This is why it would be ENTIRELY hypocritical for the McCain campaign to use the words snipped from the sermons of Rev. Wright against Barack Obama in this general election.
Utterly hypocritical and preposterous.
McCain Pastor: Islam Is a ‘Conspiracy of Spiritual Evil’
McCain Called Pastor ‘One of the Truly Great Leaders in America’
Despite his call for the U.S. to win the “hearts and minds of the Islamic world,” Sen. John McCain recruited the support of an evangelical minister who describes Islam as “anti-Christ” and Mohammed as “the mouthpiece of a conspiracy of spiritual evil.”
McCain sought the support of Pastor Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, Ohio at a critical time in his campaign in February, when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was continuing to draw substantial support from the Christian right.
At a campaign appearance in Cincinnati, McCain introduced Parsley as “one of the truly great leaders in America, a moral compass, a spiritual guide.”
Campaign aides positioned Parsley right behind McCain for photographers, apparently unconcerned about Parsley’s well-established denunciations of the Islamic faith in a book “Silent No More” and on DVDs of sermons about Islam.
“Islam is an anti-Christ religion that intends through violence to conquer the world,” Parsley says on the DVDs reviewed by ABC News.
“America was founded with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed,” Parsley says, “and I believe Sept. 11, 2001 was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.”
Parsley’s views and his connection to the McCain campaign are now beginning to show up on Arab Web sites and newspapers.
More from David Corn at Mother Jones: McCain’s Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam
This video is of John McCain’s “spiritual guide” Pastor Rod Parsley.
This from the YouTube page:
You may have heard of Rev. John Hagee, the McCain supporter who said God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its homosexual “sins.” Well now meet Rev. Rod Parsley, the televangelist megachurch pastor from Ohio who hates Islam. According to David Corn of Mother Jones, Parsley has called on Christians to wage war against Islam, which he considers to be a “false religion.” In the past, Parsley has also railed against the separation of church and state, homosexuals, and abortion rights, comparing Planned Parenthood to Nazis.
John McCain actively sought and received Parsley’s endorsement in the presidential race. McCain has called Parsley “a spiritual guide,” and he hasn’t said whether he shares Parsley’s vicious anti-Islam views. That’s because the mainstream media refuses to ask. And so, we’ve taken matters into our own hands, joining Mother Jones to present the truth about McCain’s pastor.
Since the media won’t question McCain about his deeply bigoted pastor, it’s up to you to call attention to this issue. Make McCain’s pastor problem a major story by forwarding this video to your family, friends, and colleagues.
We can’t let McCain get away with aligning himself with a religious leader who’s called for an all-out war on Islam, someone who draws no distinctions between Muslims and violent Islamic extremists. Now is the crucial time to act.
Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Team
10 Comments
May 22, 2008 at 4:30 pm
The thing that gets me is that McCain seeks out the endorsement of these kooks.
Poor judgment.
May 22, 2008 at 4:32 pm
He either didn’t know what they stood for and was just pandering for the evangelical Religious Right vote, or he DID know and agrees and supports their views (outrageous and offensive – and most definitely NOT mainstream America), and both represent BAD judgement! Right Zooey!
May 22, 2008 at 4:33 pm
And he worked HARD to get their endorsements over a long time. He has TONS of people working for him.. How come one of his staff didn’t point out the obvious?? I’ll tell you. He knew. He knew.
May 22, 2008 at 4:35 pm
He’s ‘The Panderer‘…
May 22, 2008 at 4:38 pm
He absolutely knew.
That’s the stunning thing. He wants this so much, he will betray everything he stands for. Or stood for. Scary…
May 22, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I agree, Zooey.
McCain somehow believes that the tactic of total denial which has worked for Cheney, Bush and Co. will continue to work for him. He believes he can con any given group into supporting him, and that it won’t matter if he dumps them later.
What he doesn’t get is that no one is buying the Bushit this time around.
May 22, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Well, we’ll see if anyone is buying the bullshit this time around. My bet is that many people will continue to pay top dollar for this brand of manure.
Bottom line is that for the past decade or two, (essentially all) politicians have pandered shamelessly to the religious vote, without any repercussions no matter how insane the beliefs of the sect in question. It has been politically incorrect for the rational members of society to ridicule either the panderers or the panderees because religion gets special treatment in US society. (See Richard Dawkins for a good discussion of this topic).
I think it’s great that the Wright situation is helping to put a spotlight on malignancies like Hagee and Parsley (which, if I may digress for a moment, sounds like some kind of disgusting Scottish entree).
However, a lot of people will continue to drink this Koolaid. They will get all indignant about Wright, while turning the other cheek for Hagee. This may seem strange, given that Wright merely protests the unrighteousness of the US government, while Hagee salivates over the complete destruction of the human race. But for Wright the bogeyman is secular – old white power, while for Hagee the bogeyman is Satan and his enablers, the godless libruls.
There are many who will accept Hagee because he fuels their spiritual fears, while denigrating Wright because he fuels their racial fears. Personally, I consider Wright irrelevant, while Hagee is really scary, but the rednecks in the Bible Belt won’t quite see it the same way.
May 22, 2008 at 5:57 pm
In all fairness to McCain he has denounced Hagee(as Obama eventually did Wright). Now will he also denounce Parsley?
May 22, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Incidentally, the latest Quinnepiac poll shows Obama beating McCain in Pennsylvania by 6 points, an outcome that Clinton suggested was not possible. He’s down by four points in Florida and Ohio, but the theory that he can win only by finding a way to appeal to Appalachian bigots (AKA “hardworking white bluecollar workers” ) appears to have holes in it.
The poll also says that Ohio and Florida Democratic voters say they have no problem voting for an African American and that Obama has a net positive approval rating. Evidently, either they are not telling the truth or there are just too many Republicans in those states, making it more of an uphill climb than a Dem stronghold like Pennsylvania or California.
May 22, 2008 at 6:01 pm
McCain thinks he can bully his way out of any tough spot by throwing out the POW line. That’s what he did today when Obama called him out for not supporting the GI Bill. It became all about how dare he when he didn’t serve. It’s getting as old as “my friends”.