Rev. Wright breaks his silence, calls sound bites of sermon 'unfair,' 'devious'

CHICAGO - In a rare interview, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright said media organizations that circulated controversial sound bites of his sermons on the Internet wanted to paint him as "un-American" or "some sort of fanatic" in order to bring down Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"I think they wanted to communicate that I am unpatriotic, that I am un-American, that I am filled with hate speech, that I have a cult at Trinity United Church of Christ," Wright told journalist Bill Moyers in the first interview he has granted since comments critical of U.S. policies surfaced on television and the Internet.

"'And by the way, guess who goes to his church, hint, hint, hint?' That's what they wanted to communicate," he said. "They know nothing about the church."

Wright, who for four decades built his reputation on straight talk and imperviousness to politicians, has been atypically quiet in recent weeks -- canceling appearances and declining all interview requests.

The fiery pastor preached his final sermon at Trinity in February and officially retires next month.

Moyers is a member of Wright's denomination, the United Church of Christ. Excerpts from the interview, conducted this week, were released Thursday. The interview will be broadcast on "Bill Moyers Journal" on PBS tonight.

Wright told Moyers that people who heard the entire sermon understood his message and those who chose to air the sound bites had a "devious" agenda.

"When something is taken like a sound bite for a political purpose and put constantly over and over again, looped in the face of the public, that's not a failure to communicate. Those who are doing that are communicating exactly what they want to do, which is to paint me as some sort of fanatic or as the learned journalist from the New York Times called me, a 'wackadoodle.'"

Columnist Maureen Dowd used that term March 23 to describe Wright.

Wright said he was hurt by the "unfair" use of the sound bites, but understood why Obama had harsh words about his statements during a speech on race the candidate delivered in Philadelphia. Wright said he is obligated to speak as a pastor, but Obama addresses audiences as a politician.

"I don't talk to him about politics," Wright said. "And so he had a political event, he goes out as a politician and says what he has to say as a politician."