The Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright

Over at his site, Buzz Daly publishes a lengthy defense of the Reverend Dr. Wright, for those interested in the issue.

As a rank atheist (or perhaps we mean a ranking atheist?), we tend to stay away from god-botherers of any stripe, and we're grateful to Ms. Manitoba for publishing a brief defense of Dr. Wright on this blog.

However, we agree with Buzz that the issue is not whether Dr. Wright is right or wrong about anything. We believe the issue is that the vultures of the rightwingnutjobs and the media are doing their usual distract-attack shenanigans in a test of the strength of Obama and his supporters and the left in general and progressives and Democrats.

Therefore, all of us need to step up and point out that this is just a distraction. America was founded on the Constitutional principle of free speech. Those who threaten to attack and kill Jeremiah Wright for speaking his mind are violating the Constitution. They need to be told firmly, "Not this time!"

Not this time, you don't distract us. Not this time, you don't get us to take our collective eye off the ball. Not this time, you don't smear a decorated veteran who served his nation honourably during a time of war. Not this time, you don't get to smear the people's choice of presidential candidate for the remarks of someone else. Not this time, you don't get to attack our collective right to free speech and expect us all to fold like cheap card stock and baa in agreement like sheeple.

Not this fucking time. We don't give a shit about what you think about Reverend Wright. It's a free country. Think what you like and say what you like. But stop trying to divide us, and get us to take our eyes off the prize.

We recognize your tactics, you vultures. You sat quiet when the swiftboaters attacked another decorated veteran, and then you piled on, or crept away. If you don't have any respect for your own fucking Constitution, you don't deserve its protections. Stand up! Stand up on your hind legs, everyone, and remember the saying of Evelyn Beatrice Hall, Voltaire's biographer: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

That, people, is the essence of free speech. That is America's strength. We defend free speech, and we reject any attacks upon it. Our Constitution says we have the right to speak freely. Our Founding Fathers and Mothers built this country on the right of the people to have their say. That is a precious right, bought with blood. It is ours, and we're not giving it up, and every one of us must fight against the attack on free speech and the Constitution, disguised as an attack on a single person who may have said something we don't like or don't agree with or don't want to hear.

Stumble It!