I guess it’s an instance of “better late than never.”
Way back in February, after an extensive outreach effort, John McCain secured the endorsement of pastor John Hagee, a right-wing megachurch televangelist, best known for his bizarre anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-woman, anti-Muslim and anti-gay views. McCain campaigned alongside his new buddy in advance of the Texas Republican primary.
For weeks, McCain’s willingness to associate with and cozy up to Hagee drew widespread disgust. Despite condemnations from the Speaker of the House, the chairman of the DNC, Catholic groups on the left, Catholic groups on the right, and Jewish groups, a month after the endorsement, the combined number of articles about McCain and Hagee in the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal was zero. Not one.
And now, three months later, the media is starting to notice. The NYT’s Frank Rich devoted his column to the subject on Sunday, and Newsweek ran a pretty good item in its new issue.
John McCain likes to think of himself as a straight shooter — a man of honor who doesn’t duck tough questions. But at least one question does get him bobbing and weaving: why doesn’t he renounce the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee, the San Antonio televangelist who has offended Roman Catholics and other groups?
On the trail, McCain tries to stay away from talking about Hagee. In New Orleans last month, he grew irritated when asked about the pastor’s views on Hurricane Katrina. “It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense,” McCain said when a reporter drew attention to Hagee’s 2006 statement to National Public Radio that New Orleans had suffered “the judgment of God” because of its “level of sin.” McCain refused to disavow Hagee’s support. “Would I consider repudiating his endorsement?” McCain said to reporters on the back of his bus. “I certainly condemn those parts of his remarks. [But] I continue to appreciate his support for the state of Israel and for many of the good things that he and his church have done.”
McCain and his aides draw a sharp distinction between his relationship to Hagee and Barack Obama’s ties to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. “I didn’t attend Pastor Hagee’s church for 20 years,” the candidate told reporters on his Straight Talk Express. “And there’s a great deal of difference, in my view, between someone who endorses you, and other circumstances.” McCain’s aides attribute the Hagee controversy to poor vetting. But even some Republicans (not affiliated with the campaign) privately wonder how the pastor’s extreme views slipped through without notice. McCain personally wooed Hagee for more than a year.
A leading presidential campaign sought the support of a crazed televangelist, and it never occurred to them to maybe do a Google search?
As Frank Rich asked, “Are we really to believe that neither Mr. McCain nor his camp knew anything then about Mr. Hagee’s views? This particular YouTube video — far from the only one — was posted on Jan. 1, nearly two months before the Hagee-McCain press conference. Mr. Hagee appears on multiple religious networks, including twice daily on the largest, Trinity Broadcasting, which reaches 75 million homes. Any 12-year-old with a laptop could have vetted this preacher in 30 seconds, tops.”
What’s more, let’s also not lose sight of what happened after the endorsement. After McCain wooed Hagee for a year while apparently knowing nothing about the guy, McCain was confronted with Hagee’s record of hate, intolerance, and general lunacy. McCain nevertheless said he welcomed Hagee’s endorsement and refused to disassociate himself from the preacher.
In other words, even if one buys the notion that McCain didn’t know who Hagee was while McCain pursued him for a year — a dubious claim, to be sure — there’s still the problem of why McCain continues to embrace Hagee’s support to this day. (Indeed, McCain has even defended Hagee, saying that Hagee was “taken out of context” when he called the Roman Catholic Church among other things, “the great whore” and “a false cult system.”)
It’s nice to have the media finally notice. I don’t know where reporters have been for three months, and I’m not going to get my hopes up about the cable news networks looping Hagee’s tirades 24-7 the way they did with Jeremiah Wright, but it’s a start.