Well that took long enough.
McCain has finally rejected John Hagee, after it came to light that Hagee considered Hitler & the Holocaust “part of God’s plan” to drive the Jews to Israel. But how is this late and partial rejection good enough? People have used the Reverend Wright incident to attack Obama’s judgment, reducing Wright’s entire history – and Obama’s entire relationship with him – to a few admittedly ridiculous schpeels. But the mistakes of Hagee, whose history of hate is continuous, whose few remarks are representative thereof, and whose history McCain knew while seeking and winning his endorsement, have not been imputed to McCain, or used to attack his judgment.
The reason, Salon argues, is that Obama’s relationship plays into a popular media misconception of Obama, while lunatics like Hagee are given free passes, because white Christianity somehow excuses bigotry.
No, this is not good enough. This needs to surface in debates, this needs to surface in ads, and this needs to surface in more places than just this site and Salon.
I get the feeling it will. We seem to be coming to the point where the tolerance for this kind of inanity is wearing tissue-thin. A backlash cometh – far too late.
Posted by Dana Hunter | May 23, 2008, 4:54 amJeremiah Wright was the pastor at the church Obama attended for years and to which he gave tens of thousands of dollars.
Hagee is a guy who liked McCain.
Yawn.
Posted by James Brown | May 23, 2008, 4:56 pmMcCain actively sought the endorsement. He knew his views and ocurted him. They’re ocmparable
Posted by Ames | May 23, 2008, 6:52 pmJeremiah Wright was the pastor at the church Obama attended for years and to which he gave tens of thousands of dollars.
Hagee is a guy whose influence over far-right conservatives McCain sought to exploit for personal gain during a campaign.
Posted by James Brown | May 24, 2008, 12:53 pmThe point is that he willfully sought to exploit it, knowing the man’s beliefs. That shows he wanted to associate with those beliefs, or be perceived to associate with them.
Posted by Ames | May 24, 2008, 12:59 pm