As featured on p. 218 of "Bloggers on the Bus," under the name "a MyDD blogger."
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Worse Than Katrina
Gustav is twice the size of Katrina, and by the time it passes through the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico it'll be bigger. They've begun the mandatory evacuations.
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city beginning 8 a.m. Sunday but urged residents to consider escaping "the mother of all storms" before then.
"You need to be scared," Nagin said of the Category 4 hurricane tearing along Cuba's western coast. "You need to be concerned, and you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century."
The city's west bank is to evacuate at 8 a.m.
Nagin said the city had evacuated roughly 10,000 people Saturday on buses, trains and planes, in addition to the thousands who left on their own. Buses from collection points would continue running until midnight and resume at 6 a.m. Sunday, he said.
Here's what the region DOESN'T need - a Presidential candidate visit so that resources can be pulled from public safety. Who does McCain expect to have listen to him prattle on, instead of getting the hell out of town? Also, the talk about how it "wouldn't be appropriate" to hold a big party while a major American city is in peril, John? You don't get to say that.
It looks like the Republicans are going to put on their compassionate face on this one, scaling back their convention and doing some kind of mass telethon, using the convention as a marketing tool. I don't think that is going to work. Presumably, Americans actually remember Katrina and the stunning lack of competence. The graphic of the storm bearing down on the city in a picture-in-picture while speeches are being made - one from the Governor of Louisiana - is not going to be pretty. This is what's going to linger:
Meanwhile, I'm voting for Matt Duss. For something.
Earlier today, ThinkProgress contacted John Hagee Ministries to see if erstwhile John McCain endorser Rev. Hagee saw the Lord’s hand in reports that President Bush might not speak at the Republican National Convention on Monday because of Tropical Storm Gustav [...]
ThinkProgress asked Rev. Hagee’s spokesperson, Kara Silverman, whether Gustav’s possible impact on the Republican National Convention might be seen as punishment against Republicans for their not having done enough to combat the “homosexual agenda,” or whether this storm could be attributed to some other target of divine wrath.
Ms. Silverman said Hagee had “no comment.”
Brilliant.
But if you're anywhere near the Gulf, the take away from this post is, get the hell out of town.
This McCain campaign attack on Barack Obama for being "soft on genocide" on the same day he's visiting the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem is, as Robert Wexler says, pretty shameful. Especially because the comment they're using to attack him simply recognizes the limits of military capability to deal with genocide, and the need to build multilateral coalitions and use all the tools of diplomatic pressure to bear. This is why Obama actually has a better score on legislation about the CURRENT GENOCIDE happening in Darfur than McCain; because he understands it in a global context.
I thought J Street's response was a good one:
We are shocked and dismayed by today’s exploitation by aides to Senator John McCain of the memory of the Holocaust while Obama was visiting Yad Vashem in Israel.
It is one thing to have a legitimate disagreement over keeping American troops in Iraq for sixteen months or a hundred years.
It is another to shamelessly exploit the sacred memory of six million victims of the worst crime in human history to score political points in the heat of a partisan election campaign.
One of John McCain's most prominent supporters on Tuesday praised an evangelical leader whom the Republican presidential candidate repudiated after a string of controversial remarks were made public.
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent who frequently campaigns with McCain, said pastor John Hagee's support for Israel outweighed the remarks that led McCain to reject his endorsement [...]
McCain, in an effort to reach out to evangelicals who are among the most loyal Republican voters, accepted Hagee's endorsement in March but rejected him in May after learning that the Texas preacher once said that God allowed the Holocaust to happen because it led to the creation of Israel.
Think Progress caught the following from the Christians United for Israel event:
In response to what he termed the "pretty aggressive campaign," Lieberman said in his speech, "The bond I feel with Pastor John Hagee and each and every one of you is much stronger than that and so I am proud to stand with you here tonight." Lieberman again drew a parallel between Hagee and biblical figures, this time saying biblical heroes, unlike the demigods of Greek mythology, "are humans — great humans, but with human failings." Lieberman said that Moses had his shortcomings, too. "Dear friends, I can only imagine what the bloggers of today would have had to say about Moses and Miriam."
Yes, he just compared John Hagee to Moses. This is why nobody, not even Jews, like Lieberman any more.
I know that plenty of people have suggested that the hard right, with social conservatives foremost among them, would come back to the GOP nominee in November, because there are tribal forces that keep these Republicans, who feed more than anything on hatred of their opponents, coming back for more. And that is probably true. But there's more that the fundies and the hard-right conservatives did to win elections for George W., for example, beyond voting. We're five months out and this is entirely subject to change, but there are warning signs that John McCain has huge problems with just the kinds of voters who volunteer and do the ground work for practically every Republican campaign.
I don't know if it's longstanding suspicions or the unceremonious dumping of John Hagee and Rod Parsley, but McCain has serious problems with the evangelical community and the religious right, and his campaign is not doing a whole lot to alleviate those problems.
You represent some of the nation’s most powerful evangelicals. What do those leaders say about McCain?
This is one guy’s perspective, but I am surprised by how little I’ve seen or read in conservative circles about McCain since February. I don’t think I’ve gotten one email or letter or phone call from anybody in America in the last four months saying anything about this election or urging that we unite behind John McCain and put aside whatever differences we have. Back in the fall and winter, you’d get several things a day from conservatives saying, “The future of the Supreme Court is at stake. We have to stop Hillary Clinton. Get behind so and so—or don’t’ go with this guy.” It’s just very quiet. It could meant there’s a real sense of apathy or it could mean they’re’ waiting for the general election to begin. But it’s a surprise, given the way email networks work now.
That apathy is being reiterated again and again. These voters are unlikely to man the phone banks, stuff the envelopes, knock on the doors, and bug their neighbors to vote in November the way they did four years ago. Not to quote Novakula but he usually has good sources in conservative circles, and he's hearing the same thing. Dumping Hagee, who had ties to the Bush White House and a larger base of support than previously considered, has definitely caused some resentment. And if you needed even further confirmation, Pastor Dan at Street Prophets has it:
The Barna research indicates that the Christian community in the U.S. has largely shifted its loyalty to the Democratic nominee in this year’s race. In the 2004 election, 81% of evangelicals voted for the Republican incumbent George W. Bush. Currently, 78% of the likely voters who are evangelical expect to vote for Sen. McCain. Evangelicals represent 8% of the adult population and just 9% of all likely voters.
