John McCain Cuts Pastors Loose

Photo from source, Huffington Post

Presidential primary politics is particularly peculiar. Sorry, I was overcome with alliteration. What's strange is this apology/renouncement parade. Barack Obama was besieged by endless talk (started by Sean Hannity it would seem) about his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and his association with some dude who was some sort of terrorist 40 years ago. On and on, endless chatter--and Hannity is still at it, even though Obama repudiated the actions and words of both guys.

Now, John McCain has finally had to do the same thing with two pastors he actively courted for endorsements, Rod Parsley and John Hagee. Both of these guys had reputations that were very well known. They're crazy mega-church fire and brimstoners. What did he expect? And what took him so long? When it was Catholics and gays that Hagee was bashing, McCain didn't budge. It took a Nazi reference to get McCain to flip-flop.

[Excerpt]

McCain Rejects Endorsements From Hagee, Parsley

In the face of mounting controversy over headline-grabbing statements from Pastor John Hagee, CNN has learned presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has decided to reject his endorsement.

The Huffington Post had published a recording of Hagee saying that Adolf Hitler had been fulfilling God's will by hastening the desire of Jews to return to Israel in accordance with biblical prophecy. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

John McCain's Pastor Problem (Redux)

Fortunately--for now at least--the really, really tedious Rev. Jeremiah Wright story is off the front burner. I haven't checked in on bullyboy Sean Hannity lately, but he's probably still flogging the story. And it is still cropping up here and there. But the story about John McCain's dual pastor problem has gotten only a fraction of the attention.

So why not shine just a little more light on John McCain's two favorite pastors, Rod Parsley and John Hagee? Let's do.

More from Frank Rich on John Hagee

I don't want to belabor the point too much, but that is exactly what the mainstream media is doing as it pertains to the endless talk about Barack Obama's pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. In politics, fire must be fought with fire. . .and brimstone. Heh.



[Excerpt]

The All-White Elephant in the Room

BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for “John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,” and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive. . .

What you’ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is “the Great Whore,” Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking “the blood of the Jewish people.” That’s because the Great Whore represents “the Roman Church,” which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust. . .

Read more at: New York Times

The Young Turks: Hagee Should Be McCain's Undoing

John McCain's supporters are trying to draw a distinction between John Hagee and Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Wright was, as we are now exceedingly aware, Barack Obama's pastor for 20 years. Hagee is merely a supporter and endorser of John McCain.

But Hagee--a fire and brimstone preacher--was enthusiastically sought out by John McCain in a very public way. Though McCain has tried to distance himself from some of Hagee's crazy beliefs, he is still proud and happy to have him as a vocal supporter.

To me, most religions and most religious leaders are equally nutty. I don't much care what either of these guys have had to say, as long as their beliefs are not manifested into public policy. But McCain should get at least some negative attention if one is to hold Rev. Wright's comments to somehow be relevant. What do you think?

Hagee Retracts "Gays Caused Katrina" Statement

Photo from source, Raw Story

Apologies. Repudiations. It seems not a day goes by that there isn't someone giving one, or someone asking for one. A candidate, or a candidate's operative or supporter will say something outrageous (or perceived to be), and then an apology is demanded. Sometimes, the candidate is then asked to repudiate the comment, whether it has been apologized for or not. Usually, they give in, and mutter a few words in the hope that it all goes away.

It can be a rather pointless exercise. After all, the original statement doesn't go away--they still said it, and presumably meant it. It is of course possible to change one's mind, and one hopes that the apologies or repudiations are sincere, and not simply a way to get their fannies out of the fire.

Often times, apologies are made that barely qualify: "I apologize if anyone was offended" for example, is the classic non-apology. Or, as in the following case, an apology is made to some of the offended, but not all. John McCain supporter (a man McCain enthusiastically sought out), pastor John Hagee said an astonishingly stupid thing after Hurricane Katrina:

"All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. 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 there 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. . ."

