Updating yesterday’s blog about the Barack Obama camp’s attempts to manufacture a “pastor problem” for Sen. John McCain to divert attention from Obama’s problem with Jeremiah Wright:
Sen. McCain on Thursday came out and repudiated pastor John Hagee’s statements about Hitler being a tool for God to get the Jews back to Israel, rejecting Hagee’s endorsement at the same time.
McCain’s statement said: “Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well.”
But McCain also threw a zinger at the Obamites, who have been trying to fan Hagee’s out-of-context statements into a fire:
“I have said I do not believe Senator Obama shares Reverend Wright’s extreme views. But let me also be clear, Reverend Hagee was not and is not my pastor or spiritual adviser, and I did not attend his church for 20 years.”
And that makes all the difference politically.
For his part, Hagee also withdrew his endorsement of McCain on Thursday, saying he was tired of being mischaracterized and falsely accused. Unlike Jeremiah Wright’s statements, such as “God d— America,” which are impossible to take out of context, Hagee’s statements actually were mischaracterized by the Obamites who fed them to the media.
Hagee’s sermon, from the 1990s (again unlike Wright’s multiple racist sermons, which stretched over 20 years), was actually about prophecy in the Bible. Whether one agrees with the theological point Hagee was making, the idea that things, even bad things, ultimately work to God’s purpose is hardly a radical idea and is held by many people. And to call Hagee, who is widely known for his support of Israel, an anti-Semite really strains credulity.
Nonetheless, the political damage was done, and McCain really had no choice but to publicly toss Hagee under the bus. On Thursday, McCain also felt compelled to head off another tempest in a teapot and reject the endorsement of pastor Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, Ohio.
Parsley’s media sin was calling Islam a false religion and generally being opposed to the Islamic blood cult that is leading fascist Muslims to murder people around the world. This is wrong according to liberals because 9/11 — if it happened — was America’s fault and Islam is a religion of peace. And all religions are the same thing, just with different robes. (We’re not at war. Good is bad. Freedom is slavery, etc. You get the idea.)
I understand why McCain felt compelled to toss these two men off the boat, because the senator is appealing to liberals to help him win, and liberals have a hard time with fine distinctions. But a real leader would not have done so.
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