and resurrected the story of reverend jeremiah wright.omney is holding an event in jacksonville. we're will that governor romney will make a new statement on the report. we'll have more with nbc news senior political editor mark murray after a quick break. n, diarrhea, gas or bloating? get ahead of it! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defend against digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. hit me! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'. a little bird told me about a band... ♪ an old man shared some fish stories... ♪ oooh, my turn. ♪ she was in paris, but we talked for hours... everyone else buzzed about the band. there's a wireless mind inside all of us. so, where to next? ♪ >>> mitt romney with live pictures speaking at an event in jacksonville, florida. we're waiting to see if he comments off new york time report showing a vicious attacking plan by a pro romney super pac linking president obama to the reverend jeremiah wright. senior political editor mark murray joins me. in your first rea

what i'm saying to you is that jeremiah wright is fair game. there are a lot of issues that people feel that were unresolved when the president ran for office. well, if you want to go back and reexamine jeremiah wrirkt you should do this. but not in the context of race. you said at the onset of this show that they wanted to go back and examine his ideas and what he believed in. and how it influenced the president and the kind of decisions he is making for this nation today. those are different issues. the bottom line is that they should not inject race. once you say you're going to look for a literal african-american to be your spokesperson, you lose all credibility. it is not the kind of thing that you want to be associated with based on race. if you want to deal with the merit of jeremiah wright and how much he has influenced the president, that's a legitimate issue. >> why can't you say if it is a good or bad strategy? why cannot you say, what precludes or prevents you from saying if this is a good or bad strategy? >> i'm neutral on it. peopl

jeremiah wright is old news now. chris: kathleen, obviously it got blown out of the water, the obama people clearly love the coming out this week, right? they love -- >> absolutely. chris: and everybody jumped on it. but there are people on the obama side afraid that in the end, you can play the ethnic card, that foreign card, are they afraid that it will work against him? >> i don't think mormon is going to play the foreign card. that's -- this is not mitt romney's approach to things. and of course, he's -- he has no control over -- chris: what about the sean hannity piece? hannity -- we just saw him thursday night saying go for it. >> yeah, sean hannity wants to. a lot of republicans do and a lot of the further right people feel like we never vetted obama sufficiently. talking about us, the media. and to some extent they're not wrong about that. they do feel that we kind of pulled back on reverend wright. it was sort of like president obama will not -- candidate obama said yes, i was -- i was in his church for 20 y

we have heard, the incendiary messages of reverend jeremiah wright, but said he had never heard jeremiah wright say anything controversial. this is not a guy who suddenly turns it on and off -- obam's coming, be on your best behavior. >> sean: he said, he is like family to me. >> he married them. >> sean: he appears to praise malcolm-x's autobiography, well known for the term blue-eyed pebbles. >> only malcolm-x autobiography seemed to offer something different, the repeated acts of self creation spoke to me. the blunt poetry, his unadorned insistence on respect, promised a new and uncompromising order, discipline through force of will. the talk of blue-eyed devils and apocalypse was incidental, religious baggage that malcolm seemed to have safely abandoned toward the end of his life. >> sean: he did point out that malcolm had some conversion, evolving from white, blue-eyed devils. but what is he embracing and saying? he seems to be talking about... the controversial side that he embraced as l. am i hearing it right? >> that's how it sounds to me. even if obama did not share the idea tha

it is not as if everybody doesn't know about jeremiah wright. this is kind of red meat for the -- >> well, i hear about the guy ricketts is the guy who owns the cubs is still about it. >> and these are people who have not heard of jeremiah wright. >> what did black theology have to do with the auto bailout or other issues, because it is like other political consultants, fred davis in this case, to find these venting billionaires who say we have to kill a book and you gave us $500,000 and whatever it is, we can take it out. >> it is not for the audience. >> right. it's a vanity production. that you can go back to the club and say i took out obama with that ad. >> and here is the guys on television who thinks like them, but hand -- hannity disagrees. and i cannot tell sean what he believes and what he is putting out there. but there he is, mitt romney repudiating the attacks and the pledge of the economy, but how can you disagree with what mitt says. here he is sicking him on the president. >> well, governor romney, i have to respectfully disagree

