Boehner, Pelosi: Don't focus on Wright

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., brushed off the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy Sunday, saying voters should focus on jobs.

A super PAC called Ending Spending Action Fund, backed by Chicago Cubs owner Joe Ricketts, had planned to run campaign ads supporting presidential hopeful Mitt Romney that highlighted President Barack Obama's link to Wright, a Chicago pastor who said the United States was racist.

The proposed ads were spiked when Romney repudiated the ads, saying his campaign should focus on the economy and getting people back to work, The New York Times reported.

Boehner, R-Ohio, and Democratic leader Pelosi echoed the sentiment in separate interviews on ABC's "This Week."

"The issue is not Reverend Wright. The issue is the economy," Boehner said, without any further comment on the topic.

"The election is about three things: jobs, jobs, and jobs. This election is not about Reverend Wright," Pelosi said.

Pelosi pointed out, though, that it would be useful to consider remarks Romney made in February about Wright.

"And [reporters] said to [Romney], 'Well, this seems different from what you're saying now. Do you stand by what you said in February?' And he said, 'I don't know what I said in February, but I stand by it,' " Pelosi said.

"But what he said in February was very similar to what [the super PAC was] saying about Reverend Wright."