In New Orleans today, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) partially blamed the poor federal response to Hurricane Katrina on “the Congress of the United States” for funding “pork barrel projects” that were “not as important as some of the projects that were needed” in New Orleans. McCain then claimed that he had “never voted for a single earmark or pork barrel project.” But, as NBC’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy points out, that isn’t true:

While it is true that McCain has never sponsored an earmark — by the strict definition of the word — he has certainly voted for bills with earmarks, including some of the specific projects he criticizes most vocally on the campaign trail.

As ThinkProgress noted earlier today, McCain has a record of making sweeping claims about earmarks that aren’t backed up by reality.

This Sunday, CBS’s 60 Minutes will air an interview with Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who discards his usual disdain for the press to hawks his new book, “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges.” When reporter Leslie Stahl asks about the infamous Bush v. Gore decision, Scalia lashes out, “Get over it. It’s so old by now.” Watch it:

Scalia has said in the past, “I and my court owe no apology whatever for Bush versus Gore. We did the right thing. So there.”

Appearing on Fox News’s Hannity and Colmes last night, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich defended Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) ties to radical pastor John Hagee, who has repeatedly said that Hurricane Katrina was “the curse of God” for a gay-pride parade planned for New Orleans later that week. Hagee has also called the Catholic Church “the Great Whore” and a “false cult system.”

Host Alan Colmes pressed Gingrich on whether McCain — who said just last Sunday that he was “glad to have” Hagee’s endorsement — should repudiate the pastor for his homophobic suggestion about Katrina. Gingrich completely ignored Hagee’s anti-gay remarks to say that McCain has sufficiently rejected Hagee’s anti-Catholic remarks:

COLMES: John Hagee just told Dennis Prager on his radio show that New Orleans was cursed because they were about to hold a gay pride parade. He has already bad-mouthed the Catholic Church. He has called it the great whore, anti-Christ and things like that. Should we make sure that John McCain repudiates that to a greater extent?

GINGRICH: Let me point out, when this came up, questions were raised for Senator McCain. He was very clear. He repudiates any anti-Catholicism. He repudiates any kind of vicious comments. And McCain was quite clear about it. … So I think, Alan, you are grabbing at straws here. … I think McCain should be clear that he disagrees with statements of anti-Catholicism.

Watch it:

Gingrich tried to say that McCain was taking “the Ronald Reagan position” that “people get to endorse me. I’m not endorsing them.” Yet, as Colmes pointed out, McCain actively sought Hagee’s endorsement. Moreover, McCain has been anything but “very clear” on his views of Hagee, first distancing himself, then defending Hagee, then flip-flopping within a matter of seconds.

In the past, Gingrich has been similarly cavalier about homophobia. In an interview with right-winger John Lofton, Gingrich said “you have to” believe “homosexuality is a sin,” adding, “I think that if you believe the Bible then it’s fairly clear.” Though he said he didn’t “want to be judgmental about others,” Gingrich stated he opposes the right of gay people to marry or adopt children — an extreme position, considering that only one state, Florida, bans all forms of gay adoption.

(HT: Newshounds)

Ralph Reed, formerly Christian Coalition executive director and friend of Jack Abramoff, has his first novel coming out. Publisher’s Weekly publishes a review of “Dark Horse,” a book that promises to demean both women and liberals:

For Reed, former head of the Christian Coalition, politics is a man’s world to its very core—especially when it comes to the race for president, which is at the center of this first novel. Women characters are either wives with drinking problems, tarts who use sex to get ahead professionally (but not that far) or VP candidates chosen purely for show, who are belittled behind the scenes for lack of experience and “lightweight” intelligence. Democrats are drunks who play dirty and bloody each other’s noses. Cue the white knight—Gov. Bob Long, newly come to Christ, a true independent candidate—to save the day, rock both parties’ worlds and remind the country about good values and the meaning of patriotism. Long is God’s candidate, and with Christian leaders taking his side, he just might trump Republicans and Democrats alike. Reed’s prose is average for a potboiling political thriller, and the crisis-laden plot keeps the pages turning, but the novel’s specifically Christian agenda will satisfy some readers and alienate others.

(HT: Political Insider)

Yesterday, ThinkProgress highlighted a recent interview by Pastor John Hagee, in which he declared that New Orleans was struck by Hurricane Katrina because it was “planning a sinful” “homosexual rally.” We wondered, “will reporters ask whether [McCain] agrees with Hagee’s belief that the devastated city was cursed because of a gay pride parade?” Today, they did. Both NBC Nightly News and CNN aired segments on McCain’s attempts to distance himself from Hagee. But as NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reported, “McCain did not reject the Hagee endorsement, but denounced the pastor’s words.” Watch a compilation:

A new USA Today/Gallup poll found that 63 percent of Americans say “the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq, a new high mark by one percentage point.” Gallup notes that “majority opposition to the Iraq war is basically cemented.”

Gallup adds, “The new high in Iraq war opposition is also notable because it is the highest ‘mistake’ percentage Gallup has ever measured for an active war involving the United States — surpassing by two points the 61% who said the Vietnam War was a mistake in May 1971.” (HT: Dan Froomkin)

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is currently on his “Forgotten America” tour, talking about the need to address the places “ignored for long years by the sins of indifference and injustice.” The Washington Post writes, “In effect, McCain is launching Version 2.0 of Bush’s ‘compassionate conservative’ campaign.”

Today, McCain is speaking in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. But tonight, he will travel to upstate Louisiana to Baton Rouge and return to the wealthiest Americans as the “guest speaker” at the 25th annual Business Awards and Hall Of Fame banquet. BusinessReport.com reports:

Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential front-runner, is the guest speaker for the 25th annual Business Awards and Hall of Fame Banquet presented by Business Report and Junior Achievement. The event, sponsored by Capital One and Franklin Press, is scheduled for Thursday, April 24 at the Holiday Inn Select on Constitution Avenue.

While proceeds benefit the Junior Achievement Endowment Fund, it’s likely that only the wealthiest can attend, as “tickets are $75 per person, $550 for a table of eight and $700 for a table of 10.”

It’s fitting that McCain would end a tour of the poorest parts of the country by talking to wealthy Americans. After all, he is offering a $1.7 trillion dollar tax cut for corporations, despite U.S. corporate taxes being the fourth-lowest in the industrialized world as a share of the economy.

Throughout this week, he has touted tax relief for the poor. But adults working full time earning minimum wage and living in poverty would not even receive a tax cut from McCain, as a Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis reveals:

As McCain polishes his “image” this week, he is unlikely to mention how his proposed spending cuts will also neuter key anti-poverty programs.

Robert Gordon of the Center for American Progress observes today, “It’s admirable that John McCain is visiting ‘forgotten places,’ but his economic plan forgot about the people who live there.”