I didn't say that only the lefties caught flak. I said that conservatives can say negative things without catching flak. I've seen several conservative preachers say that America deserves the wrath of God for X or that America doing X caused God to send some disaster.
The idea that America is going to be punished for its toleration of sexual immorality is wide held by many religious people. I am not sure that it is even a left/right or a black/white issue.
Many Christians understand AIDS to be a punishment sent by God to punish such sin. Many-maybe even all-Jehovah Witnesses believe that AIDS is a punishment from God for sharing blood products.
Many Christians and Christian preachers have been saying such things for years. It is hardly true though, that there has been no flak on account of such beliefs. Many people are absolutely incensed by such ideas, and protest loudy against such things being said. Christianity in general is often brandished as being hateful as a result of Christians saying such things. It is one of the ongoing battles both within Christianity and within society as a whole.
To the extent that a politician does not put some distance between himself and these statments, he is running a strong risk of dividing his electorate. It is a fine balancing act, where the conservative politician does not want to outright endorse the actual statements, but at the same time does not want to alienate the evangelical Christian base that is now the lifeblood of the Republican Party.
In the end, it is a question of judgement. It is the difference between thanking some prominent minister for his support in the campaign, and being a paying member of an actual congregation for such a minister, having your children baptised by the minister, or naming your best-selling book after a pastor such as this.
Rest assured that liberals have harped constantly on the religious aspects of the Republican party for quite some time, that conservatives have been repeatedly condemned and vilified for 'shoving morality down ones throat' and imposing religion on society.
There has been no free ride here either for the party that is most identified with white anglo-saxon protestants.
In the end, it is a little bit disengenous for liberals to play the victim card here. If such a statment is wrong for Jerry Falwell, then it ought to be wrong for Jeremiah Wright too. If Obama is a victim, then so are Republicans.
Obama demonstrated very poor judgment for holding onto this demagogue as long as he did, and in the end, it is legitimate to wonder how much of his ideology he actually shares with Wright.
Certainly, there are many, many conservatives who hold any preacher in contempt, be he conservative or liberal, black or white, when he goes about blaming Americans for getting themselves bombed on 9/11.