Republican John McCain has rejected the endorsement of an influential Texas televangelist criticized for his anti-Catholic views. But wait. McCain’s not rejecting him because of his anti-Catholic views. You see, the evangelist also made the mistake of saying something stupid about the Jews.
McCain issued a statement after audio surfaced in which Hagee said God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land.
Uh-oh.
McCain immediately blasted out a statement: “Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well.”
But when Hagee suggested that the Pope is the anti-Christ, and that the Catholic Church is “The Beast” (17:30 and following) mentioned in the Bible, McCain was silent.
When Hagee said, “When Hitler became a global demonic monster, the Catholic Church and Pope Pius XII never, ever slightly criticized him,” McCain remained mum, proving once again that anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice.
May 23, 2008 at 3:49 am
John McCain, great war hero, that he was…the war is long over, presents a host of problems, many very serious.
But, but, but, in the end, what choice will there be between Senator McCain…and those quite exteriorly attractive orcs that we get from the Democratic Party? The latter on marching orders from a power that few dare name let alone admit.
I’d rather drink piss than poison.
May 23, 2008 at 6:31 am
Maybe he’ll make it up to us by running with Jindal. Kit
May 23, 2008 at 7:09 am
Surely you mean “anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice”? Hey, I didn’t come here to be told my religion was a “prejudice”! 😉
May 23, 2008 at 7:26 am
Anyone think that the racists who won’t vote for Obama because he’s black will keep their vote for McCain if his running mate is Indian-American? I doubt it.
Almost zero chance that McCain will choose a practicing Catholic of Indian decent.
May 23, 2008 at 11:14 am
Oh, never mind that; those are just words. The Church is like those inflatable punching dummies. We can take a wallop and come back up. Isn’t McCain your best presidential candidate still, though?
May 23, 2008 at 2:18 pm
In South Carolina, in recent times, the Republicans can nominate anyone, and they would win.
I’ll be voting for my favorite candidate, none of the above.
Can’t we get a third party candidate who would represent the best policies of both parties? I guess recent history has suggested otherwise.
May 23, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Well John McCain was not actually silent on the issue. Back in March he had said he categorically rejects Hagee’s anti-Catholic statements. Though it certainly took him awhile to do so. I think McCain is pretty much tone-deaf when it comes to religion.
The story on Hagee is much more interesting since his original endorsement had spurred his meeting with the Catholic League last week and the meetings he had with Deal Hudson. Hagee truly seems to have come a ways on his Catholic bashing and that Catholic League is satisfied that this is true. He will certainly continue with some whacky theology, but at least it won’t be as whack when it comes to Catholics.
May 23, 2008 at 5:53 pm
I agree. The problem I see is that McCain said he had a problem with Hagee’s remarks when they were anti-Catholic.
He rejected Hagee entirely when he said against the Jews.
May 24, 2008 at 2:57 am
We DO NOT have to vote for John McCain. “Least weird” is not a choice. Both parties have failed America. And please don’t even mention the execrable Ron Paul.
— Mack
May 24, 2008 at 5:00 pm
McCain was trying to stay out of the fray by side-stepping the anti-Catholicism of Hagee. People like Hagee only hurt themselves by that kind of talk. But anti-Semitism is one of those third rails in politics, largely because we haven’t recovered from the excesses of Hitler’s anti-Semitism – if we ever will. So he has to repudiate and divorce himself from Hagee. Should anti-Catholicism be a third rail? We’ve got enough of them already. And please don’t say “third party” unless you seriously want President Obama. Kit.