In 2000, John McCain excoriated George W. Bush for kicking off his campaign in South Carolina at Bob Jones University, visiting the campus and delivering a speech to the student body. McCain assailed the appearance, arguing that Bush’s uncritical speech at BJU — a school with a record of anti-Catholic bigotry — was tantamount to an endorsement of the school’s policies. The McCain campaign even made “Catholic Alert” phone calls denouncing Bush for the appearance.
Eight years later, McCain’s tolerance for anti-Catholic bigots has changed considerably.
We talked yesterday about evangelist John Hagee, who endorsed McCain this week, and whose support McCain has been anxious to trumpet. Given some of Hagee’s bizarre ideas, it seems odd the media has been willing to give McCain a pass on his new buddy.
But yesterday afternoon, there was a new, even more salient angle to consider: McCain hadn’t just cozied up to a radical mega-church evangelist, he’d teamed up with a notorious anti-Catholic extremist.
The president of the Catholic League today blasted Sen. John McCain for accepting the endorsement of Texas evangelist John Hagee, calling the controversial pastor a bigot who has “waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church.”
Hagee, who is known for his crusading support of Israel, backed McCain’s presidential bid Wednesday, standing next to the senator at a hotel in San Antonio and calling McCain “a man of principle.”
But Catholic League President Bill Donohue said in a statement today that Hagee has written extensively in negative ways about the Catholic Church, “calling it ‘The Great Whore,’ an ‘apostate church,’ the ‘anti-Christ,’ and a ‘false cult system.'”
“Senator Obama has repudiated the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan, another bigot. McCain should follow suit and retract his embrace of Hagee,” Donohue said.
It just so happens, I was thinking of the same comparison.
Louis Farrakhan had a few kind words to say about Barack Obama. In response, Obama repudiated Farrakhan, made no effort to reach out to him (formally or informally), and said he wanted nothing to do with the Nation of Islam leader. Nevertheless, campaign reporters covered Farrakhan’s “endorsement” with great enthusiasm, and Obama was pressed on the “issue” at this week’s debate.
Which leads to an interesting contrast. While Obama repudiated Farrakhan, McCain dropped everything to appear alongside Hagee. While Obama made no effort to reach out to Farrakhan, McCain sought Hagee’s support and said he was “very honored” to accept it. While Obama said he wanted nothing to do with Farrakhan, McCain said he hoped to capitalize on Hagee’s endorsement to curry favor with the evangelical community.
At least one state Republican Party issued an official press release this week touting “Anti-Semites for Obama.” Would it now be equally fair for a state Democratic Party to issue a press release on “Anti-Catholic Leaders for McCain”? The key difference seems to be that Obama rejected the bigot who offered him support, while McCain did the opposite.
If Obama had treated Farrakhan with equal veneration, his campaign would be over today. And yet, McCain won’t even criticize Hagee’s virulent anti-Catholic animus.
Keep in mind, it’s not just Donohue who’s noticed. Catholics United has also denounced Hagee and implored McCain to reject his endorsement. Regrettably, that seems unlikely.
Look, this need not be complicated. Hagee hates Catholics, hates Muslims, hates gays, believes Jews are responsible for bringing persecution upon themselves, believes U.S. foreign policy should actively help bring about the Rapture, believes Americans’ sins led to Hurricane Katrina’s destruction, and in general, is an all-around nut. McCain has been confronted with his friend’s ideas, but doesn’t seem to care.
Eric Kleefeld asked, “Will the same media outlets who have hammered Barack Obama about Louis Farrakhan’s uninvited endorsement now ask John McCain to denounce and reject the support of John Hagee, which was actually sought and publicly accepted?”
I kind of doubt it. Indeed, as far as I can tell, most print news outlets didn’t bother to pick up on Donohue’s criticism at all today.
If Obama had accepted Farrakhan’s support in a similar fashion, and then refused to distance himself from Farrakhan’s ideas, I suspect we’d hear about little else. Call it a hunch.