I want to go ahead and point out a few of the things that Barack said about his own pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, in the text of his speech today. Why would he refuse to disown a man who he described with the following terms?:

On the other end, weve heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike...

That statement and the one I'm about to display are about the extent of the condemnation in this speech. I question his condemnation, given that he never condemned specific statements, but rather generalized saying the statements in question. He claims that Wright stood for more than the statements that have come out. How can he not disown someone whose comments he can describe with such harsh words:

But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm werent simply controversial. They werent simply a religious leaders effort to speak out against perceived injustice. Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country - a view that sees white racism as endemic, and that elevates what is wrong with America above all that we know is right with America; a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions of stalwart allies like Israel, instead of emanating from the perverse and hateful ideologies of radical Islam

As such, Reverend Wrights comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems...

FOX News has put together a short list of some of Reverend Wright's controversial statements, and those are just a few of many. This is about more than Reverend Wright also, because per Bizzyblog, the church's bulletins were filled with the same hateful content. How can Barack look up to a man who made comments that he himself described as expressing "a profoundly distorted view of this country"? This is an issue of judgment.