McCain’s Hypocrisy On Devil Comments: Chavez Was ‘Despicable,’ Refuses To Condemn Falwell
McCain’s Hypocrisy On Devil Comments: Chavez Was ‘Despicable,’ Refuses To Condemn Falwell
Yesterday on CBS Face the Nation, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez for calling President Bush “the devil” in a speech at the United Nations. But he dismissed Jerry Falwell’s statement that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) would energize conservative voters more than Lucifer, stating, “I think he was joking.” Watch it:
Full transcript below:
BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, Senator McCain, the UN General Assembly met this week and there were some fairly tough things issued from the–from the podium up there. What’s your overall reaction? How about this guy Chavez from Venezuela?
Sen. McCAIN: Despic–despicable. In his case, he aspires to be this generation’s Castro. I think the people of Venezuela ought to look at the standard of living in Cuba before they would embrace such a thing. We were just talking off camera, Senor Wences, I guess it was, the sock puppet. Look, it’s despicable and the United Nations should not be used as that kind of forum. But it goes back to Khrushchev in ‘56 banging his shoe on the table. But I would–I would say that this is an argument to get John Bolton confirmed as our UN ambassador. He’s smart, he’s tough, he would respond to these guys. And he could talk back to these two-bit dictators who have the air fare to New York. And I hope my Democrat friends will stop holding up the nomination of John Bolton.
Mr. HARRIS: Chavez called Bush Satan. And there’s Jerry Falwell in the news just today, said Hillary Clinton will do as much as Satan to energize the conservative base. You were just down there at his university. What did you make of Falwell’s comment?
Sen. McCAIN: I think he was joking. I’m–from what I was told, he was laughing. And for the record, even though Mrs. Clinton and I may have some disagreements, I don’t think she’s Lucifer.
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60 Responses to “McCain’s Hypocrisy On Devil Comments: Chavez Was ‘Despicable,’ Refuses To Condemn Falwell”
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Chavez was joking too, he made the remarks in a classical latin american style of making a joke out of somebody or something. But in the case of Bush (who is a joke of a president) it sounds more realistic :-D
September 25th, 2006 at 12:37 pmThis will not play.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:37 pmSo was Chavez
September 25th, 2006 at 12:38 pmThe “Straight Talk Express” jumps the tracks again. McCain proves that his presidential aspirations trump everthing. God help us if this waffler ever gets in office.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:39 pmMcCain is beneath contempt.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:40 pmHeaven forbid McCain calls it like it is regarding Falwell. Let’s keep in mind he’s going to need the lunatic fringe right in order to win the presidency. Maybe after he wins, or loses, he’ll go back to calling that segment of the electorate hate merchants.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:45 pmYou mean all that laughter in the UN assembly room when Chavez was speaking was because of his seriousness. McCain can go stick his head back up bush’s arse.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:46 pmplease… he should hence forth be known as “McCave”…
September 25th, 2006 at 12:46 pmas he will cave in to any whim of his neoCON bosses…
talk about “dispicable”…
“And he could talk back to these two-bit dictators who have the air fare to New York.”
Yeah, just what we need - an American representative at the UN to engage in name-calling contests rather than serious negotiations to resolve differences.
Interesting double standard McCain.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:47 pmWas McCain less of a panderer back in the 2000 elections? I actually *kinda* liked him (as opposed to Bush who I saw as a total dumbass). Don’t get me wrong, I was a huge Gore supporter, but if Gore was to lose, I thought McCain was the better of two evils. But now he just sounds like all the rest of the repubs. Is it because he wants to win so bad he’s abandoned (as everybody keeps poking fun) his Straight Talk Express personality and is trying to be more like W? Or has he always been this much of a wishy washy politician and I just didn’t know because blogs didn’t really exist back then to peel back the layers of BS surrounding politicians?
September 25th, 2006 at 12:48 pmOld Bushies is a Devil. To say that Falwell was joking is disgusing. MCCain is an idiot and God help us all if he every becomes President. He sold his soul to the Devil.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:49 pmIn brushing off Falwell’s comment, McCain is simply defending a leading figure in the Republican voting base. That comment of Falwell’s reflects the intended result of a decades-long Republican strategy to work closely with the religious right to portray the Democrats as the party of God-haters—an issue that the mainstream media won’t touch. Oh, and the fact that Hillary is not only a God-hating Commie but a woman to boot makes her that much more despicable to religious fanatics who like their women dumb and servile.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:50 pmMcCain is just another goosestepping member of the Bush war crime family. He will never become President.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:52 pmCheers.
