Sunday, May 4, 2008

Sunday preaching

Last week, Bill Moyers interviewed Rev. Jeremiah Wright. This week, he talked about him. I was struck by what Mr. Moyers had to say about the conflation of “the man in the pulpit who wasn't running for president with the man in the pew who was.”

Behold the double standard: John McCain sought out the endorsement of John Hagee, the war-mongering Catholic-bashing Texas preacher who said the people of New Orleans got what they deserved for their sins. But no one suggests McCain shares Hagee's delusions, or thinks AIDS is God's punishment for homosexuality. Pat Robertson called for the assassination of a foreign head of state and asked God to remove Supreme Court justices, yet he remains a force in the Republican religious right. After 9/11, Jerry Falwell said the attack was God's judgment on America for having been driven out of our schools and the public square, but when McCain goes after the endorsement of the preacher he once condemned as an agent of intolerance, the press gives him a pass.

Jon Stewart recently played a tape from the Nixon White House in which Billy Graham talks in the oval office about how he has friends who are Jewish, but he knows in his heart that they are undermining America. This is crazy; this is wrong -- white preachers are given leeway in politics that others aren't.

4 comments:

Mon said...

Great post, I have been thinking the same exact thing. It's unbelievable really.

j-dub said...

I can't think of anything to say except Amen!

dive said...

Darn tootin' T.
But surely hypocrisy is a required prerequisite if you want to go into politics?

Maria said...

I have researched all the characters and have come to the conclusion that they all have junk, skeletons galore and yes, it does bother me that McCain gets away with that shit. But...it bothers me, too, that SNL skits aside, it really is true that if you watch the debates, most of the pouncing and trouncing falls on Hilary. She gets the toughest questions or is forced to go first. This leaves Obama lots of leeway to make her look as if she is being evasive when she merely had to address the tough stuff first and then wasn't given time for a follow up.

I am becoming more and more uneasy about the sheer meanness that the democrats are sinking into. This could cost us the election if something doesn't snap soon. I keep hoping that either Obama loses steam and Hilary forges ahead or else that Hilary throws the towel in if he doesn't. Our party is tearing right down the middle which is exactly what the Republicans want.