the point was, everybody knew who jeremiah wright was. everybody had an opinion on jeremiah wright.roadcasting was preaching to the converted. it would have had no political effect. it was a stupid strategy. it was bad tactics. and it's crazy to be talking about it in 2012. >> why then are some republicans still obsessed with this elderly reverend from chicago? what secrets do they think this man provides into the life of a president who now we've seen in office for more than three years? >> i think there is a myth at the center of this argument that many on the far right are making. and that's is to say that this wasn't exploited and explored in 2008. and in fact, it was. millions of people saw all the speeches that he made. he gave several interviews. he gave speeches after obama distances himself from him. he's given interview off since then. this idea that somehow there's a smoking gun that needs to be explored, there's a shooting drop. i think it's a real myth. there is an obsession. it's part of this idea. if somehow outside of the mainstream that he's an other, and that's wha

throwing reverend jeremiah wright right back in the spotlight. governor romney repudiating the strategy and then a statement was released saying, in part, not only was this merely a proposal, one of several submit to the spending action fund by third-party vendor, but it reflects an approach that mr. rickets rejects, but it was never accepted. it looks like we will never see that ad. but does it matter? people are busying about the president's former pastor. joining me is herman cain. nieces to see you, mr. cain. >> hello. happy to be here. thank you. >> greta: glad to have you here. first of all, is it fair to in any way tie president obam to reverend jeremiah wright? our is that old and he's distanced from him and it's really -- this is an effort to dirty up the president? >> i think that -- it's an effort to sort of muddy the water. but i think it is fair if someone wants to highlight the reverend jeremiah wright and his relationship with barack obama because quite frankly, it wasn't highlighted enough in 2008 when he was running for president

and to highlight race-related sermons by jeremiah wright.ey're saying if john mccain had done this, no problem. obama would have never been elected, right? >> i don't think so. no. there was a reason why -- in the times story, they talk about how the consultants for john mccain were complaining he wouldn't let them go there because we think it is too incendiary, it is not good for the country. he's an old fuddy fuddy-duddy they said. there is a reason why mccain said no to this kind of a campaign because not only is it divisive, it also reminds fair-minded people, people who are independent and who don't necessarily lean one way or the other, the fact that the republican party has a real issue with the fact that this candidate is an african-american and one of the things that i've consistently thought about is my years of covering politics there's been a lot of campaigns that are kind of cynical. we mentioned a couple in the last segment. but certainly people don't want to be known to vote for -- they'll vote for a covert racist candidate or

he's not liberal enough, he's not left enough for jeremiah wright. >> now he tells us.here are interviews back in his state senator days, chicago state senator days obama talks about attending church every week, week in and week out and then the jeremiah wright videos came out you know how it is with young kids, it's hard to get to church every week, i missed a bunch. and probably the most i will straytive is obama tolduous a straight face he never her the videos we have seen about the god damn messages of jeremiah wright but also said he never heard him say anything controversy. this isn't a guy that turns it on and off, obama is coming, everybody on their best behaver. >> he said he's like family to me. and he appears to praise malcolm xs autobiography in this clip. listen to this. >> only malcolm x autobiography seemed to offer something different. his self criation spoke to me. blunt poetry of his words. us unadorned insistence on respect in a new order. and marshall and its discipline. forged through a sheer force of will. all the other tough is it, the talk of blu

jeremiah wright's name and obama in references to the ad itself. i find it ironic that romney as saying "i repudiate this" when in february he went on the hannity show and it made the same -- the same thing that this ad is doing. >> why is wright off limits? >> he is not, but why is he relevant anymore. talking about 9/11 as if somehow the united states government was involved, it was a reprehensible speech in many ways. but, you know, barack obama ordered the killing of osama bin laden. how is this relevant? >> you just used the word earlier, "reprehensible," in reference to running at about jeremiah wright. it is not off-limits. tactically, piteous a mistake. in 2008, obama -- tactically, it is a mistake in 2008, obama had no record or history of achievements, so all you had to go on were associations, which the press ignored and declared off-limits. today, he has a record, but the idea that it is off-limits is sheer hypocrisy on the part of the press. >> call it what you want, charles. the reality is that this was not dropped by the press in 200

the right wing keeps trying the draw a connection to obama and jeremiah wright but mitt romney's is off limits. >> the president's relationship with the reverend jeremiar wright is an important campaign issue. >> they think it's fair to tie president obama to reverend wright and explain how it influenced the word view. >> how could he have not been in his church for 20 years and not assimilated some of the things he's talking about. >>> that's your stimulus dollars at work. a bridge that goes nowhere. mitt romney is still stirring up fears about the stimulus. >> former labor secretary joins me. >>> rich people don't create jobs. calling ourselves job creators isn't inaccurate, it's disingenious. a venture capitalist says lowering taxes won't create any jobs. he'll prove it's not the 1% that creates jobs but you the con sierm. >>> arsenio hall joins us tonight to weigh in on the hottest political news. >>> conservatives are still debating the plan to attack president obama with reverend jeremiah wright. they say it's fair game to examine if there's a direct line between faith and policy.

