Jews brought the holocaust on themselves. Katrina was god punishing gays and sinners. Catholicism is a cult. The US government should hasten Judgment Day.
These aren't the vocal beliefs of Reverend Wright, the pastor that Senator Barack Obama has repeatedly denounced. These are the very vocal beliefs of Reverend Hagee, pastor of John McCain for many years. McCain has yet to denounce Hagee, too. Hagee introduced McCain at the South Carolina campaign, he's still on McCain's website (last I saw), and McCain recently said about Hagee, "And I am very proud of the Pastor John Hagee's spiritual leadership to thousands of people and I am proud of his commitment to the independence and the freedom of the state of Israel." Can you imagine if Obama had said, "I am very proud of Minister Louis Farrakhan's spiritual leadership to thousands of people..."?
Do I care? Not one little bit. Phelps, Hagee, Robertson... the GOP has connections to plenty of extremist, hateful preachers. I've never seen it have a direct effect on policy, so I don't care. When Robertson demanded the assassination Hugo Chavez, he wasn't assassinated. Hagee's hatred towards Catholics hasn't stopped GOP candidates from trying to get the Catholic vote, including McCain. I've never seen any evidence that pastors hold direct control over current congregants, let alone former congregants.
The idea that Obama is someone controlled or influenced by Wright is not based in evidence, reason, or precedence. It cannot even be reflected in similar situations in the Republican party. This should be all the argument one might need to dispel the idea that Wright is someone any kind of problem when it comes to supporting Obama, but it won't. Entrenchment is dangerous.