Afraid of playing the racist card, and his co-Chair says that Obama is a "guy of the street"?  

No, they do not play the Wright card because they have enough skeletons in their own closets - but, never underestimate a Republican's capacity for hypocrisy.  Wright will be played in good time.

Yes, still 3.5 weeks to go before the descent into the depths of hell is complete.

I remember reading last spring that Wright was Oprah's pastor, too. She's possibly the most admired woman in America -- why hasn't she come out and given Obama some cover on this issue? Wouldn't the knowledge that Oprah was also in that church lend some credence to Obama's argument that Wright, for whatever his flaws, was capable of being inspiring and a force for good?

Call me crazy (but at least wait until you read the post)  but I believe that Powell has made a deal with McCain. I will not endorse Obama in this election if you do not bring up Wright. How else to explain the dog that does not nark in the face of very favorable things he has said about Obama in the past and the adumbrations from reliable sources that a Powell endorsement for Obama was on the way.? There are only two other possible explanations for McCain's reticence. One is that McCain does not want to risk the racial tension this would create. SInce he couldn't possibly lose more of the black vote, he has no reason to care about alienating the black community. The other which has been mentioned is the fear of associations from either Palin's or McCain's religious connections as blowback. But they obviosuly were not afraid from blowback in the Ayers case, so why should they be so here? Indeed the religious associations we know about with respect ot McCain and Palin---and if there were others we would have heard--are simply not on par with the Wright association. I admit that the only evidence I can claim I get from Sherlock Holmes: when all else has been elimiated, what remains, no matter how unlikely, must be the case. Of course, events could disprove all this should either McCain start the Wright attack or Powell come out in favor of Obama. But until that point, I am sticking to my guns.

I would think they're just waiting for the Ayer's meme to run its course; watch for the Wright innuendos to start oozing out next week...

BHLnyc -

Oprah left Wright's church and Obama did not.  I think that's why nothing has been made of this point about Oprah's membership.  I don't know exactly why Oprah left, but I suspect it is because she took offense at some of the things Wright was saying.

They're clearly not afraid to yell "Nigger!". At this point, the Party Line on the economic collapse is that ACORN and the Dems (currently engaged in voter fraud) forced the banks to give mortgages away to welfare moms, thereby causing a global financial collapse.

Yawn.

I'm pretty tolerant of the variety of Christian experience, but Pentecostalism is just plain weird. Her adult Pentecostalism is the unifying element that explains a lot of the strange in Palin's career and family life.

But I'm sure my bias against Pentecostalism has nothing to do with the really hot, amazingly smart and funny girl in high school who was really into me but wouldn't go on dates because her Pentecostal church forbade dating (as well as listening to music with lyrics other than Psalms, dancing of all kinds except faking seizures in church, and a long laundry list of harmless stuff that isn't actually banned in the Bible).

The shortest path between going to church on Sunday and finding yourself being blessed by an African witch-doctor? Joining a Pentecostal congregation. (And to soften the blow of my intolerance for any Pentecostals here, I bounce between UU and UCC churches, membership in either being the shortest path between going to church on Sunday and hearing a practicing pagan deliver a sermon on the Beatitudes.)

Commenter vernezze has an intriguing if somewhat conspiratorial theory for why McCain won't mention

I'm of the 'religious blowback' mindset myself; word on the grape vine is that the evangelicals have been really getting into backing mccain from the pulpit on sundays shortly after reading from the gospel. if this is true, and accompanies by certain other unsavory activities, it could level mccain's entire campaign. As such, mccain is best served by avoiding religion altogether.

On the other hand, the pessimist dem in me says he's saving Wright for late October or early November so that McCain can ride the initial bubble through November 4th and the resulting blowback won't be sufficient to overturn the results of the voting.

I'm waiting to see how the snake-handlers come down on this, especially in West Virginia.