So, as we go into what seems to be the umpteenth week of talking about Rev. Jeremiah Wright, I want to know why white preachers associated with other politicians aren’t receiving this same level of scrutiny.

For example, John McCain sought out and got the endorsement of John Hagee. Hagee runs a church with over 17,000 members and is a televangelist. However, Hagee also has some views that many would consider extreme. But — surprise — there is no call for McCain to reject and denounce Hagee.

I have added a couple of clips at the end. The first is where Hagee refers to the Catholic church as “the great whore”, a “false cult system” and quotes Hitler as a way of likening the actions of the Catholic church to some of Hitler’s atrocities.

The second clip shows Hagee hawking a book (”In Defense of Israel”) in which Hagee says that Jesus never saw himself as a Messiah. In other words, he is saying that Jesus never saw himself as the Christ, which I would say is pretty interesting for a Christian minister.

Rest assured, there’s much more on this guy out there and I intend to share it with you. As I understand it, he has made some very interesting statements about why Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and a “slave sale” fundraiser he held in 1996.

At any rate, here are the clips so you can see for yourselves.

Also, here’s a sort of rebuttal of Hagee’s book by a member of the same Christian United for Israel group as John Hagee:

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It appears that, if Clinton and McCain were hoping to stir up controversy over Obama’s recent statements about the bitterness some Pennsylvanians (and other Americans) feel after seeing their jobs shipped overseas and their economies devastated, they might have to look beyond CNN for help.  Prior to Obama’s response to this contrived controversy, the CNN’s Situation Room had panelist discuss Obama’s statement and Clinton’s and McCain’s responses to them and it was clear that these panelist weren’t buying the Clinton’s or McCain’s spin on it.  In fact, it was clear that not only did they not take offense to what Obama said but, also, clearly agreed that what he was saying was factually accurate.

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Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain went after Barack Obama over his recent statments at a fundraiser in California.  When asked about the challenges he faced with Pennsylvania voters, Obama gave this a part of his view on the situation there:

“Our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives…”You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

The above statements are what created the “controversy”.  Perhaps it is because I live in Ohio and see that there is a real bitterness when people have lost factory jobs — jobs that they thought they’d retire from — or have to deal home foreclosure.  Guess what — they are bitter.  Over the years, politicians have come to Ohio to give the “I feel your pain” speeches, all the while knowing that, when they get back to Washington, they will be supporting the very trade agreements that are undermining economies in places like Ohio.  If politicians don’t think that this has created a bitterness, they are crazy.

Barack Obama fired back at Clinton and McCain, reminding us that McCain, until very recently, couldn’t even grasp that there was a real mortgage crisis in America and that Clinton sided with and took money from the very credit card companies that wrote the new bankruptcy laws in the country so that they clearly favor these companies.

The video is below:

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You know, normally a comparison to Tiger Woods would be a good thing. Tiger came in an elevated the profile of the game of golf, creating an interest and revenues for the sport that hadn’t been seen in years. However, it is also undeniable that Tiger Woods is a person of color and some resent that fact.

So, sometimes, a comparison can be a bad thing, like when you just use it as a code word alluding to “the black guy” competing in what has been, traditionally, a white field of endeavor.

This brings us to congressional candidate David Bellavia. Bellavia is also the founder of the pro-war 527 group, Vets for Freedom. In warming up the crowd for McCain, Bellavia offered the following:

“Rest assured that people like Senator McCain will be the goal and the men that my two young boys will emulate an admire. You can have your Tiger Woods. We have Senator McCain. My friends, this is real audacity of hope.”

The video of his introduction is below.

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Well, it’s VOTR Tuesday (Vermont, Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island) and the time for talking is over, at least for now.

If you live in these states and you are interested in any of the candidates running, I urge you to get out and vote.

If you are on the Democratic side, you will see some hotly-contested races that could decide the nominee.

If you are a Republican, you could see John McCain seal the deal today and reach the 1191 delegates needed to secure the nomination.

Regardless of where you fall, someone may have given life or limb for you to be able to vote so, get out and exercise you hard-earned right.

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