I've got some advice for Sen. Barack Obama when it comes to questions about his longtime pastor: pretend you can't hear the question.

On Friday, Obama appeared on ABC's "The View" and explained the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy this way:

"Had the reverend not retired and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying there at the church," Obama said.

To quote the last Democratic president: "That dog won't hunt."

Wright's comments about the terrorist attacks of 9/11 being America's chickens coming home to roost was made in Sept. 2001. How the fact that Wright was going to retire six years later makes it OK for Obama to stay around after comments like this is mind-boggling.

As for Wright's "acknowledgement" that he was wrong about all the nasty things that he said -- Obama's campaign later acknowledged that that had never actually happened.

So that leaves the reason(s) for Obama staying in that hate-filled church as what exactly?