Memo to McCain: You Can’t Put The Toothpaste Back In The Tube On Hagee
Memo to McCain: You Can’t Put The Toothpaste Back In The Tube On Hagee
Our guest blogger is Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United and co-author of A Nation for All: How the Catholic Vision of the Common Good Can Save America from the Politics of Division.
After learning of Rev. John Hagee’s sermon proposing that the Holocaust was the fault of Jews themselves, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) finally rejected the Texas megachurch preacher’s endorsement last week.
For once in this sordid affair, McCain has done the right thing. But his move comes only after nearly three months of failed attempts to explain his decision to seek the ill-advised endorsement in the first place. The senator should have bailed out in February, after Hagee’s anti-Catholic views first drew national attention. Instead, he stubbornly refused to reject the pastor’s support, saying only: “In no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I in turn agree with all of Pastor Hagee’s views.”
John McCain earned the country’s respect in his 2000 “Straight-talk” presidential campaign. Offering a new brand of politics, he memorably denounced “agents of intolerance” and said that the politics of division and slander were not his values. But eight years later, things have changed. McCain seems to have decided that in order to win the Republican nomination, he has to embrace what he once denounced.
Hagee’s comments linking Hitler and the Catholic Church are patently offensive. His support for a war with Iran and his comparison of those who support a two-state solution in Israel to Nazis make a mockery of Christian calls for a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. And then there’s the mind-boggling suggestion that God sent Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its residents’ supposed moral indiscretions.
Why did it take all this plus anti-Semitism to force McCain to renounce the endorsement? Hagee’s outrageous views about the Catholic Church alone should have been enough.
McCain is not the only Republican who has to answer for supporting Hagee. When is Bill Donohue, the self-appointed voice of American Catholics, going to renounce Hagee? While initially calling Hagee’s anti-Catholic comments what they were – vile hate speech – Donohue’s partisan colors soon showed as he immediately accepted Hagee’s recent apology to Catholics, saying “Pastor, you are my friend from this point forward and nothing’s going to change that.” Will Donohue now condemn his “friend’s” latest revelation of religious bigotry? (Note: let’s not forget that the notion that Donohue has any moral authority to accept an apology on behalf of the Church is in itself patently offensive to many Catholics.)
McCain’s decision to reject the Hagee endorsement – as well as, in an interesting display of Memorial Day weekend housecleaning, the endorsement of the anti-Islam pastor Rod Parsley — no doubt signals his hope to put the fiasco behind him. Unfortunately for the senator, a lot of damage has already been done. In addition to casting doubts on the competence of McCain’s campaign advisers, the Hagee affair has called into question the very foundation of his candidacy: straight talk, conviction, and an end to political division.
Add to this mix a wacky loose-tongued televangelist who seems to have a beef with just about everyone and you have a recipe for a story that just won’t go away. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube, Senator McCain. Like it or not, Pastor Hagee is going to be with us for a long time.
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Never mix church and state. Lesson learned long ago, recently forgotten.
Never mix oil and state, either. Lesson NEVER learned.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:20 pmIs McRibs for Hagee or against Hagee today? I can’t keep track.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:21 pmBut, by your own words in the story, Hagee supports bombing Iran and driving all them Ae-rhabs out of Israel. Isn’t that enough to show why McCain wants his endorsement ?
May 27th, 2008 at 8:35 pmSCOTT MCCLELLAND JUST ROLLED OVER ON BUSH, CHENEY ET AL !
THERE’S ONLY ONE MORE TRIP BUSH IS TAKING COURTESY OF THE TAXPAYER.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:38 pmFlip-flop have-it-both ways McBushit can repudiate haggy Hagee and yet satisfy the rabid masses by picking the 2-faced low-life self-hating jackass, Joe Lieberman as is VP. See:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/joseph-lieberman-to-headl_b_103624.html
Joseph Lieberman To Headline Upcoming Pastor Hagee Summit
May 27th, 2008 at 8:38 pmWhy did it take all this plus anti-Semitism to force McCain to renounce the endorsement?
Let me take a shot at this. McCain is a pig, morally corrupt, a liar and a thug. People of this character wait until the last minute to take out the trash.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:42 pmSCOTT MCCLELLAND JUST ROLLED OVER ON BUSH, CHENEY ET AL !
OMG, Sweaty little sweetmeat Scotty? Say it isn’t so!
May 27th, 2008 at 8:46 pmPray tell us more!
By the time November rolls around, Georgie will be attempting to evacuate by helicopter from the White House lawn, and we’ll need a bunker buster to pry Cheney out of his hidey hole!
Yay, Joe Lieberman! Keep kissing that Hagee ass. :-D
May 27th, 2008 at 8:48 pmSweaty Scotty made a very self-serving rollover — although I am happy he rolled. ;)
May 27th, 2008 at 8:51 pmNot yet Scotty! Don’t piss off the chimp before we kick his worthless butt to the curb or lock him up. Unless you want to share with Congress first. Otherwise he just might nuke someone in a hissy-fit.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:27 pmThe picture shows some family resembleance.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:30 pmScotty squeals…
May 27th, 2008 at 9:42 pmhttp://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10649.html
From Crooks and Liars:
McClellan asserts that the aides — Karl Rove, the president’s senior adviser, and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the vice president’s chief of staff — “had at best misled” him about their role in the disclosure of former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity.