McCain spouts the same neocon propaganda that voters are tired of. He looks like “The Pet Goat.”
September 25th, 2006 at 12:55 pmpoor depressed and clinically ill senator from the land of immigration reform. poor thing doesn’t know what to do with rudy wanting to come in from behind, and being confused as to whether he or hillary should be on top.
it must be awful to have so many choices and ways of truthing up a big lie to make yourself look less confusing than it is when you change your mind tune and become a torturer yourself.
that someone who was a prisoner of war could vote for torture shows that this is a very sociopathic personality. He was, and because he broke, he thinks torture is good
funny that most people don’t break, and don’t think torture is good, including our entire intelligence service?
when will someone cuff em?
September 25th, 2006 at 12:57 pmSen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez for calling President Bush “the devil†in a speech at the United Nations.
Well, I agree with “Double-standards” McCain. Bush is certainly not the devil. An ignoramous and arrogant, pompoused-assed dipshit, yes. But the devil? No. I mean, even the Republicans know he is a simpleton and fool.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but in addition to demononic and evil definitions, Webster’s dictionary also states a devil is also clever. There’s nothing clever about junior.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:02 pmSeems to me the real issue here is that the Republicans want to have a monopoly on “God-speak.” So it’s OKAY for them to compare their opponents to the Devil, or decide Katrina was God’s punishment for gays in New Orleans. But don’t anybody else do what they do, or they get all afronted and call foul. Pitiful really…
September 25th, 2006 at 1:03 pmMcCain has sold his soul to Falwell for his 2008 run. His behavior is consistent with that. Chavez is an easy target for McCain.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:05 pmHow the mighty have fallen.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:10 pmMcCain was right. Everything Falwell says is a joke.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:12 pm“Capon” McCain is a shape-shifting hypocrite of the most obvious kind. No one at elevated levels of governmental representation should reduce themselves to “name calling” but it occurs to me that Bush started this whole thing by calling them the “axis of evil”, didn’t he? Condi, likewise, has been gallavanting around the globe throwing around inane inferences and name calling so it’s the double standard all over again. And, hypocrite Falwell is a horse of a different color all together…haha!
MC CAIN IS THE QUINTESSENTIAL ‘DOUBLE TALKING/DOUBLE STANDARD” IF EVER THERE WAS ONE. HE’S LOST THE RESPECT OF THE PEOPLE AND WILL BE LUCKY TO BE REELECTED TO THE SENATE AGAIN. HE’D BETTER FORGET ANY THOUGHTS OF A PRESIDENCY IN HIS FUTURE.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:12 pmSo, McCain, Falwell was joking but Chavez was 100% serious? I’ll agree with President Clinton that it was “undignified” for a head of state to do what Chavez did, but a nation that claims to support free speech should not be telling him he can’t say it. Besides, do we know for certain that Bush didn’t have an egg salad sandwich for lunch and rip one at the podium? It might have smelled like suphur up there even the next day. :)
September 25th, 2006 at 1:14 pmRepublicans are uncomfortable because someone besides them has resorted to name-calling. They thought that they owned that right. Ha, ha!
September 25th, 2006 at 1:15 pmBarry Goldwater on Jerry Falwell
“The conservative movement is successful despite the “crackpots and nuts” on the religious right. I know them all. I’ve said Jerry Falwell should be kicked in the ass, and I meant it. He has a big one. You can’t miss it.” — Barry Goldwater.
John McCain ‘inhereted’ Barry Goldwater’s Senate seat in 1987.
MR. CONSERVATIVE: GOLDWATER ON GOLDWATER
http://www.hbo.com/docs/programs/mrconservative/
An excellent documentary.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:19 pmHugo Chavez calls Bush the devil and Jerry Falwell says Hillary will energize conservative voters more than Lucifer…So does that mean Hillary will energize conservative voters more than Bush?
September 25th, 2006 at 1:21 pmYesterday on CBS Face the Nation, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) criticized Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez for calling President Bush “the devil†in a speech at the United Nations. But he dismissed Jerry Falwell’s statement that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) would energize conservative voters more than Lucifer
September 25th, 2006 at 1:22 pmHugo Chavez called President Bush “the devil†in a speech at the United Nations and Jerry Falwell’s stated that Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) would energize conservative voters more than Lucifer.
Does this mean Hillary will energize conservative voters more than Bush?
