MSNBC tonight decided to really hammer away at Obama’s connections with his Pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Rev. Wright made some inflamatory remarks during some of his sermons that were caught on tape and surfaced in the media.

But I’m not going to delve into that insofar as to say that I believe Obama when he says he wasn’t in the pew when those comments were made. And even if he had been- there is no reason for him to be guilty by association. It’s his church, and he can’t be held accountable for every remark made by his pastor.

I honor the following statement issued by Sen. Obama to the Huffington Post:

Most importantly, Rev. Wright preached the gospel of Jesus, a gospel on which I base my life. In other words, he has never been my political advisor; he’s been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn.

I am more stunned by the horserace aspect to all of this. CNN did not cover the Rev. Wright thing today, and it didn’t appear in the Huffington Post until Obama issued a statement regarding the matter. Political Wire didn’t post a story about it, nor did Drudge pick it up. It fell completely under my radar, and I’m a political junkie, until about 7:00 PM when Chris Matthews spent the duration of his show talking about how Obama should respond.

And Obama did respond on MSNBC, and it was well articulated.

My bottom line: MSNBC picked this story up and tried to blow it into something more than it was. The Obama campaign responded with a short piece in the Huffington Post, an appearance on MSNBC with Keith Olberman, and Rev. Wright voluntarily left the Obama campaign.

I just think it’s better to be “swift boated” now 6 weeks before Pennsylvania than 3 days before the PA Primary or even a week before the November election. Thank goodness. That’s why I’m both pissed off and relieved with NBC News.