But the big news in the faith realm is the sizeable defection from Republican circles of the much larger non-evangelical born again and the notional Christian segments. The non-evangelical born again adults constitute 37% of the likely voters in November, and the notional Christians are expected to be 39% of the likely voters. Among the non-evangelical born again adults, 52% supported President Bush in 2004; yet, only 38% are currently supporting Sen. McCain, while 48% are siding with Sen. Obama. Although notional Christians voted for John Kerry in 2004 by an 11-point margin, that gap has more than doubled to 26 points in this year’s election. Protestants and Catholics have moved toward the Democratic challenger in equal proportions since 2004.
And while Obama, as Tristero notes, holds views that the Dobsonites will view as a threat to their attempt to re-fashion a theocracy, he is most certainly going after voters of faith, most notably young voters through his Joshua Generation Project, which offers a different spin on religious values and how to manifest them in public policy instead of allowing the Bible to stand in for the Consttitution.
Here's the problem for McCain. He can't do the kind of dog-whistle outreach to these communities that Bush preferred because he was never seen as one of them. And if he presents himself as a hard-right social conservative more overtly, he ruins what is his only ace in the hole - the blurring strategy that allows independents to believe he's a moderate on all issues (Brave New Films destroys that myth today). Every religious right voter he attracts equals a moderate voter he loses. That's why it's so smart of Obama to play up this bind by constantly describing McCain as representing Bush's third term (which is true), and forcing McCain to disavow it, which just depresses his base even more.
And this is not limited to religious voters, but across the spectrum of the conservative right. Alarm bells should have been raised when McCain was still losing 25-30% of the vote in primaries three months after all his opponents dropped out. But the signals are coming into view. The Texas GOP is pissed off, thinking along with many of their colleagues that whoever wins, conservatives lose. Bush donors are hesitant to give a dollar to McCain. Tom DeLay said today that his wife is voting for Bob Barr. The Republican National Committee has signed up just one-sixth of the amount of volunteers for their convention as the Democrats have for theirs.
According to the Congressional Management Foundation's recently released report on Congressional communications, 44% of Americans contacted a member of Congress in the last five years, a significant bump from 2004 and a number that far outstrips the total count of online donors. The report also goes on to point that the internet has become the primary vehicle for learning about and interacting with Congress, even though most people don't think that Congress is listening. The gist of the report is not just that people who are connected vote, and people who vote tend to be connected, but that connectivity is driving increased political interaction with decision-makers.
This will only increase in the years ahead, and frankly, if Obama didn't exist in this race, the country would invent him. Actblue's exponential growth - from less than a million in the 2004 to its current base - shows that the country is hungry for change and that a leadership base of committed organizers are running for office using new tools. Looking a bit beneath the surface of the Obama juggernaut, as Vargas did, shows that this army of people is real, and that it isn't just money they are giving. The 10 million people (at an extremely high end) who may donate to Obama, while extraordinary, is dwarfed by a rough factor of ten by the 44% of the country who have contacted Congress in the last five years.
The country is strengthening its flabby civic muscles, and learning how to be a committed and engaged citizenry. We haven't seen anything like this for a hundred years, if not more. And that's not even counting the younger generation, who grew up on this stuff.
But it's more than that - there's a noticeable enthusiasm gap for these particular candidates at this particular historical moment. It makes McCain's Vice Presidential pick both a huge opportunity and a huge gamble, again going back to the vice grip that conservatism has put itself in over the past few years. Tim Pawlenty may be able to deliver millions of evangelicals into the fold, but as that becomes noticed by independents wary of the influence of the religious right, he'd lose ground there, and a 2004-era base strategy doesn't have enough voters in it for McCain to win. Then again, a strategy which ignores the base doesn't either.
It's more than whether or not individual GOP voters will come out. Enthusiasm matters. It finds the voters that don't always cast a ballot. It drives cars so that those with special needs can get to the polling place. It helps knock down the inevitable scandals and furors that come with a national campaign. And all of that enthusiasm is on the Democratic side. I don't want to sound complacent, but that's a tremendous advantage.
The goal here is for John McCain to be forced to reject the endorsement of Joe Lieberman. Last week was his housecleaning week, when he cleared out all the crazy pastors and the lobbyists (but not all of them, as you'll see). But he hasn't made any statement about Lieberman, who is appearing at events with the man who said Hitler's extermination of the Jews was all part of God's plan.
Senator Joseph Lieberman is scheduled to headline Pastor John Hagee's 2008 Christians United For Israel Washington-Israel Summit this July 22. In accepting Hagee's invitation, Lieberman became the most senior elected representative confirmed to appear at the annual gala. Last year, when Lieberman spoke at Hagee's summit, he compared the Texas televangelist to the biblical prophet Moses, dubbing him "an Ish Elochim," or "a man of God." Unless he rescinds his pledge to appear at this year's summit, Lieberman can be expected to deliver another soul-stirring tribute.
Hagee has also called for the Dome of the Rock, the mosque that sits in Jerusalem and is the third-holiest site in Islam, to be destroyed to make way for the 3rd Jewish temple. This is all end-times stuff, the theory being that Jews must be in place in the Holy Land in accordance with the Book of Revelations to speed along the Rapture, whereupon all Jews die. This is what Lieberman is essentially supporting - his own incineration.
Joe Lieberman's associations make him unfit as a high-profile supporter and surrogate of a Presidential campaign. McCain needs to explain why he's accepting his support.
There's a whole lotta renouncing going on over at John McCain's joint. Now he's rejected the endorsement of end-timer Rod Parsley, and he really seems shaken up by any possibility of having to play defense in the fall. In the past week, we've got 5 lobbyists, 2 ministers and a crapload of health records (tightly controlled and showed to reporters, not doctors) left by the wayside. The Parsley story was on Good Morning America the other day, but it was not yet what you would call "mainstream." It was wrong of McCain to seek out the endorsements of these religious right figures in the first place, and just cutting them loose as soon as anyone discovers what they have been preaching all these years is duplicitous as well. The idea that Parsley calling Islam inherently violent is novel among a certain strain of fundamentalist preachers is nonsense. McCain knew better at the time, he just panicked when word got out.
