Idiot of the Week #4 ~ John McCain

I wasn't planning on voting for John McCain. What self-respecting gay person could actually vote for a Republican for President? What human being could vote for someone who's stood by George Bush on the Iraq war? But I used to have some respect for John McCain. Back when he could actually call himself a "straight-talking maverick" with a straight face, he used to stand up to the religious wingnut branch of the Republican party. He distinguished himself from the Republicans who pandered to the bigot base.

In 2000, McCain had some choice words for the likes of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell when he was interviewed on CNN:

I am a pro-life, pro-family fiscal conservative, an advocate of a strong defense, and yet Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and a few Washington leaders of the pro-life movement call me an unacceptable presidential candidate. They distort my pro- life positions and smear the reputations of my supporters.

I recognize and celebrate that our country is founded upon Judeo- Christian values, and I have pledged my life to defend America and all her values, the values that have made us the noblest experiment in history. But public -- but political intolerance by any political party is neither a Judeo-Christian nor an American value. The political... (APPLAUSE)

The political tactics of division and slander are not our values, they are...

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They are corrupting influences on religion and politics, and those who practice them in the name of religion or in the name of the Republican Party or in the name of America shame our faith, our party and our country.

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Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left, or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right.

We are the party of Ronald Reagan, not Pat Robertson. We are the party...

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We are the party of Theodore Roosevelt, not the party of special interests. We are...

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We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, not...

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We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, not Bob Jones.

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That was John McCain then. To see who John McCain is climbing into bed with now, one need only listen to the words of the people McCain is "proud" to have the support of, his "spiritual" guides. Pat and Jerry (may he not RIP) seem almost quaintly sane next to Hagee and Parsley. (Is Rod Parsley his real name?) McCain may know better in his heart, but it's what you're wearing on your sleeve that counts in politics, and McCain is wearing rhetoric of the most repulsive kind. He's going to need a long, hot shower when all of this is over, but he'll still be dirty.