McCain’s hatemonger feigns 'regret'

In an attempt to bolster the campaign of John McCain, the far right Texas TV preacher whose endorsement John McCain was “very honored” to have, has apologised, sort of, to Catholics for his many anti-Catholic pronouncements. The rest of his hate-filled rhetoric still stands, apparently, and McCain apparently still agrees with Hagee.

Hagee was noted for calling the Roman Catholic church "the apostate church" and the "great whore," terms which anti-Catholic far right christianists in America have long used as terms of denigration. He also implied that the Roman Catholic Church’s history led to Hitler, ignoring the fact that Protestant churches were not immune to anti-Semitism.

In a letter to an outspoken Roman Catholic leader, Hagee admitted he went too far. He wrote, in part, “In my zeal to oppose anti-Semitism and bigotry in all its ugly forms…” A bit rich, isn’t it? The man says he thought he was “opposing” bigotry by promoting it. Classic.

Hagee previously declared that “the Katrina” destroyed New Orleans because of gay people. He’s written that “feminists” represent "a rebellion against God's pattern for the family," apparently because they demand equal pay for equal work and other “un-godly” concepts.

McCain steadfastly refused to repudiate Hagee for his hatemongering, and instead weakly suggested that “any comments that he made about the Catholic Church I strongly condemn, of course.” Maybe so, but he still reiterated that he was “glad to have” Hagee’s support.

McCain is a hypocrite. He demanded that Obama repudiate Jeremiah Wright for things he said, but McCain steadfastly refused to repudiate Haggee’s hate-filled remarks. By having Hagee say he has “deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful,” McCain got himself off the hook.

Apparently, in Republican politics, and the McCain campaign, hatred against Catholics cannot be permitted—they might vote for McCain. But gay people and “feminists”? Hate on them all you want.

Hate is wrong. Hatemongering is even worse. McCain has a duty to explain why he thinks that Hagee’s anti-Catholic hatemongering is wrong, but his equally offensive hatemongering against gay people and women is okay.

Tell the truth for a change, McCain: Do you or do you not agree with Hagee about gay people and women? In the absence of a direct answer to a direct question, we will all have to assume that McCain thinks Hagee’s hatemongering is okay. And if McCain thinks that, as his continuing silence suggests, he’s not fit to be a Senator, much less president.