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At Least One Conservative Says McCain Should Renounce Rev. Parsley
At least one conservative Republican has come out and said that John McCain ought to denounce the Reverend Rod Parsley for his extreme anti-Islam rhetoric, and that's James Pinkerton, with whom I regularly appear on Bloggingheads.tv. Pinkerton, who was a domestic policy adviser for the first President Bush and who advised Mike Huckabee during his recent GOP presidential primary contest, says that McCain should reject the endorsement he's accepted from Parsley, a pastor at an Ohio megachurch who has said that it is the historic mission of the United States to see the "false religion" of Islam "destroyed."
For more on Parsley's anti-Islam ranting and to see the reverend in his full anti-Islam glory, click here for the video of Parsley's attack on Islam that was produced by Mother Jones and Brave New Films.
Up to now, McCain has steadfastly refused to renounce Parsley, an influential political force in the swing state of Ohio. Doing so could seriously hurt McCain's chances in the Buckeye State. So Pinkerton shouldn't expect McCain to heed his advice. Here's Pinkerton and I discussing the matter:
Amazing. The main stream media machine is able to hobble the impact of this story and so McCain gets a free pass on this. Parsley sounds far more alarming to people who value real American freedoms than Jeremiah Wright [up until his freak out at the end a few weekends back] yet this doesn't get near the treatment of outrage to which Obama's campaign was subjected. I agree that it isn't exactly apples to apples or even apples to pears, but it is similar enough at the heart of the issue that McCain should have to respond similarly to Obama or be skewered as a national threat the way that the latter was treated over his pastor. Thanks for the article.
I think the more important part of the story is the fact that McSame seeked the endorsement - not for religious reasons but for votes - pure and simple.
Frankly, I couldn't care less about which church a candidate attends (or even no church) but when they obviously pander to radicals just to bring in votes - THAT bugs me.
Articles of "faith" always sound a bit odd or absurd to those that don't share the same point of view.
Maybe folks will believe what the candidates say about the reasons for their actions - I think McSame will lose on this one.
I think people would have more of a problem with the pastors comments, if it hadn't of been for the Islamic Fanatics that killed 3,000 Americnas on 9/11.
Most people have the feeling that, the Islamic fanatics, want us all dead, so they give the pastor a pass..
Bill
Bill Nigh is right. Somebody posted a transcript of Rev. Wright's sermon in another article on MJ. After reading it in its entirety, I found that its sad that his comments of "God Damn America" were completely taken out of context: anger and frustration at all the people stepped on and killed by past administrations. Given the radial divide in this country, every single black and native american has every right to be angry and a right to express that anger. Instead of considering his statements in context and confronting the mistakes of the past (a difficult task that requires reading and quite a bit of thought, things that aren't profitable), they instead portray him as a crazy, anti-american radical. And as Bill Nigh put it, we let Parsley slide as Muslims are the current demons.
I have to wonder that if you took Parsley's book, replaced all of the slang and every single reference to Islam with references to Communism, that you would feel like you were reading propaganda written in 1962.
roy:
I think you are right. The church, like politicians, as bad as I hate it, is overcome with the use of propaganda, which should not be used in the church at all, but is. Propaganda being emotional two choice rhetoric, in a dynamic world, instead of just preaching the bible.
Politicians and some preachers are nearly alike. Some preachers start believing that they are God, and that destroying a people is OK. I listened to John Hagee last Sunday and I thought to myself that he should practice what he preaches and not be running back and forth to the REPUBLICANS telling them it is OK to destroy the Iranians or the Iraqis; because it is NOT OK, God loves them, everyone. If Rod Parsley thinks it is open season on Iranians or Iraqis just because they are not Christian, then he is way off base as well.
Jesus suffered unmercifully and sacrificed his mortal life for everyone of the Iranians and the Iraqis, just like He did for the Chinese, Japanese, Indians and everyone else in the world. Jesus made the sacrifice of His life for ALL, not just the privileged few.
Power does corrupt and pride brings down. No one comes to Jesus except through a humble childlike faith -- big church pastors apparently get prideful and lose their humbleness and deem killing people to be alright with God, and join religion to the government and corporations, which is FASCISM. Fascism traveled on religion in Germany and fascism is traveling on religion in the United States.
The Lord says that if He doesn't shorten the time of His returning, that even His most precious will be lost --- and it is happening.
McCain is like the New York Senator Clinton who swore to destroy Iran as well. Naturally, McCain seeks to curry the favor with the likes of Rod Parsly who is like that other Christian Zionist, John Hagee(McCain got his support), who the San Antonio B'nai B'rith Council awarded Hagee with its "Humanitarian of the Year" award. It was the first time this award was given to a gentile. Not surprising, AIPAC also hosted Hagee at their conference. These ultra-conservative Jews are a decidedly Manichaean bunch, seeing the world in terms of those who are "pro-Israel" and those who are "anti-Israel." These Likud types are a grave danger to world peace and must be denounced as such by all progressives.
I rather have McCain's Israel loving pastors than Obama's Pastor Wright who gave that Jew hater Farrakhan an award and says that Israel is the mother of evil. That is why we are putting our money on McCain and not Obama.
Jacob:
Wright is Obama's FORMER pastor and does not pastor the Christian church that Obama attends. Obama is very disappointed in his former pastor's outrage. Possibly Wright is being paid by the RIGHT WING to make it difficult for Obama, either that, or Wright is so jealous of Obama that he is losing his mind.
Obama is a Christian follower of a Jew, Jesus the Christ. You are getting carried away with the statement that Israel is the mother of evil, Obama did not say that --- you have been listening to too much Clinton or RIGHT WING PROPAGANDA.
MarthaA, if a person hangs out with Dr. David Duke(former KKK), wouldn't you have a problem with that person? Ron Paul received only $500 from such a person and the media went crazy over guilt by association. It is human nature to apply "guilt by association" no matter if they are left or right.
Bill N. sounding reasonable? That's novel, kudos Bill,(but believing right wing conspiracy theorists about global warming is still nuts).
John Hagee's support for McCain has drawn cries of outrage from some Catholic leaders who have called on McCain to reject Hagee's endorsement. The likely Republican nominee has said he does not agree with some of Hagee's past comments, but did not reject his support.
Today,in a letter to William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Rights, Hagee wrote: "Out of a desire to advance a greater unity among Catholics and evangelicals in promoting the common good, I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful."
Donohue, one of Hagee's sharpest critics, said he accepted the apology and planned to meet with Hagee Thursday in New York.
"I got what I wanted," Donohue said in an interview. "He's seen the light, as they like to say. So for me it's over."
The controversy had threatened to pursue McCain throughout the campaign, potentially hurting his standing with Catholic voters. A majority of Roman Catholics voted for President Bush in the past two presidential elections, critical votes in close elections.
Hagee said, "n my zeal to oppose anti-Semitism and bigotry in all its ugly forms, I have often emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholics and Protestant relations with the Jews," Hagee wrote. "In the process, I may have contributed to the mistaken impression that the anti-Jewish violence of the Crusades and the Inquisition defines the Catholic Church. It most certainly does not." When he endorsed McCain in late February, Donohue and other Catholic leaders demanded that McCain repudiate him. The Democratic National Committee also weighed in, highlighting Hagee's remarks over the years. Some commentators even likened Hagee's affect on McCain to the controversy Democrat Barack Obama faced as a result of the views expressed by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.