If Falwell isn’t intolerant, who is?

April 3, 2006

[tag]John McCain[/tag], less than six years ago, insisted that TV preacher [tag]Jerry Falwell[/tag] was an “agent of intolerance” to whom Republicans shouldn’t “pander.” Shortly thereafter, McCain said he “must not and will not retract” his remarks, noting that they were “carefully crafted” and “carefully thought out.”

Now that McCain has decided to become chummy with Falwell, [tag]Tim Russert[/tag] asked McCain a very simple question yesterday: “Do you believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?” It was the right question, which generated the wrong response.

“No, I don’t.”

We’re talking about a hateful televangelist who said America “deserved” the attacks of 9/11, blamed the terrorism on Americans, and has lashed out with virulent rhetoric against Jews, gays, Muslims, and women. I’m curious — if McCain doesn’t think Falwell is an agent of intolerance, who is?

[tag]Paul Krugman[/tag] hammered the point home in his column today.

[I]f you choose to make common cause with religious extremists, you are accepting some responsibility for their extremism. By welcoming Mr. Falwell and people like him as members of their party, Republicans are saying that it’s O.K. — not necessarily correct, but O.K. — to declare that 9/11 was America’s punishment for its tolerance of abortion and homosexuality, that Islam is a terrorist religion, and that Jews can’t go to heaven. And voters should judge the Republican Party accordingly.

As for Mr. McCain: his denunciation of Mr. Falwell and Mr. Robertson six years ago helped give him a reputation as a moderate on social issues. Now that he has made up with Mr. Falwell and endorsed South Dakota’s ban on abortion even in the case of rape or incest, only two conclusions are possible: either he isn’t a social moderate after all, or he’s a cynical political opportunist.

Ultimately, I’m left feeling a little sorry for [tag]McCain[/tag]. It’s genuinely sad to see a towering man become so weak so quickly. It took years for McCain to cultivate credibility and integrity with millions of Americans nationwide, but his presidential ambitions have clouded his judgment so thoroughly, he’s willing to throw it all away to curry favor with a demagogic clown like [tag]Falwell[/tag].

McCain had a decision to make: remain a respectable political leader who enjoys broad admiration or yield to the demands of the anti-American right. McCain did not choose wisely.

“It took years for McCain to cultivate credibility and integrity with millions of Americans nationwide…” – CB

I think McCain has discovered, with the MSM controlled now by corporate interests and five years into the Bush Administration, that credibility is an attribute of limited value, compared with the willingness to accomidate the base of the Republicanite party.

He is going to find just how terribly wrong he is about this with the immigration debate, which splits both parties and the country into irreconcilable pieces. Only a politician with massive creditability could convince a majority of Congress and the American People to support a comprehensive solution to immigration. Unfortunately, Bush has none, Kennedy certainly not much, Spector very little, and McCain is frittering away all he used to have.

So once again, the Theocratic Reactionaries are destroying America, this time by demanding supplication from the one politician in this country who might have lead us to a rationale immigration policy.

  • “Do you believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?” – Tim Russert

    He asked the question wrong. It should have been:
    “Do you STILL believe that Jerry Falwell is an agent of intolerance?”

  • McCain needs the Falwells and the drones to get the nomination because they control the party aparatus. Of course I don’t know if all of the bending over he has done will get it for hime, becuase they don’t trust him and frankly I don’t see that changing no matter the pretzle-like contortions he assumes. They know he is kissing their rear end to get the nomination and are afraid that once he gets the nomination and if he gets elected he won’t pay them back. They may be right, I am not as sure.

    Of course getting the nomination isn’t a sure thing. But if it happens there is always the general election. By the time McCain finishes brown-nosing he is likely to have alienated all those in the middle that were attracted to him because of his supposed maverick status by show them he is a hack. He may get some or all of the Christianist vote (which is not assured) but he could likely loose the large moderate group that made his candidacy in years past more viable. I guess he figured he either doesn’t need the middle or feels like he can finess it in the general election.

    Note to John McCain or any of this campaign workers: I may have voted for him in the past but his fawning on Falwell and his slavering over the Christianists has made me see the light. He is not a maverick. He can’t be spun into a “moderate.” He is just as hackish and lame as the rest of the GOP. All this means it will be a cold day in hell before I vote for John McCain – for anything………

  • OK everybody, go to Kmart and buy up a bunch of flip-flops when they go on sale. When McCain comes to campaign in your town – you know what to do. Payback is sweet.

  • Feel no sympathy for these clowns who have run this country into the ground, CB. They feel none for you.

    Muck FcCain.

  • I waiting for McCain to accuse Krugman of having an anti-McCain, anti-Christian agenda. And Krugman does have an agenda: To end the ruinous economic policies of the Bush administration, which was enabled my the religious right and their blind fervor for George W. Bush.

  • I’m with you, bubba, and well put–even for a family audience. It’s a sad day in America when a politician like John McCain is considered a maverick or a moderate. Yes, by all means, check his voting record. Occasionally sticking it to your party or exercising a few principles every decade or so does not a maverick/moderate make. And comparing him to the rest of the intemperate GOP to find the ‘center’ is like calling Squeaky Fromme a more moderate murderer than Charles Manson.

  • Now that McCain has decided to become chummy with Falwell, Tim Russert asked McCain a very simple question yesterday: “Do you believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?” It was the right question, which generated the wrong response.

    “No, I don’t.”

    And Russert then followed up with McCain’s prior quotes. Right? Right?!

  • McCain hasn’t been “a respectable political leader” since 2000 in South Carolina.

    What kind of “respectable political leader” embraces the “man” who spread rumors that he was brain-addled by the North Koreans and that he fathered an out-of-wedlock black child (he adopted a kid)?

    The more I see/hear/read of McCain the more I want to hurl.

  • McCain was so full of W’s spin maybe he should be appointed the next press secretary.

    First the lamest excuse for the Iraqi debacle — “failed intelligence” , the same intelligence shared by the British, the French, the Germans, and the Russians. Why doesn’t the press call them on this?

    Next, the Bush tax cut. McCain was against it. Now he says that rescinding it would be a “tax increase”. The Dems should jump all over this BS if they are serious about reducing the deficit and saving SS.

    Next. The Falwell reversal. Just plain sad.

    Three strikes. Within the course of 20 minutes. Then followed by retired Gen. Zinni’s masterful indictment of the Iraq war. Now there was some straight talk!

  • McCain would have done himself a favor if he’d died under torture in prison. He’d have an eternal reputation as a “hero.”

    He was NEVER a moderate. He’s your standard issue far right Nasal Radiator, (i.e., a naval aviator), whose only difference from Randy Cunningham is he hasn’t been caught. Yet.

  • Ed Stephan your point is good but it’s the worng war. The gouks were our enemy not the koreans.

  • Ol’ Jerry’s a little weird, but I think that the folks who get off on slicing off peoples’ heads and treating women as property (in actuality rather than in theory) are far worse.

    Quite frankly, if Jerry got ignored, he’d likely go away. I think the same would happen with a lot of the “media circus” nutjobs.

    Think of this… The Illinois Nazis decide they’re going to have a rally. They show up, and instead of a crowd of jeering counter-demonstrators (which they love, because it makes for good TV and guaranteed news time, and they’re _trying_, like those nutjobs who are protesting at military funerals, to get someone to assault ’em…), the road is lined with people. All standing with their backs to the parade route. Silently. Now, _that_ would be a message, but it’d be darn hard to organize.

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