I'm an Obama guy, but this strikes me as the right move. People can say it's opportunistic and politically savvy, but I don't think Mitt Romney or George W. Bush would have done it. Huckabee maybe. Anyway, he deserves at least some measure of credit.
I'd give him more credit if he hadn't sought out Hagee's endorsement in the first place. As Daily Kos has been pointing out for a couple of months, Hagee's been on record from the beginning as an anti-Catholic bigot and general end-of-days-seeking loondog.
Eh, I disagree. It seems like the same cynical "run right during the primary, then centrist during the general election" game that we always see. He sought out their endorsement to curry favor with conservative Christians during the primary, but now that he's sewn up the nomination, he doesn't need them any more, and they do more harm than good, so he throws them overboard.
I'd have given him credit if he'd never asked for their endorsement in the first place.
"My church I attend is North Phoenix Baptist Church; my pastor and spiritual guide is Pastor Dan Yeary," McCain said. "I've never been to Pastor Hagee's church or Pastor Parsley's church. I didn't attend their church for 20 years. I'm not a member of their church."
It's funny how Rev. Wright was demonized as a "racist" with not a single piece of evidence to support it (point out an actual statement that represented "hate", etc.) but Hagee's and Parsley's bigoted statements are basically met with yawns like it's okay to "hate" on Jews, Catholics, gays, etc. as long as you don't sound "angry" or "fiery" about it.
I'm talking about the media coverage... And one thing continues in all this: just like soccer mom's and NASCAR dad's, White evangelicals who embrace Hagee-like bigotry are still legitimatized as otherwise "normal" people who represent a voting bloc worth reaching out to -- perhaps, McCain's first mistake.
I'm mad that he got away with this for so long. The mainstream media bias towards McCain is ridiculous. Because he was a POW, he is allowed to tout himself as some type of veteran's affairs champion/foreign policy expert,even when the evidence doesn't support it.
During his recent trip to Iraq he actually didn't know the difference between Sunnis and Shiites. ThinkProgress.com has a new article showing that McCain gets failing grades from all of the veteran's groups regarding veteran's issues, while Barack gets passing grades from all of them. Even this pastor thing wouldn't have gone as far as it did, if it wasn't for groups like bravenewfilms.org and MotherJones.com spreading the word...
Here's a piece no one cared about. Meh, whatever, probably the most enjoyable article I did during my stint at TIME. Premiered a month before I got laid-off. The nail in the coffin? Ya think?
Here's me going after Al. I didn't so much have a problem with him, as I had a problem with media acting like this dude was the go-to guy for everything black.
This was my first real story at time. I was writing for the Business section, a real change of direction for me. At any rate, it's about Wal-Mart's attempts to colonize the inner-city. As much as I enjoyed this piece, I mostly enjoyed going out to Chicago, which is a beautiful, beautiful city.
This a piece I did about the cops just outside our nation capitol, in Prince George's County, a few years back. I wanted to offer a counter to the dumb, conventional wisdom that if you paint your police force black, you could eradicate police brutality. In fact, Prince George's--one of the richest, blackest counties in the country--also had one of the most brutal police force's in the country.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
I'd give him more credit if he hadn't sought out Hagee's endorsement in the first place. As Daily Kos has been pointing out for a couple of months, Hagee's been on record from the beginning as an anti-Catholic bigot and general end-of-days-seeking loondog.
Eh, I disagree. It seems like the same cynical "run right during the primary, then centrist during the general election" game that we always see. He sought out their endorsement to curry favor with conservative Christians during the primary, but now that he's sewn up the nomination, he doesn't need them any more, and they do more harm than good, so he throws them overboard.
I'd have given him credit if he'd never asked for their endorsement in the first place.
He had to do it. There's no way he could have gotten away with accepting the endorsement after the huge deal people made about Wright.
You give him credit for this?
"My church I attend is North Phoenix Baptist Church; my pastor and spiritual guide is Pastor Dan Yeary," McCain said. "I've never been to Pastor Hagee's church or Pastor Parsley's church. I didn't attend their church for 20 years. I'm not a member of their church."
It's funny how Rev. Wright was demonized as a "racist" with not a single piece of evidence to support it (point out an actual statement that represented "hate", etc.) but Hagee's and Parsley's bigoted statements are basically met with yawns like it's okay to "hate" on Jews, Catholics, gays, etc. as long as you don't sound "angry" or "fiery" about it.
I'm talking about the media coverage... And one thing continues in all this: just like soccer mom's and NASCAR dad's, White evangelicals who embrace Hagee-like bigotry are still legitimatized as otherwise "normal" people who represent a voting bloc worth reaching out to -- perhaps, McCain's first mistake.
C'mon, he held on to Hagee for dear life until it became untenable. He's become a problem. That's the only reason McCain dumped him.
I'm mad that he got away with this for so long. The mainstream media bias towards McCain is ridiculous. Because he was a POW, he is allowed to tout himself as some type of veteran's affairs champion/foreign policy expert,even when the evidence doesn't support it.
During his recent trip to Iraq he actually didn't know the difference between Sunnis and Shiites. ThinkProgress.com has a new article showing that McCain gets failing grades from all of the veteran's groups regarding veteran's issues, while Barack gets passing grades from all of them. Even this pastor thing wouldn't have gone as far as it did, if it wasn't for groups like bravenewfilms.org and MotherJones.com spreading the word...