a lot of the focus on jeremiah wright has been about jeremiah wright and not necessarily the impact on barack obama's life, and therein lies the difference. >> i think it's completely legitimate to suggest that president obama's voluntarily association, deep association with wright four years does not speak well of him. i don't think this was a particularly smart campaign tactic. i don't think that americans are really going to vote for president in 2012 based on things that happened before obama's presidency, but i think it's totally legitimate. >> let me jump in and say that while many in the media were condemning and holding their nose about this proposal, one commentator was not. sean hannity on fox news. >> governor romney, i have to respectfully disagree with you. i believe that the president's relationship with the reverend jeremiah wright, a man that influenced him for over 20 years, inspired him, is a very important campaign issue. after all, it is a matter of character. >> so in a way even though not a dime will be spent on this aborted advertising plan, it has injected jerem

the president really did know what jeremiah wright thought. >> of course, he did. he knew more than what he even said in the church because he and the reverend wright met numerous times in his private office, and he knew exactly what he stood for. >> sean: all right. so now what's interesting, he has denied the invocation. he gives the prayer with the family, underneath. now, we talked about how that reverend wright has this box, with an email, with an offer to buy his silence from a close confidante of the president, eric whittaker. he didn't name him in the book, but it's mentioned in the tapes. moving on from that because we played that -- you ask if obama knew that whittaker offered the money. now, he doesn't give the answer i would suspect. but here's what he said. >> how long have you had the tape? >> i would say now -- >> was he aware that eric whittaker had offered you mony? >> i don't know. i didn't mention that. >> but he asked you not to appear at the naacp or the national press club. >> national press club. >> those two things? >> and, no, don't do no mo

there is another topic that appears to be off limits and that is reverend jeremiah wright. ors earlier today that a super pac ad was in the works, focusing on reverend wright and his relationship with barack obama. before most of us were even out of bed, the obama campaign and david axelrod were on twitter, calling on mitt romney to repudiate the blitsz. that's exactly what romney did. but was it the right call? joining me is the co-host "the five," eric bolling and kimberly guilfoyle. i heard the interview with guy benson, town hall. i am thinking, this is what mccain did. this is the president that said, they bring a knife, we bring a gun. you know, i want romney to treat obama the way he did gingrich and the way he attacked santorum. i mean, frankly, i thought it got a little too mean. but now all of these things are off limes? >> listen, i think that's what he is going to do. i don't think it's the right thing to do. i think he should try to get after it. too much is at steak. if you are passionate about the country and care about the direction we are going in and i beli

. >>> conservatives are still debating the plan to attack president obama with reverend jeremiah wright. they say it's fair game to examine if there's a direct line between faith and policy. they say we need to no whether president obama's former pastor affected his politics and his policy. here is former presidential candidate herman cain jumping in. >> how could he have been in his church for 20 years and not assimilated some of the thing he's talking about. it's not racist. the liberals want to place the race card when it's convenient. >> president obama has no fear of this kind of examination. candidate obama answered it with a speech on race. >> did i know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of american, domestic and foreign policy? of course. did i hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while i sat in the church? yes. did i strongly disagree with many of his political views? absolutely. >> candidate obama not only answered nagging questions, he delivered a speech on race in america. here is sean hannity. >> 20 years, fort fied. he's like family to me but

he fenced off to the best of his ability, the jeremiah wright story. here is what we will discuss and here is what we will not discuss. in romney's own way, whether you buy it or don't, he was trying to fence off or redirect that which is discussable and that which is not, and the context of the story that covered up the best news of the day which is that he ran $40 million to run against obama. >> chuck, you study this all the time, we're only preseason, we're just getting started welcome but the preseason so far, the training program, we watched romney was very tough negative campaigning. basically a bombing of his opponents. he erased them as issues of his opponents, but he says don't talk about me or engage in character assassination. is that a way of saying any attack on my background or business career is character assassination, meanwhile i will release the super pacs. >> it was an interesting strong man. i would say the difference with reverend right and bain, which is obama repudiated the things things wright said. will he do that with bain? t

