McCain, 2008, and Falwell
John McCain got through this weekend with his reputation and ’08 front runner status pretty much intact. His speech to Jerry—“Agent of Intolerance”—Falwell’s Liberty University could have been a disaster. But it wasn’t. By avoiding social and religious issues entirely he rendered the pandering charge far less potent. In a shrewd move, he’ll deliver the exact ...
John McCain got through this weekend with his reputation and ’08 front runner status pretty much intact. His speech to Jerry—“Agent of Intolerance”—Falwell’s Liberty University could have been a disaster. But it wasn’t. By avoiding social and religious issues entirely he rendered the pandering charge far less potent. In a shrewd move, he’ll deliver the exact same speech at the decidely liberal New School. (Although, obviously the New School isn't as liberal as Liberty is conservative) This should give McCain a decent comeback when anyone accuses him of abandoning his straight talk approach.
John McCain got through this weekend with his reputation and ’08 front runner status pretty much intact. His speech to Jerry—“Agent of Intolerance”—Falwell’s Liberty University could have been a disaster. But it wasn’t. By avoiding social and religious issues entirely he rendered the pandering charge far less potent. In a shrewd move, he’ll deliver the exact same speech at the decidely liberal New School. (Although, obviously the New School isn't as liberal as Liberty is conservative) This should give McCain a decent comeback when anyone accuses him of abandoning his straight talk approach.
Reading between the lines, the speech also acts as a coded rebuke to the religious right—who have done much to drain American politics of its civility, not that their only offenders by any means. In this passage, McCain chastises himself for being too harsh on his opponents at times: “It should remain an argument among friends; each of us struggling to hear our conscience, and heed its demands; each of us, despite our differences, united in our great cause, and respectful of the goodness in each other. I have not always heeded this injunction myself, and I regret it very much.” But are the Falwellites who say that “pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians” helped 9/11 happen doing that? Does Alan Keyes respect this injunction when he calls Mary Cheney a “selfish hedonist”?
The best color on the event comes in Alec Russell’s reporting for Britain’s Daily Telegraph. He has a great line about how looking down on “the reverend reminded me irresistibly of one of those plump prelates of the late Middle Ages.” The piece also has a breathtaking quote from Southern Democrat strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders, “Guys like Jerry Falwell are the Pharisees,” he said. “If Jesus came back and started talking about loving your neighbours, they would kill him again.” Guess that's one person McCain's rhetoric didn't touch.
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