And for that, we have to credit Bruce Wilson at Talk2Action for willing this story into the national debate. He uncovered the Hagee sermon about Hitler performing God's will that was the catalyst for his sacking, and he's been tireless at making this story so big that it couldn't be ignored. A D-Day tip of the chapeau to him.
The right never stopped using Jeremiah Wright as a "judgment" issue. The media will certainly try to turn tail on this, but we shouldn't stop using Hagee and Parsley. Bruce Wilson will be at the head of that line.
I don't know how many times John Hagee has to say something ridiculously inflammatory before John McCain is forced by the whole of civilized society to renounce him. This one sounds like writers in a sitcom room trying to come up with the most offensive anti-Semitic statement:
Going in and out of biblical verse, Hagee preached: "'And they the hunters should hunt them,' that will be the Jews. 'From every mountain and from every hill and from out of the holes of the rocks.' If that doesn't describe what Hitler did in the holocaust you can't see that."
He goes on: "Theodore Hertzel is the father of Zionism. He was a Jew who at the turn of the 19th century said, this land is our land, God wants us to live there. So he went to the Jews of Europe and said 'I want you to come and join me in the land of Israel.' So few went that Hertzel went into depression. Those who came founded Israel; those who did not went through the hell of the holocaust.
"Then god sent a hunter. A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. And the Bible says -- Jeremiah writing -- 'They shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the holes of the rocks,' meaning there's no place to hide. And that might be offensive to some people but don't let your heart be offended. I didn't write it, Jeremiah wrote it. It was the truth and it is the truth. How did it happen? Because God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel." (Listen to the audio below.)
Bruce Wilson has been doing amazing work on this story, by the way.
Hagee is claiming that his statement was mischaracterized, but as usual I don't think conservatives or religious nuts know the meaning of that word. They think "mischaracterized" means "don't print what I actually said, give me the benefit of spinning it," and thus the mischaracterization is theirs.
Can we just tell it like it is here? McCain needed the fundie vote, so he went out and found some people to endorse him, and they are predictably crazy because this kind of hate is routinely practiced from the pulpits of the religious right. Rod Parsley, another McCain endorser, has called Islam a conspiracy of spiritual evil. They are not interested in how this language endangers the world, they are fighting their own holy wars, and John McCain got sucked into it.
J Street has a petition calling on McCain to renounce Hagee. You should sign it.
Less remarked-upon in the blowup over Bush's ignorant comments is how Israel has become so crucial to the American Presidential race. As I Jew I believe that Israel is an important ally but their every move is not necessarily how we should base our election. Besides, Barack Obama would be far superior for Israel's security than a militant warrior like John McCain.
…we have had eight years of disaster with respect to our foreign policy, and I have to share with you as an analyst, we have had eight years that have [compromised] the security of the state of Israel.
An administration that has ignored the search for peace in the Middle East to a point where you have chaos in the Palestinian Authority, and you have a sham process called the Annapolis process, in which our Secretary of State, whom I admire personally, travels to region and announces when she gets there that she is bringing no new ideas.
You have an administration that hasn’t engaged in the peace process, and so inherited a bad situation in 2001 and is leaving it in a worse situation in 2008. And you have an administration that has gotten us engaged in a war in Iraq that has not only cost American lives… but it’s now being called the $3 trillion war…And I would share with you that the cost to the security of Israel is incalculable [...]
We have one candidate who is prepared to do diplomacy. Only one candidate…
We have had eight years of no diplomacy, and you have two candidates out there who tell us they don’t want to talk to our enemies…
There is one candidate who believes in diplomacy and his name is Barack Obama.
In fact, it is McCain (and Zell Lieberman) who shows through his belligerence and dangerousness that HE is "unfit to defend America," the words he used to describe Barack Obama yesterday.
Progressive Jewish groups understand this and get the absurdity of the Bush/McCain rhetoric. Here's a message from the progressive policy group J Street.
For seven and a half years, this President's policies have fueled the fires of extremism rather than dampening them. His delusions led us into a disastrous war in Iraq. His disdain for diplomacy has alienated friends and emboldened enemies.
And the results? The forces of extremism are stronger than ever. Al Qaeda is on the move - into Iraq and elsewhere. Moderates are on the defensive from Lebanon to the Palestinian territories and elsewhere. And the United States and Israel are less secure.
This is Bush's legacy. And he has the nerve to accuse us of indulging in "foolish delusions"?
And if you want to get as simplistic as "whose associates like the Jews more", it's actually McCain who has the pastor problem here.
Yesterday I discovered an astonishing audio recording of a sermon, by controversial McCain endorser Pastor John Hagee, in which Hagee elaborates on his view that Hitler and the Nazis were divine agents, sent by God to (with gruesome inefficiency it would seem) chase Europe's Jews towards Palestine. In his 2006 book "Jerusalem Countdown", Hagee proposed that anti-Semitism, and thus the Holocaust, was the fault of Jews themselves - the result of an age old divine curse incurred by the ancient Hebrews through worshiping idols and passed, down the ages, to all Jews now alive. In the sermon Hagee also clarifies a point, on his theological views, that has long concerned me...[Note: excerpt from John Hagee sermon, given probably in the late 1990's - with its themes plied into the John Hagee books "Battle For Jerusalem" (2001, reprinted 2003) and "Jerusalem Countdown" (2006), begins 1:00 minute into the video]
This is a ridiculous story. Obama is favored among American Jews by a wide margin, 61-32. Obama is on TV now hitting back very hard against this Bush/McCain absurdity. "If George Bush and John McCain want to have a debate about protecting America, that is a debate that I will be happy to have, and that is a debate that I will win, because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for."
John Hagee wants you to know that the whole "Catholicism is the great whore" in league with the Nazis is, you know, water under the bridge.
“Out of a desire to advance greater unity among Catholics and Evangelicals in promoting the common good, I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful,” Hagee wrote, according to an advanced copy of the letter reviewed by Washington Wire. “After engaging in constructive dialogue with Catholic friends and leaders, I now have an improved understanding of the Catholic Church, its relation to the Jewish faith, and the history of anti-Catholicism.”
In the letter, addressed to Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League and one of Hagee’s biggest critics, Hagee pledges “a greater level of compassion and respect for my Catholic brothers and sisters in Christ.”