I can only imagine what sordid things went through the good pastor's mind when imagining that. Anyway, Hagee is quickly becoming an albatross for McCain for this and other statements, so he's offered an apology of sorts for those who were offended. Not all of them, no. . .gay people get no apology. Typical.

[Excerpt]

Hagee backs off comment connecting gays with Katrina

Rev. John Hagee, endorser of GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, has retracted controversial comments he made implying that Hurricane Katrina was punishment from God for a planned gay pride parade, one that he considered the culmination of an era of sin in New Orleans. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

John McCain's Puzzling Response to Hagee Question

Photo from source, Think Progress

Barack Obama has been taking crazy amounts of heat over his pastor's comments about America. I find it tedious and stupid, but the tedious and stupid seem to find it endlessly important (particularly Sean Hannity). Getting less attention is John McCain's affiliation with crazy holy-roller John Hagee.

Hagee is most well known for calling the Catholic Church "the great whore." Nice. But that ain't all. No, he also thinks that Hurrican Katrina was God's retribution for a scheduled gay pride parade that hadn't happened yet. And in Hagee's excitedly fevered imagination, this parade was going to be soooo gay, that the likes of it had never been seen. Umm, in New Orleans. . . ? Whatever, dude.

Anyway, Hagee not only said this, but when given a chance to back-peddle, he strongly reiterated them instead. Finally, John McCain is starting to get questioned about his eagerness seeking, obtaining, and keeping Hagee's endorsement. It's only fair, right? McCain's response was, shall we say, something less than extemporaneous.

[Excerpt]

McCain on Hagee’s Katrina comments: ‘It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense.’

"It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense. I dont have anything additional to say. It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, I don’t have anything more to say…it’s nonsense. I reject it categorically."

I think Cindy needs to change his batteries or something. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

Pastor Rod Parsley Endorses John McCain

John McCain had a problem after getting the nomination. He doubtless knows that all of the in-fighting in the primaries tends to go by the wayside once the general election begins (so buck up, Democrats!). But he still faced the problem of his image amongst conservatives. Mike Huckabee had the fundies in his corner. Mitt Romney won (by process of elimination) the allegiance of conservatives. And prominent far-righties were disavowing John McCain, even threatening to vote for Hillary Clinton!

So what's Grampa to do? Shore up his image, of course! He got the (sort of) endorsement of "dancin' fool" George W. Bush, with the White House as a backdrop. He got an uber-conservative talk show host to introduce him (that kinda backfired). And now, he's lining up the endorsements of super-preachy, religion-and-politics types. First, it was John Hagee, who is anti-Catholic and anti-gay--probably anti-lots of things. Now, he's got Rod Parsley of Columbus, Ohio--my hometown.

I am distrustful of religion in general, evangelists in particular, and "mega-churches" especially. If Jesus existed, and was all they say he was, he never expected this sort of thing. Anyway, Parsley gives me a wiggins, and reminds me of LeRoy Jenkins (a 70s evangelical from Columbus), and especially, Ted Haggard. In this video, Parsley rails against "the gay," with such passion--and loss for words--I can only think he's imagining it in vivid clarity.



The problem is not that John McCain has been endorsed by these people. The problem is that he has enusiastically embraced these endorsements. Hopefully, that will be enough to scare any right-leaning Democrats from voting for him.

McCain Supporter John Hagee's Views on Catholics

We've heard a lot of slams against all of the candidates for President, most of them stupid. Some criticize shady contributors, as though each candidate must vet each and every contribution. That's kind of stupid. Others criticize candidates for who has endorsed them. This can be stupid, because anybody can endorse anybody. But what about when you enthusiastically embrace your endorser, as John McCain did with the endorsement of mega-church pastor, John Hagee?

Hagee has been (rightly) criticized for many disparaging comments toward many groups of people. Here is a video of him doing just that, in case you haven't seen first-hand evidence.



For more, go to: Huffington Post