If we're already talking about it, it's not an October surprise, per se, but it is an "October potential disaster." It's rumored that Rev. Jeremiah Wright, oh he of excellent timing, will release a book and start a book tour the month before GODDAMN America decides whether or not to make his former congregant president. We have quite a bit of denouncing and rejecting ahead of us. [WAOD]

UPDATE: Columnist Roland Martin spoke to Rev. Wright's daughter, who said that the pastor, who is currently in Ghana, has no plans to publish a book or go on a book tour. She said her dad will issue a formal statement about the rumor, the most recent incarnation of which originated in New York Magazine, when he returns to the states.

NOT BLACKLISTED Fox Newsies might think he's the devil incarnate, but the Detroit NAACP think Barack Obama's vilified ex-pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, is more than good enough to be the keynote speaker at their 53rd annual Freedom Fund dinner, which usually draws about 10,000. Previous keynote speakers? None other than Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Bill Clinton. I wonder if Mayor Kilpatrick feels snubbed. [MSNBC]

THE RACISM-SEXISM MATCH UP In a recent CBS poll, 42 percent of participants said that racism was a bigger problem than sexism, while only 10 percent said sexism was a bigger problem. RACISM WINS! And that officially did nothing to eradicate either racism or sexism. Moving on…

In the same poll, which was taken before Obama's speech Tuesday, 42 percent said they had heard little to nothing about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright scandal. I guess that puts things into perspective. [NYT]

Mike Huckabee was on Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough this morning, and had some surprising (for his ilk) things to say about Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama's speech yesterday.

And one other thing I think we've gotta remember. As easy as it is for those of us who are white, to look back and say "That's a terrible statement!"…I grew up in a very segregated south. And I think that you have to cut some slack — and I'm gonna be probably the only Conservative in America who's gonna say something like this, but I'm just tellin' you — we've gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told "you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can't sit out there with everyone else. There's a separate waiting room in the doctor's office. Here's where you sit on the bus…" And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

But should blacks have a chip on their shoulder when their state is still waving the Confederate flag? Maybe Mike can get back to me on that one. Huckabee also said that politicians shouldn't be held responsible for everything people around them say and that pastors (he's one, remember) often get carried away during sermons and say things they don't necessarily mean. He obviously has a political motive to make those two statements, especially if John McCain is looking to him to fill that V.P. spot. I don't, however, see a political reason for him to talk about cutting black people some slack, something I don't ever recall a Repub saying. Must be that Christian understanding.

It doesn't extend to gays, in case you were wondering.