September 25th, 2006 at 1:25 pmSorry for the multiple posts. Must be a delay when posting as the 1st 2 posts didn’t show up until I sent the 3rd time
September 25th, 2006 at 1:27 pmoh…just a joke?…..like you mc cain….your the joke.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:29 pmHugo Chavez calls Bush the devil
And I can tell you now that 93% of the world agree with Chavez
September 25th, 2006 at 1:33 pmWhy can America not see this ???????
Comment by Wayne A. Schneider — September 25, 2006 @ 1:14 pm
funny - and reminds me - someone did try to start a new meme about that - tried to say chavez was making a fart joke…
September 25th, 2006 at 1:35 pmi may be confused, but i remember something about that…
…
Tormented Whore.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:48 pmChavez wasn’t joking, he was telling the TRUTH…
…Falwell was being what he’s ALWAYS been…
…a lying, right wing scumbag political operative…
…posing as a man of God…
…there’s a HUGE difference…
…at least Chavez DOES something for the poor…
…can’t say the same for Tinky-Winky (racist bigoted Falwell) and his mass murdering war criminal god- GW Bush…
September 25th, 2006 at 1:49 pmIf a church can be investigating for a sermon where the minister says that Jesus would be against the Iraq war, can’t the group Falwell was addressing be investigated too? I mean a the church is in danger of losing it’s tax exempt status for a theological sermon the administration does not agree with, oops I mean for making a political statement that the IRS is investigating. Isn’t the main point these days of Focus on the Family and their many off shoots to ensure that as many republicans as possible get into and stay in office? Wasn’t falwells remark political in nature?
Anyhow I think the main reason these huge religious figures support republican candidates is money. I view the right wingers as inherently selfish. It ultimately comes down to how much cash do I have in my pocket for them. The Falwell’s Robertson’s and Dobson’s of the world are very wealthy men and each tax cut or tax increase affects them personally. They can shape their views to fit the theology of the republican party by using abortion or homosexuality as issues. By all means they have to avoid the actual teachings of Jesus. There is nothing in the republican party agenda that has anything to do with the actual Christ from the bible. Either way the organizations they front essentially are serving as a religeous political recruiting tool and should be dealt with by the IRS swiftly rather than by having the IRS go after a church that delivers a sermon on what Jesus thoughts on a subject may have been.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:52 pmWell, Chavez was being brutally critical of Bush, literally calling him the devil, in a forum that’s supposed to be above that.
Falwell was talking in a less formal setting, and honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d made the same joke — the right wing hates Hillary with a irrational fervor…he’s just making a point about just how much of a response they’d get to her running.
I [b]cannot believe[/b] that I’d ever see the day where I’d be defending Falwell, but good lord, what he said just wasn’t that offensive and isn’t worth getting your panties in a bunch for. Frankly I wouldn’t be surprised if a similar joke appeared on the Daily Show at some point, and if you thought about it a second, you’d probably agree.
Take a deep breath folks — hystrionics over everything just makes us look shrill and radical. Let’s save our protests for the important stuff.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:52 pmFalwell making a religious joke - who is McCain kidding?… oh, yeah, those guys, I forgot.
The respect I had for McCain in the past has been rapidly deteriorating because of his partisan, power-seeking comments and actions.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:53 pmOfcourse. It’s an election year.
It’s time to suck Jerry Fartwell’s d**k so he can tell his followers that JESUS wants them to vote Republican.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:54 pmIs there any semi-decen republican left in this country?
September 25th, 2006 at 2:17 pmThese “off-the-cuff” remarks in “less formal” settings are important for what they reveal. Anyone who thinks that Falwell’s comment was a “joke” is naive to the fact that this is the beginning of a very serious strategy.
September 25th, 2006 at 2:18 pmYou mean no illiteracy and health care for everybody?
I guess, McCain, what you meant was shopping in the Gap and driving big engines. You are right, Cuba lack those standards . It has something to do with a thing they call a 40 year old embargo, dummy.
September 25th, 2006 at 2:30 pmAnd for the record, even though Mrs. Clinton and I may have some disagreements, I don’t think she’s Lucifer.
Oh, that was a joke, Cicero! Whatever…
well isnt falwell bum buddies with johnny (looter) mccain lovely couple that they are
September 25th, 2006 at 2:37 pmIt a foregone conclusion that the senator’s jerry was joking.
September 25th, 2006 at 2:45 pmBut I know Hugo is on the up and up and he certainly wasn’t joking.