Hagee met with 22 Catholic leaders in Washington on Friday to apologize for his comments, according to a source familiar with the meeting. Despite the McCain’s condemnation of Hagee’s anti-Catholic remarks, the campaign had no role in that meeting or Tuesday’s apology, according to the source who said it was something Hagee did because he felt it was necessary.
Donohue is expected to release a letter in response today, accepting Hagee’s apology. The Catholic leader slammed both Hagee and McCain in February, releasing a statement titled “McCain Embraces Bigot.”
Well, it's a start. And such a nice story. Glad that's all wrapped up. Now if Hagee can only explain these other remarks, we'll be in good shape.
Hagee Said Disobedience To Parents “Warranted The Death Penalty In The Bible.” According to The Guardian, John Hagee said, “A number of crimes warranted the death penalty in the Bible: murder, adultery, incest, sodomy, rape, kidnapping, witchcraft, blasphemy and disobedience to parents.” [The Guardian, 7/25/94; emphasis added]
Hagee: “It Is The Natural Desire Of A Woman To Lead Through Feminine Manipulation Of The Man.” In his book, What Every Man Wants In A Woman, John Hagee wrote, “Only a Spirit-filled woman can submit to her husband’s lead. It is the natural desire of a woman to lead through feminine manipulation of the man. .... Fallen women will try to dominate the marriage. The man has the God-given role to be the loving leader of the home.” [Hagee, What Every Man Wants In A Woman via Media Matters, accessed on 5/12/08]
Hagee Compared Women To Terrorists And Snarling Dogs. In his book, What Every Man Wants In A Woman, John Hagee wrote, “Do you know the difference between a woman with PMS and a snarling Doberman pinscher? The answer is lipstick. Do you know the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS? You can negotiate with a terrorist.” [Hagee, What Every Man Wants In A Woman via Media Matters, accessed on 5/12/08]
Hagee Said Harry Potter Was A “Precursor Of Witchcraft.” During a televised sermon at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, John Hagee said, “America has become a pagan society, and we are in a moral, emotional, spiritual freefall. When a school teacher cannot refer to the Ten Commandments on the wall, but can command your child to read Harry Potter, which is nothing but a precursor of witchcraft. We’re going in the wrong direction here! This is not intelligence! We are embracing the era of darkness! [Pastor Hagee televised sermon, accessed on 5/8/08]
Hagee: If You Are Unemployed “STARVE! I Don’t Care!” During a televised sermon at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, John Hagee said, “We’ve rewarded laziness and called it welfare. You no longer look to God, you look for a check in the mail. In the bible, the bible says ‘The man that does not work shall not eat,’ I still think that ought to be the law in the United States of America. If you don’t want to get off of your blessed assurance, STARVE! I don’t care!” STARVE! I don’t feel sorry for you! GO TO WORK! [Pastor Hagee televised sermon, accessed on 5/8/08]
Hagee: “Your Daughter Can Get An Abortion At Public School Without Telling You.” During a televised sermon at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, John Hagee said, “Your daughter can get an abortion at public school without telling you, but she can’t get an aspirin without your approval.” He added, “When you go into a voting booth and you vote for a politician who is pro-choice, meaning he’s pro-abortion, you are bowing down to the gods of abortion, and you’re just as sorry as the bum you send to Washington.” [Pastor Hagee televised sermon, accessed on 5/8/08]
Hagee: “Homosexuality Means The Death Of Society.” In his book, What Every Man Wants In A Woman, John Hagee wrote, “It is impossible to call yourself a Christian and defend homosexuality. There is no justification or acceptance of homosexuality.... Homosexuality means the death of society because homosexuals can recruit, but they cannot reproduce.” [Hagee, What Every Man Wants In A Woman via Media Matters, accessed on 5/12/08]
Hagee Said Gay Marriage Would Lead To “Every Conceivable Marriage Arrangement Demented Minds Can Possibly Conceive.” In his book, What Every Man Wants In A Woman, John Hagee wrote, “It [Gay marriage] will open the door to incest, to polygamy, and every conceivable marriage arrangement demented minds can possibly conceive. If God does not then punish America, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” [Hagee, What Every Man Wants In A Woman via Media Matters, accessed on 5/12/08]
Hagee Said Homosexuality “Will Always Be An Abomination.” During a televised sermon at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, John Hagee said, “We have endorsed Sodom and called it an alternative lifestyle, it is not an alternative lifestyle. It was an abomination, it is an abomination, it will always be an abomination. It will never, ever be right. I don’t care how many gay pride parades you have.” [Pastor Hagee televised sermon, accessed on 5/8/08]
Hagee On Katrina
Hagee: “Hurricane Katrina Was, In Fact, The Judgment Of God Against The City Of New Orleans.” During an appearance on NPR’s Fresh Air, Pastor Hagee said, “I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are--were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade on the Monday that the Katrina came, and the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know that there are people who demure from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the day of judgment, and I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.” [NPR, “Fresh Air,” 9/18/06; emphasis added]
Hagee: “All Of The City Was Punished Because Of The Sin That Happened There In That City.” During an appearance on NPR’s Fresh Air, Pastor Hagee was asked, “So I know you’re very opposed to homosexuality, but you think that the whole city was punished because of things like the forthcoming Gay Pride parade?” Hagee responded by saying, “This is true. All of the city was punished because of the sin that happened there in that city.” [NPR, “Fresh Air,” 9/18/06]
April 2008: Hagee Reaffirmed His Belief That Hurricane Katrina Was God’s Way Of Punishing New Orleans. During an appearance on The Dennis Prager Show, Hagee said, “It is wrong to say that every natural disaster is the result of sin. It is a result of God’s permissive will.” He was then asked, “In the case of New Orleans, you do feel that God’s hand was in it because of a sinful city?” Hagee responded by saying, “That it was a city that was planning a sinful conduct, yes.” [The Dennis Prager Show, 4/22/08]
• Hagee Backtracked On God’s Motivation For Katrina. In an email sent on April 25th, 2008, Pastor Hagee sought to restate his position on God’s motivation for Hurricane Katrina. He wrote, “As a believing Christian, I see the hand of God in everything that happens here on earth, both the blessings and the curses. But ultimately neither I nor any other person can know the mind of God concerning Hurricane Katrina. I should not have suggested otherwise. No matter what the cause of the storm, my heart goes out to all who suffered in this terrible tragedy. There but for the grace of God go any one of us.” [Baltimore Sun, 4/26/08]
• Hagee Un-Backtracked On God’s Motivation For Katrina. According to a blog published by the Dallas Morning News, “When a woman on the call asked why he seemed to have backed away from his Katrina comments in face of criticism, Hagee said he hadn’t. As for the Katrina, he said, God controls hurricanes and “God always punishes unconfessed sin. ‘You do the math.’” [Dallas Morning News, 5/7/08]
Hagee on Iran
Hagee: “Consider A Military Pre-Emptive Strike Against Iran To Prevent A Nuclear Holocaust In Israel.” During an interview with Bill Moyers, John Hagee said, “Iran is a clear and present danger to the survival of Israel, to the United States of America, and to the Western world.” He added that America must “consider a military pre-emptive strike against Iran to prevent a nuclear holocaust in Israel and a nuclear attack in America.” [Bill Moyers Journal, 10/5/07]
• Hagee: McCain’s “Administration Will Not Permit Iran To Have Nuclear Weapons To Fulfill The Evil Dreams Of President Ahmadinejad.” During his endorsement speech, John Hagee said, “John McCain has publicly stated his support of the state of Israel, that his administration will not permit Iran to have nuclear weapons to fulfill the evil dreams of President Ahmadinejad to wipe Israel off the map.” [San Antonio Express, 2/2808]
So, you see, he's got a little ways to go. But baby steps...