meanwhile, jeremiah wright is now all over the news agenda again.r life that they will be repeating now all over cable stations in america, they'll be playing his incendiary comments. >> chickens coming home to roost. >> all that stuff. so he's back in the forefront of people's minds in relation to the president. >> you might be right. my belief is that what this does is not help romney with the independents, that small group of people truly in the middle who can go either way. this looks cynical and wretched and unappealing. >> yes. however, it may help him with lots of other peoples and galvanizing people who have a race element to their thinking. >> if you're an african-american, 90% of whom voted for president obama in the last election, you're looking at the republicans thinking this they're trying to make this race issue part of the issue again. >> is there any part of wright that's relevant to this campaign? is it unsellable for a republican like mitt romney or his campaign to use anything that jeremiah wright stood for against the president?

jeremiah wright. it was submitted by strategist fredavis. it never r. joe ricketts, founder of td ameritrade and the owner of the cubs, who "the new york times" said paid $10 million to finance the campaign, walked away from it. romney said at first he had not seen the store, and later he said this. >> i want to make it very clear, i repudiate that effort. it is the wrong course for a pac or campaign. i hope that our campaigns can be about the future and issues and a vision for america. i have been disappointed in the president's campaign to date, which as been focused on character assassination. we are wiser to talk about issues of today, what to do to get america working again. >> he is talking about the obama ad painting bain capital as top killers. -- job killers. >> it is reflective of the influence that super pacs have. they are spending more than political parties. this was an act of greed on the part of the proposers and stability, because the idea of running on -- against president obama on his association with rev. right, which did not turn ou

this lefty crazied guy that will leap out because of jeremiah wright? >> four years in office is what i call vetting. i think that's a full vetting. you have the job, you have done it for four years, and so people can decide. they like what he has done or they don't. they like what he might do or not. >> let's do a psycho analysis of shawn hannity. is this showmanship? or does he really believe there is another person under this guy. we have a big cool. all of that is a crazed revolutionary? >> you saw newt gingrich in the campaign talk about sal linski that he is waiting to be a socialist dictator when he's elected. sean is saying this on fox news, that there wasn't a vetting of barack obama on jeremiah wright? they went 24/7 wall to wall about it. >> he is like a black revolutionary with the automatic weapon, the sun glasses. is that the image? not a guy that likes to play golf. >> yeah, he is trying to learn -- he won't tell us his score. >> this is an image that sarah palin is saying he is paddling with terrorists, it goes back to a notion that he's

that's jeremiah wright. what do you make of this? >> this is a part of the republican play book to wave the race card and wave it widely. reverend wright preaches no different than hundreds of black ministers. what he said and what we've seen in the videos about him, you would hear in many churches on sunday morning. many would say that's just the reverend. he's emotional and gets excited about these things. i think this is a pocket of nothing. and i'm glad the man who was going to do it has backed away. he realized it was a mistake. and he's not going to do it. >> why would you think in a strategists, this was something we were talking about. this was so five years ago. why would -- why is -- why is reverend wright, the boogie man, a big enough boogie man for someone to bring him up again to scare away voters? or to scare republican voters or conservative voters into voting for mitt romney and not barack obama. >> most of us had never heard of reverend wright four years ago. and the republicans waved him in front of the electorate,

the plan would bring back jeremiah wright the reverend in a big way. the world is about to see jeremiah wright and understand his influence on barack obama. our plan is to do what john mccain would not let us do. the 54 page proposal before a five minute video would portray wright's black liberation theology, proposal and anticipated charges of race-baiting, suggested hiring an extremely literate conservative african-american as a spokesperson who can argue mr. obama misled the nation by presenting himself as a metrosexual black abe lincoln. give me a break. the proposal also suggested listing a group of black business leaders to endorse the effort. this morning, mitt romney said he hadn't heard anything about it. once his campaign got their act together, he said this. >> as i read the article, i want to make it very clear i repudiate that effort. i think it's the wrong course for a pac or campaign. i hope our campaigns can respectively be about the future and issues and about a vision for america. i've been disappointed on the president's campaign to