The devil is in the chimp.
After McCain’s flip-flop on torture there is no reason to pay any attention to any this this reprehensible old hack says. “Straight-talk”? What a joke! Corkscrew Express is more like it.
September 25th, 2006 at 2:48 pm[…] It is good to know that if you call someone Satan that it is different than calling someone else Satan. Nothing like consistency!! […]
September 25th, 2006 at 3:07 pmCapon McCain sounded like a befuddled idiot. Is he taking lessons now from Bush? It certainly looked that way. At one time he was semi-articulate; now he’s definitely a “dummed down” version of his former self. Maybe the torture is finally having it’s effect as he ages? He’s “over the hill” and this country needs young, energized, authentic representation - enough of these lying, deceitful bellybusters representing the people! Obama looks quite promising…..There’s absolutely NO Repug on the radar at this point who is worthy of representing us.
September 25th, 2006 at 3:40 pmMcCain’s sold his credibility down the river! He’s one over-the-hill, wishy-washy old bag. We certainly don’t any more of his ilk representing us!
September 25th, 2006 at 3:43 pmWhat Falwell said was true. Nothing and no one polarizes this country like Billary. Not even the devil.
What Chavez said was typical. The mistake we made was letting him step foot in our country.
McCain has about as much chance of being president as I do.
September 25th, 2006 at 3:44 pmBwahahhaaa,,,What a bunch of misinformed fundamentalists.
September 25th, 2006 at 3:56 pmLucifer, a fallen Babylonian king, who during his lifetime had persecuted the children of Israel, is coming to get you!!…
September 25th, 2006 at 4:04 pmBOO!!
Chavez called Bush ‘the morning star’ and the ignorant media hacks makes a big deal out of nothing..a ‘word’.
Sure, and I’m joking when I say the McCain, Bush and all the GOP leaders should be stripped to the waist and flogged for their traitorous acts. Joking. … Of course. Just joking when I say that Bush should come to my neck of the woods because there are a lot of deer hunters in the brush with big guns just made to blow away his ugly face. Just joking. Just joking when I say that Falwell would be better off dead than alive. Just joking. And when the devil comes to collect his due from GW, may he have a good laugh.
September 25th, 2006 at 4:06 pmThere doesn’t seem to be a Republican with integrity in the House or Senate. McCain has lost all credibility after his cozying up with Bush after Bush smashed him, his wife and family; and he made it even worse when he buddied up with Falwell last month. Now he even defends the indefensible. Apparently he also thinks its fair game to equate the Clintons with Satan, but not fair to utter unflattering remarks about Bush.
September 25th, 2006 at 6:10 pmBush critics are wrong, but Falwell and the lunatic Robertson are all to be excused.
Gimme a break!
You’ve got to be kidding me, I’m a right wing extremist because I don’t think we should be taking seriously a joke made by Falwell that could just as easily have been made by Jon Stewart?
It wasn’t offensive, he wasn’t seriously equating the two. Take a deep breath and quit being such a knee-jerk reactionary.
And for the record I’m a pretty distant throw from being a Republican. “Big Tent” Democrats indeed…
September 25th, 2006 at 9:44 pmAnd he’s wearing that dreaded shade of purple that Rumsfeld and the boys wear on occasion. But, what is the occasion?
September 25th, 2006 at 10:05 pmJerry Falwell’s first sexual experience was with his mother in the backyard outhouse. Next he got it on with his older sister then went down on his Down’s Syndrome baby brother.
JUST KIDDING!
Is it possible this jackoff can go one day without being a total and complete DOUCHEBAG!!!
September 25th, 2006 at 11:07 pmI agree that Falwell is a hateful man, but that doesn’t mean that everything that he does or says is hateful. And if we act like everything he says is hateful it blunts our protests when he DOES say something truly hateful.
If you really can’t see the difference between the two statements, well, I don’t know what to say. Falwell has said plenty of terrible stuff, but as I said, this is a joke that could just have easily been said by Jon Stewart. Chavez’s comments would never have been said by Jon Stewart.
Do you at least acknowledge that?
September 26th, 2006 at 12:44 amMcCain is despicable, and he is mentally deranged, so he must resign from the Senate and seek therapy for his problems!
September 26th, 2006 at 1:54 amFeatured on BuzzTracker…
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March 30th, 2008 at 10:46 amJosepha
It is unfortunate to see how many blog comments and forum posts that instead of focusing on what someone said the discussion turns into an off topic conversation about nothing.
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