Fox News: Did Warnock invite Jeremiah Wright to preach in 2014 ... on 9/11 anniversary eve?

The failure of Democrats to vet their Senate runoff nominee continues to pay dividends … to the Georgia GOP. Earlier oppo-research drops on Raphael Warnock included praise for and a defense of Rev. Jeremiah Wright after his infamous “God damn America” speech following the 9/11 attacks. Any invite to Wright after that, and especially after the speech emerged in the 2008 presidential campaign, would be fodder for political attack.

Advertisement

But, er … scheduling Wright to speak on the anniversary eve of the 9/11 attacks six years after Barack Obama tossed Wright under the bus? That’s *chef’s kiss* perfection in oppo research:

Georgia Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock, who in 2008 defended former President Obama’s inflammatory one-time pastor, appears to have hosted him as a guest preacher at his Atlanta church in 2014.

A flyer for the event found on Facebook advertised the Rev. Jeremiah Wright as a guest preacher at Warnock’s historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.

A campaign spokesman for Warnock’s election rival, incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, blasted the move.

“Not only did Raphael Warnock praise Jeremiah Wright’s ‘God Damn America’ sermon, he thought it was so great that he invited him to Ebenezer Baptist to deliver it,” Loeffler’s communications director, Stephen Lawson, told Fox News Thursday night. “Does Georgia really want a U.S. senator who thinks God should damn America?”

Warnock’s campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News request for comment.

Here’s the flyer listing a series of three events. Note the date on which Warnock scheduled Jeremiah Wright to speak. Is this just a coincidence?

If Warnock never ran for public office, no one would have paid much attention to any of this. However, Warnock’s attempt to run as a moderate Democrat for a US Senate seat in Georgia makes this record very much fair game. After all, this is Warnock’s public record — his ministry and his alliances — on which he’s now running for office.

Advertisement

By the way, it’s not just Wright’s 9/11 sermon that presents a problem for Warnock, and by extension Jon Ossoff. Earlier this week, Ossoff accused Republicans of “anti-Semitism” in attacking Warnock, which considering Warnock’s embrace of Louis Farrakhan seems a case of projection-by-proxy. Wright has his own embrace of Farrakhan to explain in terms of anti-Semitism, but also his own statements. Remember when Wright complained that “them Jews” were blocking his access to Obama? Or, for that matter, when Wright claimed that America had “started the HIV virus” in order to keep the Third World in poverty?

His voice rising, Mr. Wright said, “We supported Zionism shamelessly while ignoring the Palestinians and branding anybody who spoke out against it as being anti-Semitic. . . . We care nothing about human life if the end justifies the means. . . .”

Concluding, Mr. Wright said: “We started the AIDS virus . . . We are only able to maintain our level of living by making sure that Third World people live in grinding poverty. . . .”

Considering this view of America, it’s not surprising that in December Mr. Wright’s church gave an award to Louis Farrakhan for lifetime achievement. In the church magazine, Trumpet, Mr. Wright spoke glowingly of the Nation of Islam leader. “His depth on analysis [sic] when it comes to the racial ills of this nation is astounding and eye-opening,” Mr. Wright said of Mr. Farrakhan. “He brings a perspective that is helpful and honest.”

Advertisement

That sounds a lot like Warnock’s defense of Farrakhan several years later, no? What it doesn’t sound like is “moderate.” Wright’s a nut, a radical from which Obama wisely distanced himself in 2008. Six years after that, Warnock still embraced Wright and Farrakhan. There are many ways to describe someone who does that, but “moderate” is not among them.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement