D.C. Church Receives Threats After Obama Easter Visit And Sean Hannity Rant

The church that President Obama and his family attended on Easter Sunday morning has received threats after being the subject of  a rant by conservative talker Sean Hannity:

Shiloh Baptist Church in the District said it has received threatening phone calls and e-mails after an Easter visit from President Obama and a conservative television commentator’s subsequent playing of a videotape in which the pastor said that those espousing racial prejudice do so “under the protective cover of talk radio.”

The Rev. Wallace Charles Smith said the church has received more than 100 threats since Fox News channel’s Sean Hannity aired a tape Monday of a speech Smith gave in January 2010 at Eastern University in Saint Davids, Pa.

“We received a fax that had the image of a monkey with a target across is face,” Smith said. “My secretary has received telephone calls that have been so vulgar until she has had to hang up.”

The reason for the threats apparently can be traced to a speech that Rev. Smith gave at Eastern University in 2010 that made it’s way around the conservative punditocracy and, eventually, on to Sean Hannity’s Fox program:

So here you have it again. Obama goes to a church on Easter, some conservative “discovers” a video of “controversial” statements made be this guy a year ago at an event that Obama wasn’t even present for and, all of a sudden, we’ve got the next Jeremiah Wright. These people never give up, do they?

 

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Chad S says:

    Cue Southern Hoosier or Jay Tea telling us about how this is actually Obama or liberals’ fault lol.

  2. PJ says:

    I’m still waiting for either Wiley Stoner or G.A.Phillips to be able to present any kind of evidence that Jeremiah Wright was preaching America hating sermons for 20 years.

    All I’ve seen is a couple of minutes, but shouldn’t there be more?

  3. Falze says:

    Any time now Doug’s gonna post about the death threats against WI lawmakers…any…minute…now….

  4. Marta says:

    Oh, please. Are you people saying the pastor didn’t say those things? You’re really angry because his views were made known to the general public. If it had been Pres. Bush and a preacher even implying that whites are superior, or blacks are bad, you would all be screaming your heads off. Hypocrites.

    Another case of the left crying because the right quotes them accurately. It just makes you look stupid.

  5. mantis says:

    Hey Marta, what do you think of the death threats? You forgot to address the topic.

  6. PJ says:

    Last time I checked, Republican leaders continue to kneel before the altar of Limbaugh.

  7. legion says:

    News flash: Racist dirtbags are racist. It is interesting though, that people like Limbaugh and Trump are recognizing, at least back in some subconscious chunk of their lizard-brains, that being labelled “racist” is somehow “bad” these days, so they try co cover it in more and more layers of concern-troll BS. I suppose that’s some sort of improvement over calling for “uppity negroes” to be put in their place, but man, talk about setting the bar low…

  8. John Peabody says:

    Sean Hannity continues to broadcast his show from New York Ity. Does he really want be associated so closely to the same city that once held Bernie Madoff? Good Lord, the New York Times is from the same region! Clealy, we cannot trust this liberal-city-loving individual!

  9. James Curran says:

    — Marta… What the heck are you talking about?? Did you even bother to read the article or comments?

    “Are you people saying the pastor didn’t say those things? ” — No, no one is saying anything remotely like that.

    “You’re really angry because his views were made known to the general public.” No, we are really angry because so right-wing nuts made death threats. (We all agree his view are common knowledge)

    “If it had been Pres. Bush and a preacher even implying that whites are superior, or blacks are bad, ” But, neither Pres Obama nor this peacher has ever impled that blacks are superior or that whites are bad. On the other hand, Pres Bush & the right-wing, regularly implied that those on unemployment or welfare or social security or medicare are lazy or cheats or parasites.

  10. This is a propaganda tactic called guilt by association, otherwise known as a smear job.

    Hannity complains when it is done to him or someone on the right, but that doesn’t stop him from doing it himself right out in the open for all to see.

    The voters rejected Hannity’s bid to smear Obama with Rev. Wright’s “radical” comments in 2008, so it’s a losing argument. Hannity must be expecting something to change for 2012 because he keeps doing the same thing.

    Instead of debating issues straight up with top liberals, Hannity plays dirty tricks, making federal cases out of meaningless details. In fact, the only reason the left does this to him is because he, Limbaugh and Ailes have lowered broadcasting ethics to make propaganda legal and common.

  11. Bonhomme says:

    Doug Mataconis said:
    “These people never give up, do they?”

    Nope they don’t. The Obamas keep proving themselves as frauds and racists over and over again.

  12. Casull454 says:

    “These people never give up, do they?”

    We never run out of material. The question is, will we tire of shooting fish in barrels.

  13. Southern Hoosier says:

    Comrade Obama changes ministers, but the message says the same.

  14. Wiley Stoner says:

    I guess if you close your ears to what these supposed preachers have been preaching, than the critique of what they have said is not relivant to you. PJ, why don’t you hire someone competent in the area of internet research to get soom of the audio of Jeremiah Wrights speeches. How many times does a man have to damn the United States before you figure he might not have a favorable opinion of a nation that allowed he to enrich himself by preaching hate? Sorry, I forgot. You suffer from something that cannot be fixed. Stupidity!

  15. Southern Hoosier says:

    Maybe Comrade Obama should attend Dr. James David Manning church.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuEc-nFULY8

  16. Southern Hoosier says:

    Wiley Stoner says:Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 16:51
    How many times does a man have to damn the United States before you figure he might not have a favorable opinion of a nation that allowed he to enrich himself by preaching hate?

    How long does a man have to sit and listen to his county being damned before he gets up and walks out? Twenty years?

  17. reid says:

    This site really needs a kill-file feature. I’m tired of reading (mostly skipping) the lunatic comments of certain regulars.

  18. G.A.Phillips says:

    This site really needs a kill-file feature. I’m tired of reading (mostly skipping) the lunatic comments of certain regulars.

    skip over them crybaby, it’s not that hard!!!!!