Mike Thomas of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the folks at Barack Obama’s church are telling the supposedly anti-Obama, anti-Jeremiah Wright news media to back off. Joined by the national muckety-mucks of the United Church of Christ and the National Council of Churches, the Trinity spinners sought to tie the wrong Rev. Wright directly to Martin Luther King:

The National Council of Churches’ general secretary, the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, and United Church of Christ general minister and president John H. Thomas also spoke. Both echoed Moss’ sentiments. “[W]e are not here to try to stir up the controversy around Trinity church,” said Thomas, who has called for a nationwide “sacred conversation” about race in America. “We’re here to call for a new conversation, a sacred conversation, a holy conversation … that is not in denial about where we are in this country, but that seeks to claim the challenge that we can, in fact, as Dr. King said, make America a better place.”

CNN’s Susan Roesgen presented what looked like a completely supine video press release on this event for “The Situation Room” yesterday. The nosy reporters! The bomb threats! The national media is ruining the “sacred space”! Won’t this nitpicking of Martin Luther Wright go away?

There’s just one problem with this line of rhetoric: since when is it a “holy conversation” about race to rant “God damn America”? What is “sacred” in declaring that America deserved the terrorist attacks of 9/11? It’s quite absurd to suggest that Reverend Wright’s critics are sullying a sacred conversation with political smears. His sermons were political smears.

PS: AP reporter Christopher Wills added that Otis Moss, Wright’s replacement at Trinity, is still treating Wright as a prophet straight out of the Old Testament, even if the words he used sounded more like annoying 20th century socialist boilerplate:

The Rev. Otis Moss III, who is replacing Wright when he retires June 1, defended Wright’s comments.
“One of the roles of the prophets: Sometimes you offend. You afflict the comfortable but comfort the afflicted,” Moss said.