So the media’s having a hey-day over “finally” supposedly breaking Obama’s image as the untainted, free-from-scandal politician by fixating on the words of his former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. It is true that this man’s sermons were filled with controversial and inflammatory statements regarding US foreign policy. While this is all well and good, the fact of the matter is that the same kind of endorsement is being given to John McCain from similar crazies like Rev. Wright.
Reverend Rod Parsley, of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, campaigned with John McCain during the run up to the Ohio primaries. In his 2005 book Silent No More, the leader of this 12,000-member megachurch makes no secret about his incendiary views of Islam:
I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.
As if labeling one of the world’s largest religions as “false” isn’t enough to piss off billions of people, he goes on to rewrite our nation’s history and its founding in terms of this so-called battle against Islam:
It was to defeat Islam, among other dreams, that Christopher Columbus sailed to the New World in 1492…Columbus dreamed of defeating the armies of Islam with the armies of Europe made mighty by the wealth of the New World. It was this dream that, in part, began America.
A dream to destroy Islam is what started America? Does that mean that Muslims currently living in America don’t belong in this country? I don’t understand why the media is salivating over Jeremiah Wright’s comments when this xenophobic McCain supporter whose endorsement McCain hasn’t renounced is out spewing vicious attacks and blind hatred against an entire religion. And it’s not just Islamic extremists that this lunatic is singling out. He makes clear that all followers of Allah, a so-called “demon spirit,” are the enemy:
There are some, of course, who will say that the violence I cite is the exception and not the rule. I beg to differ. I will counter, respectfully, that what some call “extremists” are instead mainstream believers who are drawing from the well at the very heart of Islam.
Then there’s McCain’s televangelist, rapture-right pal John Hagee, senior pastor at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio and CEO of Global Evangelism Television. Like Rev. Parsley, John Hagee singles out one religion, namely Catholicism, and doesn’t hold back. In his recent book Jerusalem Countdown, Hagee claims that there is a “clear record of history linking Adolf Hitler and the Roman Catholic Church in a conspiracy to exterminate the Jews.” Given that he’s called the Catholic Church “the great whore” and “a false cult system,” one can only wonder how the Reverend feels about Islam. You’d be correct in saying that his views on Islam aren’t much different than those of Rev. Parsley, stating that “those who live by the Qu’ran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews” and that “it [the Qu'ran] teaches that very clearly.”
So what’s been John McCain’s response to John Hagee’s endorsement?
All I can tell you is I’m very proud to have pastor Hagee’s support
Did we see McCain make his rounds on Hardball, Hannity and Colmes, Anderson Cooper, and the other news outlets? Not the way Obama has had to. Even as late as today, when this story should already be old news, FOX is still replaying clips of Rev. Wright’s sermons. Will we ever see flashing screens displaying Rev. Parsley or John Hagee’s bigoted comments on Hannity and Colmes? Probably not, since Sean Hannity is a devout Catholic and wouldn’t be able to comprehend how a fellow evangelical theocrat could hate on his religion so much. Instead, the media seems pretty satisfied with McCain’s half-assed attempt to distance himself from these pastors:
…that does not mean that I endorse everything that he [Hagee] stands for and believes in.
Weak.