The longtime Bush loyalist also suggests that two top aides held a secret West Wing meeting to get their story straight about the CIA leak case at a time when federal prosecutors were after them — and McClellan was continuing to defend them despite mounting evidence they had not given him all the facts.
May 27th, 2008 at 10:33 pmYou can’t put toothpaste back in the tube and the same goes for creamed corn. No hope for gramps. rave on old fool your time of honoring yourself is nearly at an end.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:01 pmDidn’t Hagee also say that 80% of American Muslims could not be trusted? Or was that the other one?
May 27th, 2008 at 11:18 pmhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/joseph-lieberman-to-headl_b_103624.html
May 28th, 2008 at 12:06 amOops, GeorgeM had it first, my bad.
May 28th, 2008 at 12:08 amMy friendzsh, elect me and I will introduce a bill to fund research for putting toothpaste back in tubes. It’s essential for our national security.
May 28th, 2008 at 2:00 amI realize that Obama’s people want to try to paint McCain with the same brush Obama was with Reverend Wright, but the circumstances are vastly different here…did McCain sit in Hagee’s pew for 20 years? Do many of the views on race relations Wright espouses appear in the attitudes of Michelle Obama, who shares the reverend’s distinctly separatist views? Does Obama REALLY divorce himself from views his own wife seems comfortable with that Wright expressed? Somehow I seriously doubt it.
May 28th, 2008 at 4:06 amthe fact that someone writing obama’s campaign talking points wants to draw a tabloid equivalence for idiots doesn’t mean the rest of us should do it too.
May 28th, 2008 at 4:22 amKeith H. Says:
The picture shows some family resembleance.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:30 pm Recommend (0) | Report Abuse
All the fat slugs look alike.
May 28th, 2008 at 6:34 amI dont know but he did claim 200 million Muslims are extremists all of them ready to destroy Israel and the US.
What is most troubling IMO is not Hagees crazy talk about Armageddon and the God-sent Hitler. Of course McCain doesnt believe any of that nonsense. What is most troubling is McCains stated reason for accepting the endorsement (obviously a purely political decision): Hagees support for Israel.
Well lots of influential Americans strongly and unconditionally support Israel including Obama and most top Democrats so what was it about Hagees Israel-views that attracted McCain?
Was it Hagees view on the peace-process and the two-state solution that Israel should never give up land or make peace with Palestinians?
Was it Hagees ridiculous comparison of the appeasement of Hitler with the peace-process in Israel-Palestine?
Was it Hagees views on the settlement-issue like his implying Hurricane Katrina was somehow Gods punishment for the 2005 evacuation of a few thousand Israeli settlers from Gaza?
Was it Hagees view on Jerusalem that turning parts of Jerusalem over to the Palestinians (whats happening in East Jerusalem is the exact opposite, Palestinians still being a majority) is like turning it over to the Talibans?
Was it Hagees labeling UN an enemy of Israel with his “Israel lives! Let it be heard by terrorists, Middle East dictators, Iran, bin-Ladin and the UN!” ?
Was it Hagees view the US and Israel are on the same side of the war against “the culture of death” (Islamic extremism which Hagee thinks 200 million people adhere to).
And why did Hagee choose to endorse McCain?
May 28th, 2008 at 8:08 amHagee’s comments linking Hitler and the Catholic Church are patently offensive
Take a look at history (not the Catholic version). Hitler did have ties to the Church, and to this day, the Catholic Church has neither excommunicated him nor renounced his heinous actions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichskonkordat
Most historians consider the Reichskonkordat an important step toward the international acceptance of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.
Catholicism is not the answer to our problems – reason is.
May 28th, 2008 at 8:41 amUnfortunately for McBush, fortunately for us, this rejection of Hagee may affect his connection with the Evangelical base that the Republicans lust after so.
Sorry, John boy, you can’t have it both ways.
May 28th, 2008 at 8:56 am>Is McRibs for Hagee or against Hagee today?
Hey just because you seek someones endorsement doesnt mean you actually WANT it, or believe in anything they say or do.
any word on how the right wing internet tube is dealing with mccains pastor disavowals.?.?
May 28th, 2008 at 9:09 amWhy did it take all this plus anti-Semitism to force McCain to renounce the endorsement?
Oh, gee…I dunno? Could it be cuz Bombin’ Johnnie’s a murderous, opportunistic, unprincipled, lying shitwhistle?
Ya think?
May 28th, 2008 at 9:16 amThe whole McCain/Hagee connection has, from the beginning, been far more troubling than the Obama/Wright issue. Wright’s remarks may have been excessively inflammatory but Hagee is a flatout bigotted nutjob. But not only has Wright received far more press than Hagee, Obama’s bowling scores have received more press than Hagee.
Progressive World Review
May 28th, 2008 at 10:55 am