Can someone please tell me what, if any, is the difference between…..
John McCain supporter John Hagee on Hurricane Katrina:
And Jeremiah Wright:
Frankly, I don’t think there is a difference. Hagee claims the creator of the universe himself sent a hurricane to destroy New Orleans because of a gay pride parade. Wright says that 9/11 was, in some sense, divine retribution for America’s foreign policy “sins.”
They’re both full of nonsense as far as I’m concerned.
One major difference. Wright was Obama’s pastor and, at least for a while, a close confidant. While McCain initially accepted Hagee’s endorsement, they do not share the relationship that Wright and Obama have, and thus trying to associate the two similarly is nonsensical.
That being said, Wright and Hagee both need to put a sock in it.
CR UVa – you’ve got it exactly the wrong way around.
Obama’s past relationship with the pastor of the pre-eminent church is his area is irrelevant. It is in fact to his credit that as a younger man, he took only the positive messages from Wright, and that later with greater age and experience he realised it was time to let that relationship fade. Judge Obama by his own words and actions on this matter, and there are no problems.
McCain’s choice of endorsements is not irrelevant, particularly if his claim to much greater experience is to be given any credit. To seek the endorsement and hence approve the message of someone like Hagee after so long in high visibility politics indicates lack of either character or judgment. McCain’s own words and actions (i.e. his implicit approval of Hagee’s hate) are problematic.
The only ways to make this look bad for Obama are to ignore logic, or wallow in prejudice. McCain has some answering to do.