McCain Stays Silent On Hagee’s Homophobic Slurs
McCain Stays Silent On Hagee’s Homophobic Slurs
Earlier this week, right wing pastor John Hagee, a supporter of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), re-embraced his oft-repeated belief that Hurricane Katrina represented “the curse of God” for the sins of New Orleans. Though the media have put McCain on the spot over Hagee’s characterization of the Catholic Church as “the Great Whore,” they have been reticent to press McCain on Hagee’s homophobic comments.
To his credit, Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly asked McCain last night about the “bad things” Hagee has said “about Catholics and gays and other things like that.” McCain only repudiated the statements about the Catholic church, however, tacitly refusing to denounce Hagee’s despicable homophobic slurs:
O’REILLY: OK. John Hagee is a guy…
MCCAIN: Yes.
O’REILLY: …that you sought his endorsement in San Antonio, Texas. He said bad things about Catholics and gays and other things like that. And your opponents are saying, hey, you know, McCain hangs around with Hagee. Obama hangs around Wright. No difference.
MCCAIN: I do not embrace a view that he stated about the Catholic church. I steadfastly reject it and repudiate it. I’ve never been in Pastor Hagee’s church. I know him, but the fact is that I accept his endorsement.
Watch it:
Throughout the controversy, right wingers have completely ignored Hagee’s anti-gay comments. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich said McCain “should make clear that he disagrees with statements of anti-Catholicism.” He was silent, however, about Hagee’s homophobia. In the past, McCain has repeatedly rejected Hagee’s Catholic comments, but has refused to distance himself from Hagee’s anti-gay comments (even rejecting a question from a reporter on the subject as “nonsense.”)
O’Reilly suggested that McCain had little interaction with Hagee other than “having breakfast” with him once. In fact, as Newsweek pointed out, “McCain personally wooed Hagee for more than a year.” Indeed, Hagee’s endorsement was an integral part of McCain’s attempts to woo religious conservatives.
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McCain’s religious affiliations will get about as much scrutiny by the MSM as his wife’s tax returns.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:38 am“I’m not sure how I feel about exhorting believers to follow a God so willing to callously end the lives of more than 4,000 Gulf Coast residents, most of whom, I think it’s safe to say, were not planning on attending the Gay Pride parade in New Orleans.” Keith Olbermann-I think Keith sums it up best.
“The pulpit bullies” are hatemongers. People judge you by the company you keep and the endorsements you accept.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:39 amFalafel boy stated that Hagee said “bad things about Catholics and guys and other things…”
May 9th, 2008 at 11:39 amMcSame responded that he doesn’t hold the views of his criticism of Catholics, only.
One can thus conclude that he does accept Hagee’s views of gays and other things.
gays, not guys (in post #3)
May 9th, 2008 at 11:40 amI do not embrace a view that he stated about the Catholic church. I steadfastly reject it and repudiate it. I’ve never been in Pastor Hagee’s church. I know him, but the fact is that I accept his endorsement.
McCain actively sought and accepted Hagee’s endorsement, going so far as embracing this vile and disgusting bigot on stage. All the while the media has been mostly silent prefering to yammer on endlessly about Obama and Wright. While certainly some of Wright’s remarks have been out there, what really has invoked America’s ire (to the extent that anybody cares), has been his “god damn America” remark. That remark is what really pissed off the American herd, never mind that blacks were brought here in chains and that legacy remains even into today.
Wright for all of his incendiary and sometimes ridiculous comments is still just an understandably angry black man while Hagee is nothing more than a disgusting bigot. But which one is getting all the press?
http://progressiveworldreview.com
May 9th, 2008 at 11:44 amIf the “I reject his anti-Catholic statements but accept his endorsement” two step doesn’t become this year’s “I voted for it before I voted against it” credibility issue I will lose what little faith I arguably still have in the corporate media.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:48 amWay to defend your religion papabear.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:58 amI love the way BO asks his questions in a “Condi Rice shrugging while dismissing the 8/6/01 PDB” kind of attitude.
That way he can say he asks the hard questions, even if he asks them while delivering a thorough ball-washing.
May 9th, 2008 at 11:59 amFlag the “handout” troll.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:01 pmMea culpa…I just broke my rule of not engaging the trolls.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:03 pmJeez. Those Burmese must have been planning one hell of a gay pride parade. As far as our media goes, what’s new? Hatred of gay people, as long as it’s cloaked in religion, remains perfectly acceptable in the eyes of the MSM - hardly different from waving the stars and stripes.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:03 pmOh please! Do you really think Obama accepts an endorsement from Hamas?
