In today's column Bill Kristol forgot to do his research.
But Ronald Kessler, a journalist who has written about Wright’s ministry, claims that Obama was in fact in the pews at Trinity last July 22. That’s when Wright blamed the "arrogance" of the "United States of White America" for much of the world’s suffering, especially the oppression of blacks. In any case, given the apparent frequency of such statements in Wright’s preaching and their centrality to his worldview, the pretense that over all these years Obama had no idea that Wright was saying such things is hard to sustain.
There's only one problem with that, Obama was in Miami that day addressing the NCLR Annual Conference.
But surely he could have gone to both right? He could have sat in the pews and then gone to the conference? Behold the power of Google!
Check out the schedule of the conference:
1:30 p.m. SPECIAL FORUM: Foro Del Pueblo Con Sen. Obama – Room D128-129, (Open to the public)
Featured Speaker: Senator Barack Obama (D-IL)
1:30 Miami time is 12:30 Chicago time. Figure an hour to get to the airport, two hours to fly, an hour to get to the conference, some time to get ready, and Obama couldn't have left much later than 8. When does his church start its services? 4 AM?
Don't let this go unchallenged. Email the New York Times at letters@nytimes.com or send one to:
Letters to the Editor
The New York Times
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
You can email Kristol through this link. It's not the most direct address but it will work. Please be polite when you do so.
Update: To reach Clark Hoyt, who represents the readers, e-mail public@nytimes.com or call (212) 556-7652. The main switchboard is (212) 556-1234. You can also email these addresses:
executive-editor@nytimes.com
managing-editor@nytimes.com
Thanks Maineiac. You've been doing a great job researching how to contact them.
Thanks to IssacM on MyDD for starting this process.
Here's the letter I sent. Feel free to modify it and send along. You might want to use your own name instead of mine ;)
Today's column by Bill Kristol claims that, "But Ronald Kessler, a
journalist who has written about Wrights ministry, claims that Obama
was in fact in the pews at Trinity last July 22." However a quick
Google search of Obama's schedule shows that he was addressing the
NCLR that day.
If you go to http://www.nclr.org/... , you'll
see that he was addressing the conference at 1:30 PM, 12:30 PM Chicago
time. So that claim means that Obama would have had to have somehow
gone to church, driven to the airport, flown to Miami, driven to the
conference, prepared for the speech, and been ready by early
afternoon. Factor in some wiggle room in the schedule to account for
airport delays and traffic, and this service must have happened at 4
AM for Obama to have been there.
Please issue an immediate correction.
Thank you.
David Steinberg
Seattle, WA
Update: Thanks Maineiac again and virtualobserver!. Looks like he was in Iowa the night before which rules out the 4 AM option anyway. The Washington Post has him doing a speech starting at 7 PM.