Coming up with something to explain this sketch with a priest and a rabbi in league with the anti-Christ would be nice, too.
McCain's Terrible, Horrible, No-Good Very Bad Week
I hope somebody's taking notes on this week's travails for John McCain, because if this was October and anyone was paying attention, his entire staff would be fired and the RNC would be gamely talking about random downballot races and how "2012 looks to be an up year."
The week started with a front-page story about his legendary temper, with new stories revealed therein. Then McCain embarked on a "Forgotten Places" tour this week, traveling across the country to places that "conservatives don't normally appear." And now, we know why. In Alabama, he attracted a largely white crowd in the landmark of the civil rights movement, Selma, and praised a ferry that was constructed due to an earmark, after condemning the practice. He then departed for Youngstown, Ohio, where he offered a stirring defense of free trade at a plant which closed earlier in the decade. When asked about the "cheap dumping of foreign goods" on US shores, McCain replied "I can't turn that around," which ought to be comforting to unemployed steelworkers.
Then came multiple gaffes over the situation in New Orleans. First extremist pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement McCain enthusiastically sought, reiterated his belief that Hurricane Katrina occurred as a punishment for a planned gay pride parade in the Crescent City (why Mississippi had to bear the brunt of the storm as well is unclear). McCain had to answer for these charges while docking in New Orleans, and he responded like any adult politician would, by saying "it's nonsense" eight times. Hagee has since retracted the comment, but clearly it made things awkward on McCain's stroll through New Orleans.
Of course, McCain's ideas on New Orleans aren't much better than Hagee's justifications for the hurricane. And Newsweek actually committed some journalism on that front, reaching into recent history to remind everyone that while Bush was galavanting around the country partying and ignoring the fact that New Orleans was underwater, one of his party partners was McCain:
Not only that, but McCain's prescriptions for New Orleans leave much to be desired:
Today he took a walking tour of the Ninth Ward--perhaps the most visible symbol of the Bush administration's inaction in the wake of Katrina--passing a mix of rebuilt homes and vacant, blighted houses. After the tour, McCain addressed reporters in front of a restored church. "Never again will we allow such a mishandling of a natural disaster," he vowed. "Never again."
Yet on the issue of New Orleans, it's still unclear how different McCain and Bush actually are. Speaking about Katrina, McCain, like many other Republicans, has trashed the administration's handling of the storm and has vowed to prevent similar catastrophes. "We can never let anything like that happen again," McCain told reporters on board his Straight Talk Express earlier this week. Still, the senator, who has visited the Lower Ninth Ward twice since the storm, has yet to tread into the far trickier debate over what to do about New Orleans now, a fight that has dragged on and on with little progress since the waters washed part of the city away.
The senator won't present his own plans for recovery, at least not today. Asked earlier this week if he thought the Lower Ninth Ward should be rebuilt, McCain shrugged, considering the question for several seconds. "I really don't know," he finally said. "That's why I am going … We need to go back to have a conversation about what to do: rebuild it, tear it down, you know, whatever it is."
Democrats pounced on this errant statement that McCain would be open to tearing down the Ninth Ward, and despite his media constituency running interference for him, there's no question that saying this in the midst of a tour to forgotten places was just a cardinal sin. When he was confronted about it, he claimed that he never said it despite the fact that the quote was only three days old.
McCain is of course completely constricted by his new image as a tax-cutter while still trying to keep alive the flame of the old image as a budget hawk, which essentially means that he won't be able to pay for anything that he proposes. In fact, the Washington Post hit him again, for offering tax proposals that he once considered anathema, and offering no explanation for the sudden change of heart (we know that he's unable to keep the fragile Republican coalition together without claiming to be the second coming of Milton Friedman). This leads to an endless series of contradictions.
The McCain campaign was charged $250 to use two rooms in the hall, which normally would book for $1,200 on a weeknight. The campaign also was given free labor from Homewood City Jail inmates to set up tables and chairs for the event, avoiding a $100 set-up fee, but did pay a standard $50 cleaning fee.
He also said he would do anything he could to stop the North Carolina GOP from running their stream-of-consciousness "OBAMA WRIGHT GOD DAMNS AMERICA SCARY BLACK ZOMG!!1!" ad, which resulted in the ad running anyway. And while the media certainly gave a ridiculous amount of coverage to this ad as they will any anti-Democratic attack ad, I think the real story is McCain's impotence - not that he's trying hard, or at all, to stop the ad, but the "I deplore their behavior" pose runs a little stale when nothing is done to stop it, and there will be diminishing returns to this trick as McCain spends all his time denouncing and rejecting yet doing nothing substantial to stop the smear campaigns. He's actually in a bind over that as well.
Hell of a week. One thing that is getting lost in this primary fight is that John McCain is a pretty terrible campaigner and general election candidate. The only thing going for him is media interference, but even they can't hide the contradictions and the gaffes and the essential conservatism he's boxed himself into.
