I have refrained from writing about John McCain’s pastor problem.
I really resented the way so many people used Rev. Wright as an excuse to unleash their racism and guiltlessly attack Barack Obama for being black – and worse – attack the institution of the black church, which has provided hope and inspiration for African Americans during centuries of slavery and oppression.
Also, I think that mixing religion and politics is just a really bad idea.
Politicians should keep their religion to themselves. As always, Bush provides us a perfect example of how not to lead.
If, in fact, the President of the United States is a born again Christian, this means that he believes that for God’s will to be fulfilled, and for Jesus Christ to return, there needs first to be an Armageddon.
I have wondered if one the factors motivating George Bush, who claims such beliefs, and has also stated that he believes that God selected him to be president, to attack Iraq is that he believes it is his Biblical providence to lead us into the cataclysmic battle between God and Satan.
Personally, I don’t want to see a nuclear war so that the born-agains can get their reward of sitting at Jesus’ hand. Any more than I want to get blown apart by a Muslim fundamentalist so that he can get to his own version of heaven.
I think I’d rather have a clear-eyed atheist with his finger on the button, thank you.
John McCain, who has famously criticized leaders of the religious right as "agents of intolerance", nonetheless has spent the last year currying favor with these same televangelist preachers in order to pander to the religious right, a core constituency of the Republican Party since the days of Ronald Reagan.
Among those is the Pastor John Hagee, who is about as whacked out (or as prophetic) as a preacher can get.
Among his other bizarre statements, Hagee has excused Adolph Hitler for annihilating millions of Jews, claiming that Hitler was acting on God’s behalf, driving the Jews back to Israel so that Armageddon could occur and Christ could come back.
He blames the Jews for the Holocaust. And gays for Katrina. And your sins for 9-11.
John McCain has said that he is “proud” to have this sociopath as a spiritual advisor.
Today, McCain tossed Hagee under the bus. Like the four lobbyists who were his key advisors, but became a liability to his ambitions by being, well, lobbyists.
Considering the endless looping of a 5 second clip of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s most inflammatory remarks over a period of at least a month, and the inference that Barack Obama shared those sentiments, it will be interesting to see how long the media’s attention remains focused on the anti-Semitic rantings of Pastor Hagee.
My guess: one news cycle.