May 9th, 2008 at 12:03 pmGrampy McSame says - My friends, back in the day we had cathlics in our ice boxes, in six packs, not those fancy cans, mind you, in bright shinny bottles, with cork stopper lids, my cat would love to play with them, but downtown they ran out of cats, so they had to import them from Europe, they worked for less money than us and that mad us mad…I hope that’s an apple pie I just sat in.
Thanks for the input gramps, nap time.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:04 pmZooey Says:
That way he can say he asks the hard questions, even if he asks them while delivering a thorough ball-washing.
With a loofa or a falafel? :)~
May 9th, 2008 at 12:04 pmOf course not. He needs the homophobe vote of the tighty-righty base.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:06 pmOne thing that is for sure is even a Hagee endorsement isn’t going to scare away the GOP faithful which IS the Christian Right. Circular logic.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:08 pm“McCain Stays Silent On Hagee’s Homophobic Slurs”
Probably because Gramps whole-heartedly agrees with Hagee…
May 9th, 2008 at 12:11 pmOK. John Hagee is a guy…
And thus does O’Reilly exhaust his intellectual capacities for the day.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:14 pmhandout Says:
I’ve never been in Pastor Hagee’s church
Obama went to rev Jeremiah Wright’s church for 20 years!!!!
Hamas Endorses Obama.So does that mean Obama believes everything they believe??
May 9th, 2008 at 11:57 am
This is no longer your country, troll. You no longer chart the path, as progressivism is rightly taking over. President Obama, once he’s sworn in, will make that official.
Take your shitty trivialities elsewhere, white trash.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:14 pmExit Stage Left Says:
Zooey Says:
That way he can say he asks the hard questions, even if he asks them while delivering a thorough ball-washing.
With a loofa or a falafel? :)~
May 9th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I was really trying to force myself not to think about it in any detail. Ew…
May 9th, 2008 at 12:18 pmDamn! Did I miss the handout handjob?
May 9th, 2008 at 12:18 pmMcCain’s response makes perfect sense. He needs Catholics to vote for him but he knows the gays won’t. So why bother repudiating remarks about gays, no matter how insane they may be?
May 9th, 2008 at 12:21 pmPaul W - Hagee’s worse than just a bigot. He fervently believes the Rapture is immanent in the Middle East and apparently that it will take John-Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran-McCain to further it along. Naturally, our horse’s @ss of a media obsesses over the fundamentally powerless Rev. Wright while ignoring McCain’s association with a dangerous whackjob who can’t wait for World War 111. The fact that there are black preachers and congregants who don’t worship at the altar of blind, see no evil patriotism is just a tad less scary than the fact that millions of whites agree with Hagee and that McCain feels the need to make them his allies.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:21 pmgreat video @ http://www.myfoxdetroit.com
Teen Questions McCain at Townhall Meeting.
Yesterday at Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan. a 14 year old girl with a message on her t-shirt standing behind McCain on the podium. When others see her shirt, the woman next to Halley tries to block her out of sight with her own body and then a sign. McCain then calls on the teen for a question. The McCain supporter then sits down looking dejected. Hilarious.
A MUST SEE.
Go to http://www.myfoxdetroit.com and enter search site for John McCain Oakland University.
Kudos to 14 year old Halley.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:25 pm#1 of 20 questions John McCain will never be asked:
1. Do you agree with Pastor John Hagee that war with Iran is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy?
May 9th, 2008 at 12:36 pmIn February, you shared a stage with Pastor John Hagee and said you were “very proud” to have his endorsement. You also called the Reverend Rod Parsley, a man who said of Islam “America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed”, your “spiritual guide.” Do you believe America’s mission is to destroy Islam? Do you join Pastor Hagee in believing the United States must attack Iran to fulfill the biblical prophecy of Armageddon in Israel in which 144,000 Jews will be converted to Christianity and the rest killed? Is that why you joked about “bomb bomb Iran?” If not, why will you not renounce the support of Hagee and Parsley?
Why would McCain have to explain what “Some crazy pastor” said? It’s not like McCain sought his endorsement or anything. Oh, he did ask for and receive Paster Hagee’s endorsement. Well, he didn’t mean to ask for his endorsement, or he didn’t mean to accept it. I mean the media is blowing this thing out of proportion. Seriously: The media is in bed with McCain on this guy and the Rev. Pasley. Apparently there is a double standard in the media. It goes: Attack Obama over his pastor’s stupid statements, but protect John McCain at all cost. I don’t personally think the media should have blown Rev Wright comments up, after all Obama didn’t say any of it. If Catholic politicians were held accountable for the Priest Sex abuse and cover up by Bishops, there wouldn’t be any Catholic politians left. Why the triple standard?
