If You Endorse Me, Does That Mean I Endorse You?
On March 14, McCain adviser Charlie Black had this exchange on MSNBC’s Morning Joe:
Scarborough: Is John McCain troubled by the fact that that man we just heard — and my gosh, there’s so many more sermons just like that, just as inflammatory, but is John Mccain concerned that that man is Barack Obama’s “spiritual adviser.”
Charlie Black: You know what, what Sen. McCain has said repeatedly is that these candidates cannot be held accountable for all the views of people who endorse them or people who befriend them.
But, now, not only is McCain criticizing Obama because a Hamas representative endorsed him, vp-wanna-be Mitt Romney is pushing the same line in an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal, as Think Progress reports.
ROMNEY: I think Barack Obama was more of a blank sheet. I think the primary revealed more about him than perhaps he would’ve liked. The recent endorsement by Hamas of his candidacy is I think the kind of development which people find revealing.
QUESTION: What do you take that to mean?
ROMNEY: Well, I think he’s said in his first year he would be inclined to visit with [Iranian President] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, [North Korean President] Kim Jong Il, [former Cuban President] Fidel Castro. I think they find that appealing.
Don’t these guilt-mongers realize that if one were to look at every person or group that may endorses them, they would be none-too-pleased? (Not to mention that Obama was critical of the Carter-Hamas meeting). In 1980, the hero of the right, Ronald Reagan, was endorsed by the Klan, as the New York Times reported on July 31 of that year. The newspaper of the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, in calling Reagan its favorite candidate, remarked that the Republican platform “reads as if it were written by a Klansman.”
And Reagan incorporated the Nixonian “Southern strategy”, attempting to win over voters who were angry about the civil rights movement. Dare I say they were bitter Americans who sometimes embraced guns and religion? In 1979, Mississippi national committeeman Michael Retzer suggested that the Neshoba County Fair would be a good place for the Republican presidential candidate to appear and win over “George Wallace-inclined voters.” In 1980, Ronald Reagan, just days before the Klan endorsement, did just that. Yet, I don’t hear anyone blaming Ronald Reagan for having been endorsed by a nefarious group.
Excellent post, Alan! I didn’t know that Reagan had been endorsed by the Klan. Good grief, you can’t control who endorses you.
As far as being “friendly” with someone… I’m friendly with people that I work with. Does that mean that I have the same political beliefs as my coworkers? I’m friendly with the cashiers at my grocery store, and the boys at my local Blockbuster. 10 years from now I could be running for a position in my local government… should I be scared that those people will come forward and say that they were “friendly” with me?
April 27th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
It would have been perfectly appropriate to ask Reagan if he agreed with the Klan’s positions. It’s perfectly appropriate to ask John McCain if he agrees with John Hagee’s positions. It’s perfectly appropriate to ask Senator Obama if he agrees that the Weathermen should have blown up more buildings and people and shouldn’t feel regret for those they did, if God should damn America and if Hamas should push Israel into the sea. My guess is that he doesn’t agree with any of those positions, so if he would avoid spinning and answer he’d probably benefit. I can somewhat understand that with regard to Rev. Wright, he doesn’t want to create more controversy for his friend, but Rev. Wright is a big boy and if he can’t stand the heat, he shouldn’t have damned America in the kitchen.
April 27th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
How on Earth cam Obama answer these questions better than he already has with his landmark speech? This is a man who loves America more than most of us. I have never heard spin from him: he is more straightfoward than any politician I have ever heard.
Of course I may be off on my understanding of the word “spin”, since “the no-spin zone” seems to me to be nothing BUT spin.
April 27th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Rev. Wright answered all questions better than Barack ever could in his interview with Bill Moyers.
He’s a man of God, and guess what? God comes first. And guess what? God doesn’t approve of killing and lying and cheating and stealing. And he doesn’t take patriotism as an excuse.
The real reason we need separation of church and state is that government with it’s endless rivers of money corrupts religion and makes the church into a cheerleader for every form of evil perpetrated by government leaders.
You mean your pastor hasn’t condemned the war in the Iraq? You pastor hasn’t condemned the policies of an administration that appears obsessed with world domination? Then it’s time you asked your pastor what world he or she is living in, the Sunday school world of make-believe, or the real world where people die, and suffer, and lose their homes, and beg on streetcorners for food because of a government that regards its citizens as nothing more than pawns to be used.
April 27th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I wonder if Barak Hussein Obama & the G’dam Rev. Wright know that they are still selling salves in Niger ! Most of them end up in the middle east !
Go to smithsonian.com. then smithsonian magazine. Then type in the search box “born into bondage”. By Paul Raffael. Read it if you have the GUTS !
April 27th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
They [the black leaders] will probably BLAME Amerika!
April 27th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Hey guys: I’ve only just taken the time to really research the William Ayers issue. I’m just curious if anyone else has done so, and if you’ve stumbled upon his blog? Ayers hardly seems to be an “unrepentant terrorist” to me. It’s like Noel said in a previous comment post, the conservative media fools the masses with these deceitful catch phrases that are all 10 words or less.
April 27th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
People like McCain seem to forget that Rev. Wright is NOT RUNNING FOR THE WHITE HOUSE! Obama is!
Romney should talk about endorsements- wasn’t his campaign endorsed and run by lobbyists?
And McCain- and Pastor Hagee….who makes Rev. Wright sound like the Easter Bunny. Does he really wanna go there? Because I can dig up some of those Hagee speeches. You want one, Mr. Colmes? E-mail me if you do, and we’ll go…fishing…together. Hahahaha!
April 28th, 2008 at 10:36 am
what we know about obama today is sharply different from what we know 6months ago, how many more rev. wright loom is the corner that obama will take along with with into white house. the vast threat that america face from the EU, China, Middle East, Russia and grubbling south america demand a new litmus test for the new president of america. Hence it does matter!!!
April 28th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
AgentX~ right on, man.
April 30th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Should the media be a business like soft drinks?
We live in one of the safest times in history and yet, we quake in fear.
Stupidity is the norm.
December 24th, 2008 at 7:17 am