Yes, there is a consensus, so it must be true. But who is to BLAME, Tapper? [Twitter via The Awl]

If there was one thing the 2008 election taught us, it’s that African-American politicians no longer need to court fire-breathing black pastors to get elected. Now, thanks to Barack Obama, Reverend Jeremiah Wright is quite possibly one of the most powerless black liberation theologists in the country! And this is why it was very, very important for nearly 20 brave Georgians to protest him when he came to Macon to deliver a sermon. MORE »

After this spring’s “God Damn America” ugliness, Barack Obama managed somehow, amazingly, to keep his former pastor stuffed away in a spider hole for the next what, six months? So hurrah, Reverend Jeremiah Wright has surfaced once again to complain that the media quoted his sermons out of context. While this is true, it will be entertaining to see how the media now takes his complaints out of context. MORE »

Oh ho ho, that Pennsylvania GOP has discovered some crazy black preacher in Obama’s past just in time for election day, thank heavens. Whoa… we’re only a few seconds into the deal and man oh man, this guy is nuts! What is he talking about, “God Damn America!” HOW COULD HE SAY THAT?? Boy howdy he just keeps on going! If only the Obama campaign had gotten this guy out of the way earlier, say, in March, amidst a tumultuous primary battle in this very same Pennsylvania. Then the damage might have been done, and no one would care right now! [TPM]

We’ve seen this before from the McCain campaign, its Maverick-y process of rationalization. When Obama didn’t agree to McCain’s call for a series of 80 town halls, the McCain campaign used this as a justification to make nasty shit up about Obama, such as “Obama wants to teach your kindergartners how to bang each other.” When the Obama campaign made fun of McCain’s ~7 houses, the McCain campaign considered this an insult to Cindy McCain — wives are off-limits! — and responded with its first ad about, uh, Tony Rezko. And now we come to the present situation, in which the McCain campaign is using a random Congressman’s weekend rant to justify its upcoming usage of Jeremiah Wright. MORE »

• BARRY BUYS ALL TELEVISION CHANNELS: The Obama campaign is trying to buy 30 minutes of primetime on every major teevee network for October 29. (Fox is hesitant because it is showing a “baseball game” that night.) So expensive, no? Maybe he will finally unveil that secret video of Cindy McCain calling everyone “blackey” at Jeremiah Wright’s church. [The Live Feed]

Oooh hot dog, let’s check in with New York Times “lightning rod conservative” columnist Billiam Kristol this Monday. Today’s edition is called, “How McCain Wins.” By being a Maverick still? Eh, more or less. That and Jeremiah Wright, the famous church demon. MORE »

Hey, maybe Jeremiah Wright wants Barack Obama to be president after all! Following EXPLOSIVE reports that he was going to publish a picture book in October featuring Barack Obama getting AIDS from the Muslim prophet Mohammad, Reverend Wright’s daughter now says that he has absolutely no plans to write a book any time soon. She also says her father would respond personally to email inquiries, but he is in “email hell,” which we are informed means “a place in Ghana where it’s difficult to send and receive email.” When will Barack Obama apologize for his former pastor’s daughter using the word “hell” so glibly? [The Roland Report]

• JEREMIAH WRIGHT IS THE WORST: So we’re reading this nice New York magazine piece about Barack Obama and Race and Hope before sleepy and, right near the very end, UGH: “In October, Obama’s former pastor, Wright, will publish a new book and hit the road to promote it, an occasion that might well place the topic of Obama’s blackness (along with his patriotism and his candor about what he heard in the pews in all those years at Trinity Church) squarely at the center of the national debate.” SWEET. LOOKING FORWARD TO OCTOBER. [New York]

Ha ha sillies no this billboard isn’t making yet another reference to balls. It comes to you via a religious type in Indiana who’s lodging a bipartisan appeal to crazies on both sides of the aisle, as in, “All the cool kids in Washington are getting down with nutty preachers.” This is true, unless you’re Ron Paul, who gets down with his rocket instead. [copyranter]

Ha ha, these people are funny because they named their magazine “Paranoia,” meaning they recognize that they are simply insane people with a printing press. [Reason]