The Rev. Jeremiah Wright says the media made him out as "some sort of fanatic" by repeating snippets from sermons out of context—part of a "devious" agenda to denigrate the campaign of Barack Obama, the Chicago Tribune reports. In an interview with Bill Moyers to air on PBS tomorrow, Wright says those who heard his sermons in full understood their message.
"They wanted to communicate that I am unpatriotic, that I am un-American, that I am filled with hate speech, that I have a cult at Trinity United Church of Christ," Wright said. "And by the way, guess who goes to his church, hint, hint, hint? That's what they wanted to communicate." Wright made special note of Maureen Dowd's characterization of him as a "wackadoodle." (More Jeremiah Wright stories.)