posted by John Nichols on 05/22/2008 @ 4:46pm
The news that the Rev. John Hagee, one of John McCain's most prominent backers, once suggested that Hitler and the Holocaust were God's will has finally caused the candidate and his controversial backer to part company.
The Huffington Post report that Hagee had suggested that the Nazis implemented God's will as part of a grand scheme to drive Jews from Europe to Palestine -- "Because," in Hagee's words, "God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel" -- blew up on McCain Thursday.
And McCain blew up his relationship with Hagee.
Changing his tune after months of saying that "very honored" to have the powerful televangelist's backing, the candidate is now refusing that support.
After refusing to reject the pastor's endorsement even after Hagee's anti-Catholic, anti-Muslim and anti-gay sentiments had been revealed, the Arizona senator released an email statement that read, "Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well."
The candidate's rejection of his evangelical supporter's endorsement came after the Interfaith Alliance, a religious group claiming nearly 200,000 members, released a statement suggesting that, "Senator McCain needs to tell the American people that he refutes these absurd and offensive comments that breed hate and send the wrong signal about America to the international community. There is no place in public discourse for religious or political leaders to espouse this narrow-minded thinking and hatred."
Around the same time that McCain rejected Hagee's endorsement, Hagee withdrew it.
"Ever since I endorsed John McCain for president, people seeking to attack Senator McCain have combed my records for statements they can use for political gain. They have had no qualms about grossly misrepresenting my position on issues most near and dear to my heart if it serves their political ambitions," said Hagee in a statement released Thursday afternoon. "I am tired of these baseless attacks and fear that they have become a distraction in what should be a national debate about important issues. I have therefore decided to withdraw my endorsement of Senator McCain for President effective today, and to remove myself from any active role in the 2008 campaign.
The pastor concluded, "I hope that the Senator McCain will accept this withdrawal so that he may focus on the issues that are most important to America and the world."
That won't be a problem.
McCain needs to put distance between himself and Hagee.
But how distant are they?
Hagee did not suggest that the candidate had said or done anything to offend him. The preacher objected to being a "distraction," not to John McCain.
Presumably, despite the withdrawal of his formal endorsement, Hagee still supports McCain as the candidate most in line with his religious and political views.
This, ultimately, is what should trouble Americans most about the McCain-Hagee connection.
The relationship between the pastor and his candidate may have changed, at least formally. But the inclinations that brought them together in an unsettling linkage of politics and religion have not changed.
Comments
Important questions still to be asked are:
Why did McCain actively seek his, and Parsley's endorsements?
Why did he wait so long to reject Hagee's?
Why has he not rejected Parsley's?
Why do these people have "any active role in the 2008 campaign"? Are there apocalyptic views representative of his own, vis a vis, Mideast policy?
Posted by jmusolino at 05/22/2008
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/322911/print
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