For two weeks now, the vast majority of media coverage surrounding Barack Obama's pastor, Rev. Wright, has been a straw man of epic proportions. After combing through countless sermons in order to isolate individual phrases that might be "shocking", the media has successfully constructed a false caricature of Rev. Wright - and we've been beaten over the head with it for the better part of two weeks.
Rev. Wright's comments seemed crazy. ("God damn America!") They seemed indefensible. (Following 9/11: "America's chickens have come home to roost.")
Then, only after the storm started to die down, Rev. Wright's comments actually appeared in context:
