On July 7, 2007, John McCain addressed the Christians United for Israel summit in Washington, DC, a meeting organized by Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee. In these excerpts from the speech, McCain thanks the controversial pastor for his "spiritual guidance" and praises their mutual support of Israel. McCain also speaks about the threats facing Israel from what he calls the "forces of evil," and he links Israel's future to the war in Iraq. On May 22, 2008, McCain rejected Hagee's endorsement of his candidacy for president, saying he found some of the pastor's past comments about the Holocaust "offensive and indefensible." On the same day, Hagee said he was the target of "baseless attacks" and withdrew his endorsement of McCain.
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I highly respect John McCain for his military service, and not taking a pass out of Vietnam as a senator's son. He also used to stand up against his party more than he has been during the presidential campaign. Using the presidentail campaign as an excuse for not joining in the debate on the Climate bill (1) deprives him of an opportunity to express his opinion on what measures we should take on climate change, and (2) bodes ill for his possible first presidential term (when does campaigning for term 2 start? to whom might he delegate his presidential duties?).
These rather subjective comments aside, however, in regard to the subject of Israel, the Israeli government's treatment of all its citizens, Jewish and Arab/Palestinean alike, should be a top priority in setting a foreign policy with respect to Israel. To see the world in terms of good vs. evil is simplistic; virtually every actor who finds success in playing villains whom I have heard quoted says that he/she has to see the world through the villain's eyes, with a different perspective on right and wrong. Mr. Bush has for too long seen the world as he wants it to be, rather than as it is; Mr. McCain seems to me to be following in those footsteps and paying more attention to polls than to his own convictions.
RELIGION/ETHICS = OXYMORON