Can't Wait To See The Saem Clip On Television For Two Weeks
John McCain's endorser John Hagee, not a bunch of years ago but yesterday:
HAGEE: Yes. The topic of that day was cursing and blessing. … What happened in New Orleans looked like the curse of God, in time if New Orleans recovers and becomes the pristine city it can become it may in time be called a blessing. But at this time it’s called a curse [...]
PRAGER: Right, but in the case, did NPR get, is this quote correct though that in the case of New Orleans you do feel it was sin?
HAGEE: In the case of New Orleans, their plan to have that homosexual rally was sin. But it never happened. The rally never happened.
PRAGER: No, I understand.
HAGEE: It was scheduled that Monday.
PRAGER: No, I’m only trying to understand that in the case of New Orleans, you do feel that God’s hand was in it because of a sinful city?
HAGEE: That it was a city that was planning a sinful conduct, yes.
It's important to note that this is right smack in the center of religious right discourse. It's not all that far from normal. The people John McCain is trying to appeal to with the Hagee endorsement believe this stuff. And McCain continues to be happy to have the endorsement.
On the key demographic of controversial pastors, I think McCain is pulling ahead. Yet the double standard on this is so glaring.
So John Hagee's going to open up in the Sunday New York Times, and among other things he's going to reiterate that John W. McCain actively sought out his endorsement. Which isn't surprising, since in addition to anti-Semitic, Catholic-hating bitter-ender Rapturists, McCain also has people like this on the payroll.
A McCain campaign aide actively pushed an incendiary, racially-charged video that uses the controversial words of Barack Obama's pastor to tar Obama as unpatriotic -- despite the fact that McCain himself has suggested that Obama shouldn't be held accountable for Wright's views.
The aide, Soren Dayton, who works in McCain's political department, has been suspended from the campaign, a McCain spokesperson, Jill Hazelbaker, confimed to me.
Suspended. With full pay and a pat on the head, I imagine. It matters more, after all, that he got the information out there, rather than the discipline.
Proper attire for the luncheon affair is “lounge wear,” according to the Washington Post, which also reported that the event will be held at Spencer House on St. James’s Place, “by kind permission” of Lord Rothschild and Nathaniel Rothschild.
The latter “may become the richest Rothschild of them all,” according to a profile last year in the New York Times. The story said Nathaniel Rothschild was “close to becoming a billionaire through a web of private equity investments” in Eastern Europe, and that he was “a principal adviser to Oleg Deripaska, one of the richest oligarchs in Russia.” Indeed, the Daily Mail has said that Rothschild’s wealth had “been accrued in his role as the adviser to” Deripaska.
Deripaska’s name might ring a bell. Back in early 2006, lobbyist Rick Davis, who now serves as McCain’s campaign advisor, helped introduce the senator and the oligarch during an international economic conference in Switzerland. McCain didn’t do anything for Deripaska after the meeting, but the Russian was grateful for the introduction. Deripaska wrote “a thank-you note to Davis and his partner and offer[ed] to assist them in a subsequent business deal,” according to the Washington Post.
Of course, there's no need to chastise McCain for hanging out with rogues, haters, and rubes, when in fact, he's a convicted felon in his own right.
McCain has now spent $58.4 million in his primary bid, surpassing the $50 million limit he would have faced if he participated in the public financing system he had been certified to join. McCain has decided not to accept the public matching funds, but the FEC wants him to assure regulators that he did not use the promise of public money as collateral for a $4 million loan.
McCain and his lawyers said the loan was secured with other collateral, thus freeing him to spend as much money as he wishes on his primary campaign. The Democratic National Committee has filed a complaint with the FEC arguing McCain cannot withdraw from the public finance system without FEC approval.
Until the FEC releases him from the public system, McCain with each passing day is breaking the law by spending over the legal limit. The recommended sentence is FIVE YEARS IN PRISON.
Senator Hothead McSame: Out of the Fire, Into The Brimstone
John W. McCain crept ever so slowly away from the loving embrace of Rapturist nutcase John Hagee today.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Friday repudiated any views of a prominent televangelist who endorsed him last month "if they are anti-Catholic or offensive to Catholics."
McCain has come under fire since televangelist John Hagee endorsed him on Feb. 27, but until Friday his response had been tepid. The Arizona senator merely said he doesn't agree with everyone who endorses him. He said Friday he had been hearing from Catholics who find Hagee's comments offensive.
Hagee, leader of a San Antonio megachurch, has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as "the great whore" and called it a "false cult system" and "the apostate church" — "apostate" means someone who has forsaken his religion.
On Friday, McCain took a stronger stance on Hagee's views in an interview with The Associated Press.
"We've had a dignified campaign, and I repudiate any comments that are made, including Pastor Hagee's, if they are anti-Catholic or offensive to Catholics," McCain said [...]
He was responding to one critic in particular, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, who raised the issue in a Thursday conference call with reporters.
"She made the attack. I am responding by saying that I am against discrimination and anti-Semitism, anti-Catholic, anything racial, and I have proved that on the campaign trail," McCain said.
Pelosi did close the circle on this. Without her making it an issue, McCain had no reason to distance himself. But this is just the beginning.
First of all, the idea that anti-Catholicism is the only spot on Hagee's record is just nuts. He believes that Jews are responsible for persecution and the Holocaust for turning away from God on MOUNT SINAI. Wow, way to hold a grudge, O Lord. This, of course, wasn't enough for Abe Foxman to actually condemn Hagee, but mainstream Jewish groups have, and Hagee has pissed off multiple religious and ethnic groups in his day, so this isn't going away.
Furthermore, on the same day that McCain moves away from Hagee, he heads right into the belly of the beast.
Sen. John McCain, in his post-victory debut before the conservative movement's top donors and leaders, will address the Council for National Policy's annual winter meeting here today.
His remarks at the event, which has always been closed to the public and will have only a partial accommodation of the press this year for the first time, could turn out to be his make-or-break pitch for support from some of the right's most influential critics of his past positions and policies.
"This is the most distinguished collection of conservative leaders and donors, and he was anxious to appear as part of his ongoing effort to consolidate support for his candidacy within the conservative movement," said Charlie Black, Mr. McCain's campaign adviser.
