Will McCain Get the Obama Treatment?

by Chris Edelson :: Filed Under Elections 2008 :: March 24th, 2008 @ 8:44 pm EST

Now that the furor has subsided (for the moment at least) over the contrived Obama-Rev. Wright “issue,” perhaps the media pack can turn its attention to some of McCain’s supporters, who have said a number of inflammatory things themselves.

First, there are the Reverends Hagee and Parsley. McCain was proud to accept the endorsement of Hagee, who claims that the Koran teaches Muslims to kill Christians and Jews, and that Hurricane Katrina was an expression of God’s wrath against gay pride parades. Does McCain agree?

McCain has called Rod Parsley his “spiritual guide.” Parsley quaintly believes that America was founded, in part, to destroy the “false religion” of Islam, and has his own gay-bashing rhetoric to add to Hagee’s. What does McCain think of this?

Parsley and Hagee are just two McCainites who have made extreme statements that McCain should be asked about. McCain’s campaign website helpfully provides a list of supporters, which includes additional extreme characters who have made some rather offensive statements. Does McCain stand by these supporters?

Let’s start with Senator Sam Brownback, one of McCain’s General Co-Chairmen. According to an article in Rolling Stone, Brownback has declared that, as a senator, he has only one constituent–God (the article is a scary read–Brownback has apparently been part of a bizarre group called the Fellowship that has a vision of a U.S. government led by Christ’s will alone. This stuff is so wacky it’s hard to even type the words on screen–check out the article).

Scroll toward the bottom of McCain’s list of supporters and you’ll find former ambassador to the UN, John Bolton. Bolton distinguished himself by declaring that “there is no such thing as the United Nations” and “if the UN building in New York lost 10 stories, it wouldn’t make a bit of difference.” Does Sen. McCain agree?

Just across the page on the left, we find former Sen. Conrad Burns’s name on the list. Burns referred to Arabs as “ragheads” and has made other xenophobic remarks. Does McCain share Burns’s views?

I look forward to lengthy discussions on CNN and MSNBC about McCain’s duty to disavow extreme statements made by his supporters.