trouble makers are by putting them and keeping them in the small negative place where they belong. All decent human beings have and must meet that obligation.

The question is, can the rest of the main stream media meet Senator Obama’s challenge and work to heal our country. Or will they continue to allow their on air employees, the pundits and the so called strategist (including the so called ‘respected’ Republican talking heads) continue to nit-pic every thing Obama says on this subject to give the appearance of ‘giving both sides’. There is only one positive side to this question. Those who hate have their own outlets. We don’t have to assist them! Are ratings more important than truth? Why are some of them “cringing” over Obama’s statement that his Grandmother was a typical white person? He told the truth! Does the truth hurt some of you? I’m a typical older white woman and any one of us who haven’t felt fear at one time or another regarding the situation he explained is not being honest. To those of us who have an adult understanding of the situation know that Senator Obama answered the question as to why he stayed in his church. Continuing to bring up the question only feeds into the hate mongers agenda. Let them spread their hate on their own outlets. Let us stick to issues that really matters and stop pushing ordinary people to hate.