I think Jonathan Chait misreads John McCain’s “repudiation” of Pastor/endorser John Hagee’s anti-Catholic remarks:
A couple campaign statements caught my eye, and I wanted to point them out before the weekend. First, John McCain says of his supporter, John Hagee, “I repudiate any comments that are made, including Pastor Hagee’s, if they are anti-Catholic or offensive to Catholics.” If they were anti-Catholic? Hagee called the Catholic Church “the great whore” and a “false cult system.” So, yeah, that would seem to be pretty anti-Catholic. McCain construction is the classic non-apology apology — I apologize if anybody was offended. Hey, some people might like being called “the great whore.” Prostitutes, for example. But if others disagree, McCain feels their pain, too.
I suspect it’s not that McCain doesn’t see the opprobrium in labeling the Catholic Church “the great whore” and a “false cult system”; McCain’s specifying anything in the Hagee canon that Catholics writ large might find offensive and saying that he rejects that. Quibble? Maybe. But the implication is that on most other subjects McCain finds himself in agreement with Hagee, in which case the Jewish community may want to get in on this action. Not to mention, of course, homosexuals and victims of Hurricane Katrina. And if St. StraightTalk disagrees with these positions, could he please address them as well?
The broader point is that actively seeking out the endorsement of someone with this loathsome set of views carries a broader burden than, say, happening to be supported by a racist rabble-rouser like Louis Farrakhan and should require a bit more finesse than the good senator has exhibited.
Filed under: 2008, McCain | Tagged: Adventures in Straight Talk