May 9th, 2008 at 12:36 pmhandout Says
May 9th, 2008 at 11:57 am
Hamas Endorses Obama.So does that mean Obama believes everything they believe??
____________________________________________
I realize this troll has already been banned, but his point is one that is frequently brought up by the wingnuts (which pretty much shows how pathetic their arguments have become).
The fundamental difference between Hamas’ “endorsement” of Obama and Hagee’s endorsement of McCain is that McCain actively sought Hagee’s endorsement and enthusiastically accepts it. The same can’t be said for Obama and Hamas.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:38 pmIt’s obvious that McCain is courting the bigot vote.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:40 pmMcCain is starting to remind me of Charles Durning’s character in “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” — remember this?
Ooh I love to dance a little sidestep, now they see me now they don’t-
I’ve come and gone and, ooh I love to sweep around the wide step,
cut a little swathe and lead the people on.
McCain will do whatever tapdancing is necessary to avoid committing himself to either supporting or repudiating Hagee’s comments about gays. Even when he is asked about it, he always answers by repudiating Hagee’s anti-Catholic comments only.
It’s just called “Doin’ the McCain”.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:44 pmJohn McCain will be trounced in the November elections. He may be smiling and strutting now, but once Obama has the dem side locked up - it will be brutal for McCain. His lies, his lobbyist connections, his tight assed wife, his association with religious bigots, his flip flops, etc…Obamas campaign will take each issue and wrap it around McCain’s neck. McCain would do well to just drop out now. Save us (and his family) all the trouble.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:49 pmStratRat Says:
John McCain will be trounced in the November elections. He may be smiling and strutting now, but once Obama has the dem side locked up - it will be brutal for McCain.
I was pleased and surprised to see a significant article in the morning paper about McCain and the land swap that made a ton of money for one of his supporters–and didn’t bury the article in the back pages.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:54 pmObama is now giving a speech in Oregon. He once again included gay people in his list of Americans who seek the same things for themselves and the country. You won’t hear McCain or Clinton include that group. OBAMA 08!
May 9th, 2008 at 12:55 pmIsn’t it odd that McCain could put the entire thing to rest by saying the truth ?
Look, I’m a politician and am running so that I can get elected. I like getting votes as does any other politician.
This naturally leads to your asking me about my opinion on the Catholic Church, civil unions of homosexuals…
My opinion is, straight talk:
May 9th, 2008 at 1:12 pma)…………
b)………….
c)……….
Blueflash,
He fervently believes the Rapture is immanent in the Middle East and apparently that it will take John-Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran-McCain to further it along.
Excellent point. This is also one of the reasons America blindly supports Israel despite the fact that most Israelis support a two-state solution.
Naturally, our horse’s @ss of a media obsesses over the fundamentally powerless Rev. Wright…
Reminicent of the right’s obsession with the equally powerless college professors, teachers or whomever the scapegoat de jour happens to be. All while our worse than useless media laps it up unquestioningly.
http://progressiveworldreview.com
May 9th, 2008 at 2:48 pmMy 2-cents (but what do I know?)
-OK, guy 1 (McCain) accepts the support of somebody (guy 2) that he doesn’t agree with.
- The people of guy 2 think like him, hopefully.
- So, guy 1 wants to receive the votes of people that DON’T think like him (guy 1 himself stated that much!) only to get elected!
My question: Isn’t democracy a system based on representation? I mean, guy 1 gets elected with votes of people that he doesn’t have any commitment with, right? So, once he is elected there is no accountability! He only responds to himself. See the danger?
How did we let it get so out-of-control?
May 10th, 2008 at 7:08 pmI want to believe that Obama can pull it off , but honestly I just dont see it happening.
America just will not vote for a Black man whose middle name is Hussein.
At this point Insane in Brain McCain could bite a babys head off on live TV and drink its blood and still be declared the winner come Nov.
Were fuct.
May 11th, 2008 at 2:35 amThroughout the controversy, right wingers have completely ignored Hagee’s anti-gay comments.
Okay. And will the TP search function turn up the phrases “god damn America” and “HIV was invented by the government for genocide against blacks” ?
May 11th, 2008 at 5:58 amOh wait, you’ve never mentioned that.
There is of course a difference between ignoring one facet of a controversy and ignoring it all together.