Maybe Black was doing lobbying work on the Straight Talk Express instead of brushing up on the Council for National Policy. Here's a primer:
CNP was conceived in 1981 by at least five fathers, including the Rev. Tim LaHaye, an evangelical preacher who was then the head of the Moral Majority. (LaHaye is the co-author of the popular Left Behind series that predicts and subsequently depicts the Apocalypse). Nelson Baker Hunt, billionaire son of billionaire oilman H.L. Hunt (connected to both the John Birch Society and to Ronald Reagan's political network), businessman and one-time murder suspect T. Cullen Davis, and wealthy John Bircher William Cies provided the seed money.
Top Republicans were quickly recruited to fill in the gaps; hard-right thinkers met up with sympathetic politicians. And suddenly, the right had a counterpart to liberal policy groups. Christian activist Paul Weyrich took responsibility for bringing together the best minds of conservatism, and his imprint on the group's mission is unmistakable: It provided a forum for religiously engaged conservative Christians to influence the geography of American political power.
The Executive Director of the CNP is Kerry band-aid guru Morton Blackwell, and here are some others:
Some well-known figures affiliated with the CNP include Rev. Jerry Falwell, anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly and the Rev. Pat Robertson. But its the lesser-known CNP mainstays that are more indicative of the organization's politics. They include:
Richard Shoff, a former Ku Klux Klan leader in Indiana. John McGoff, an ardent supporter of the former apartheid South African regime. R.J. Rushdoony, the theological leader of America's "Christian Reconstruction" movement, which advocates that Christian fundamentalists take "dominion" over America by abolishing democracy and instituting Old Testament Law. Rushdoony's Reconstructionalists believe that "homosexuals . . . adulterers , blasphemers, astrologers and others will be executed," along with disobedient children. Reed Larson, head of anti-union National Right to Work Committee. Don Wildmon, TV censorship activist and accused anti-Semite. Lieutenant-Colonel Oliver North, Major General John K. Singlaub and other principals from the Iran-Contra Scandal.
And McCain thinks that distancing himself from Hagee and going over to THESE GUYS is going to fly?
Americans United for Separation of Church and State has a lot more. CNP is basically where the furthest of far-right agenda, the "let them eat cake" anti-government crowd and the Christian Dominionist crowd, meet to network and strategize. George W. Bush met with them in 1999 and reportedly promised to appoint only anti-abortion judges to the courts. What has McSame promised?
I found this to be extremely interesting. Mort Kondracke seems to me to be someone who would be privy to the inside information in the McCain camp.
I know, as a matter of fact, that they’re talking in the McCain camp about ways to separate themselves in some way from Bush, and they haven’t figured out how to do it–some issue that he can be distinctive from Bush about.
Clearly it’s not going to be the war. It’s not going to be tax cuts. It has got to be something reasonably major so that the Democrats can’t say this is just the third term.
This is why the McSame ads and label is so very important. His campaign undoubtedly has some polling that shows how vulnerable he is, and indeed how vulnerable any Republican is, to this critique. Indeed, he doesn't even need polling. He can look at the 2006 election.
The reason he's so vulnerable is because it's so very, very true. McCain being a maverick notwithstanding, the policies line up almost perfectly, we all know it, and I suspect that he knows it.
But of course, McCain's in a double-bind. The moment he departs from Bush on any signature issue is the moment that the conservative ideologues who are suspicious of his motives get confirmation that he will indeed stab them in the back to get votes. Exactly where is he going to take a U-Turn? He's boxed in on all of these signature issues and would face a major backlash:
TORTURE: Despite McCain’s reputation as an opponent of torture, he has consistently supported legislative language that protects the Bush administration’s prerogatives to use it. Most recently, McCain voted against a ban on waterboarding and urged President Bush to veto the bill.
SURVEILLANCE: Echoing Bush in his CPAC speech this year, McCain called it “shameful and dangerous” for Democrats to oppose a surveillance bill that contains retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies. He then voted “to terminate lawsuits against” those companies.
IMMIGRATION: In 2005, McCain told the New Yorker that “the President and I share exactly the same views on the issue.”
SOCIAL SECURITY: In 2005, McCain was “a big booster” of Bush’s Social Security privatization plan and last week he told the Wall Street Journal that as president he wants to reform Social Security through private savings accounts “along the lines that President Bush proposed.”
HEALTH CARE: After examining his health care plan, the New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn recently concluded that McCain will act “like George W. Bush” as he supports policy ideas that “President Bush has embraced.”
Republicans created this monster, saddled themselves with a host of issues that are unpalatable to independents and the general public, and boxed in their candidates 'til the end of time. This is why McCain's down on the electoral map despite this so-called "bruising" primary, because ultimately he's a faceless Republican. And that means George Bush.
This is coming to a head with the John Hagee situation. While the media has been reluctant to really nail McSame for his hypocrisy over supporting an anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic end-timer (possibly because they consider all evangelicals to be crazy and not understanding the crucial distinctions with Hagee), today Nancy Pelosi weighed in. She's the highest-ranking Catholic in the US government, and she represents the potential to close "Daou's triangle" and really make this a signature issue that the media couldn't ignore any longer.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most prominent Catholic serving in the U.S. government, called on Sen. John McCain to reject the endorsement of Texas televangelist John Hagee, who has labeled the Catholic church "the great whore," a "false cult system," and linked it to Hitler's Nazi movement.
"That behavior is outside the circle of civilized debate in our democracy," Pelosi said during a Thursday conference call. "I certainly think John McCain should reject his endorsement and I'm sure it won't be long before he does."
McCain has come under heavy fire from Catholic groups across the political spectrum for appearing with Hagee last week and declaring he was "proud" of the endorsement. Subsequently, McCain told reporters that Hagee's backing "does not mean that I embrace everything that he stands for and believes," but added, "I am very proud of the Pastor John Hagee's spiritual leadership to thousands of people."
This will KILL McCain among Catholics if he doesn't disassociate himself with Hagee, and that's key to several important states in the Rust Belt. But if he rejects Hagee's support, he angers many evangelicals in a symbolic way, as well as conservative activists who want to keep the three-legged stool somehow upright.
McCain absolutely knows he's in trouble and he doesn't see a way out. And there are also the lobbying scandals and his illegal exit from the campaign finance system.
This Bush/McCain press availability is hilarious. The press keeps asking over and over again "Mr. President, is this the worst endorsement that John McCain would ever want" and he got his back up and now he's practically shouting back at the press corps. McCain tried to talk and Bush cut him off. The press pissed him off and now he's yipping like a stray dog. McCain kept saying "I'll appear at events when it fits with the President's heavy schedule," and I'm sure that schedule will suddenly fill up. This was awful.
Brian Williams and Tweety Matthews tried to put the best spin on this, calling McCain a "warrior" and saying how committed he is to his country (not like those softie DemocRATs). But you can't really put a spin on this display.
Bush was all about pulling McCain under his wing, saying that "there's not going to be any change in Iraq and in fighting terror" if McCain comes to power. I'll go a step further, there wouldn't be ANY change. McCain wants to revive the "Just Say No" campaign and continue the Drug War. He's just as just as anti-science as Bush, blaming vaccinations on the rise of autism in the face of all available evidence. His economic policy includes more tax cuts and privatization of Social Security, which is at odds with his own website that's trying to hide the similiarities. His healthcare "plan" won't cover anybody and would amount a big tax increase on employers. He leads a privileged life thanks to his heiress wife and uses his charitable donations to benefit friends and family. And his campaign is suffused with lobbyists (always has been) and would continue corporate control of government.
McCain has started his post-primary run to the Presidency on a bumpy road, with the John Hagee situation (which mainstream Jewish groups are now attacking him for), the Vicki Iseman rumors, running afoul of the FEC by pretending to opt in to the public financing system. All of this has really hit his fundraising, where the split between Clinton and Obama and him has been 7-1. The race continuing obviously helps McCain, which is why IE commercials like this are so important. The media loves McCain but there's no story there for the next month or so. While they try to tear down Obama and Clinton, McCain's negatives HAVE to be goosed. He's an unprincipled politician with a long Senate record full of inconsistencies. That has to become the conventional wisdom in the populace, if not in the media.
As the information trickles out about John Hagee, it becomes more and more crazy for John McCain not to cut bait. Of course, he's in a tough spot. He had to grab somebody to prove his religious right bona fides, and Hagee became the choice. By distancing himself, he'd risk alienating that entire group of committed Republicans, and most important, volunteers.
With a Youtube link to prove his point, Catholic League president Bill Donohue said Hagee "has waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church. For example, he likes calling it 'The Great Whore,' an 'apostate church,' the 'anti-Christ,' and a 'false cult system.' ..."Senator Obama has repudiated the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan, another bigot. McCain should follow suit and retract his embrace of Hagee."
Today Donohue noted that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee expressed disappointment that he hadn't received Hagee's backing.
"If Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama were fighting over the support of Louis Farrakhan, we'd say they're nuts," Donohue said. "So what are we to conclude about McCain's embrace of Hagee, and Huckabee's lament for not getting the bigot's endorsement?"
Glenn Greenwald did an interview with Bill Donohue yesterday. Donohue is a nutcase, but he can get press attention as well as anyone I've seen. This isn't likely to go away.
"Well I think it's important to note that.pastor john Hagee ..who has supported and endorsed my candidacy supports what I stand for and believe in. When he endorses me, it does not mean that I embrace everything that he stands for and believes. And I am very proud of the Pastor John Hagee's spiritual leadership to thousands of people and I am proud of his commitment to the independence and the freedom of the state of Israel. That does not mean that I support or endorse or agree with some of the things that Pastor John Hagee might have said or positions that he may have taken on other issues. I don't have to agree with everyone who endorses my candidacy. They are supporting MY candidacy. I am not endorsing some of their positions."
Let's make this clear: Louis Farrakhan is well past his prime and yet his endorsement of Barack Obama sparked a continuing firestorm, despite the fact that Obama fully distanced himself from it. McCain is accepting Hagee's endorsement. This is a guy who believes in Armageddon and worse.
CUFI's politics, as compared to average political views of Jewish Americans, veer far to the right, lie along the extreme end of the theocratic spectrum and espouse an intransigent and radically bellicose approach to Mideast politics. CUFI is allied with the hard Israeli right and, most recently, has been organizing to block efforts by the current Olmert administration, writes journalist Bill Berkowitz, towards any Israeli-Palestinian peace deal that would divide Jerusalem. CUFI's extremity goes beyond the politics of its allies in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party - one of CUFI's key founding executive board members, Jerry Falwell, once preached that "millions of Jews will be slaughtered", called Jews "spiritually blind" and stated, in 1999, that the coming 'anti-Christ' Falwell expected would be a Jew. CUFI regional director George Morrison has predicted "another Holocaust" and another regional director, Dr. Chuck Missler, currently sells an audio lecture series entitled "The Next Holocaust" and has said that Auschwitz was "just a prelude". In his 2006 book "Jerusalem Countdown", Pastor John Hagee's seemed to blame Jews for the [last] Holocaust (for disobeying God) and identify Hitler, the Nazis and the Holocaust as God's way of driving Jews to settle in Palestine. He has called also liberal Jews "poisoned". The core of the following assembled material I put together, last fall, for the benefit of a potential financial benefactor, to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, who- as a Jewish-American -was torn between concern over the growing influence of Christian fundamentalism in the US military and loyalty to Jewish groups and institutions in his area which had received financial support from Christians United For Israel and its supporters.
John McCain's judgment is to welcome the support of someone this divisive and hateful. Let's remember this.
If we had a press that applied the same rules to John McCain that it has to Democrats as of late...
You'd hear every Democratic strategist on the talking head shows, and direct questions to the candidate himself, about how he is America's Worst Senator for Children. And sure, the number is a function of McCain missing so many votes - so what. That's basically how Sen. Obama's National Journal ratings were conceived, and as long as that is a fair data point, then so should this statistic from the Children's Defense Fund. "Sen. McCain, why are you considered America's Worst Senator for Children?"
We'd have constant questions asking McCain to renounce or reject or oppose or renouncereject or just say no to the support of John Hagee, a Biblical end-timer who believes that God caused Hurricane Katrina for its gay pride parades, that Muslims are programmed to kill nonbelievers, and that we must hasten the Rapture by invading every country in the Middle East. McCain should be asked about every single one of those statements and whether he explicitly supports them. I mean, I know Hagee's not black, but you'd think his rhetoric of hate would be held to the same standard as Louis Farrakhan.
...my preference would be that all of these side issues be put in the proper context, and substantive reporting be prioritized. But you know, level playing field, and all that.
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