Over the weekend, the NYT’s Frank Rich raised a few eyebrows when he highlighted the disconnect in the media between Obama’s relationship with his controversial former pastor (Jeremiah Wright) and McCain’s relationship with a crazed televangelist (John Hagee). Rich’s point was both provocative and persuasive — that the media obsesses over Wright and gives McCain a pass on Hagee because of race. “A sonorous white preacher spouting venom just doesn’t have the telegenic zing of a theatrical black man,” Rich said.
NBC News’ Tim Russert appeared on Don Imus’ talk show yesterday, and explained why the black preacher’s remarks receive wall-to-wall coverage, while the white preacher’s remarks are largely ignored. (via FDL)
IMUS: Big stretch for Frank Rich to suggest that Rev. Hagee, that somehow McCain has the same relationship with him as Obama had with Rev. Wright but he did run it up the flag pole yesterday, didn’t he.
RUSSERT: He sure did. There’s been a lot of chatter on that, you know, about Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson’s comments after September 11th. If there was video of Hagee, it makes all the difference in the world….
At first blush, Russert’s point sounds compelling. Television is obviously a visual medium, and people tend to respond more to images than text. (The Abu Ghraib torture had been reported on before it became an international scandal, but few took notice until there were pictures.) Seeing Wright say “God damn America” from his pulpit generates an emotional response, far more than reading about Hagee calling the Roman Catholic Church, among other things, “the great whore.”
But therein lies the problem with Russert’s defense for the media giving McCain a pass: there’s all kinds of video of Hagee — and Rod Parsley and Jerry Falwell — and it still hasn’t made all the difference in the world.
“If there was video of Hagee, it makes all the difference in the world.” Does the DC bureau chief of NBC News not realize that videos like these have been making the rounds for months? The Frank Rich column that Russert was talking about mentioned this in the first paragraph.
Filed Under: John Kerry, Meet the Press, Racism/Bigotry, Religious Right
No Trackbacks To “The videos that could pose a problem for McCain“
Cocaine is a hellova drug, rots the collective MSM brain cells.
I think that the difference, is that Hagee’s comments are based on some strange, esoteric Biblical interpretations, while Wright’s are more direct, and have more immediate social implications.
Oh yeah, and that Wright is black and Hagee’s white.
here’s another hagee masterpiece.
Repubs in Housing Bubble Paradise (Hussein) @ 2:
I would say that the last seven years and going back to the 80s, Hagee and his cancerous ilk do have immediate social implications,
their whacked out dreams of a biblical fantasy land and political influence via lobbyist money has major impacts on peoples civil liberties.
The fundie theme or message is ‘kill or cure’, conform or wither and die.
Yeah… but MSM reporters can’t go on the hunt for said video without being accused of being vindictive against McCain. The video has to be ‘delivered’ or ‘highlighted’ by an opponent in order to justify a story. Up until now, McCain hasn’t really had an opponent to hit him. Obama has though… could explain why his pastor has been front and center for what seems like forever. That said, purely from a sexy video standpoint: angry black preacher certainly trumps looney white preacher. Is that about race? Natch! One silver lining is that at least now some people are actually having this conversation and asking the question, making them more aware of their own biases.
Yeah, these videos would be a problem if Hagee was black. I tell you what, I will eat my hat if these ever touch McCain. Just like I will eat my hat if the Corporate Media (CM) ever delves into McCain a fraction as much as they did Obama or Wright.
Lots of hat eating, which I would gladly do. Alas, I am pretty confident that I will never have to.
LiveFrankly
Those scary blacks scare me.
RACE! RACE! RACE! is the only difference here.
What Russert meant:
“If Republican operatives send us video of Hagee, it would make all the difference in the world…”
MsJoanne @ 6:
Well now I’m curious, how many hats do you have?
one among many things that makes McCain unfit for public office or even shoveling S^%$ from one place to another.
If a video is shown in a forest and nobody sees it, did it really happen ?
Casper @10…I look killer in hats! ;-) Not that I wear them but I have a few.
BTW, I think calling the Corporate Media (CM) mainstream (M$M) is too kind. They are not mainstream…they are paid for whores.
LiveFrankly
IMUS:
Very true. Obama had a long friendship with Wright, one that was like family. Obama witnessed Wright do a lot of wonderful work in his community, bring him to the Christian faith, and say a lot of crazy political things with which Obama disagreed. Obama never sought Wright’s political counsel; he was a member of a church in which Wright was a pastor.
McCain, on the other hand, had no personal relationship with Hagee. He was not close to the man like family, witnessing and experiencing first hand whatever complex mixture of good and bad he might be. Instead, he expressed the view that other sane people express when listening to Hagee and his ilk — that he was an “agent of intolerance.” Until, of course, it became politically necessary for McCain to renounce that position, embrace the agents of intolerance who crave wars in the Middle East in order to destroy heathens and expedite Armageddon, and actively seek their political endorsements in exchange for who-knows-what when it comes to our foreign policy.
Indeed, it’s quite a stretch to compare the two. Obama’s is a complex, human relationship characterized by feelings of loyalty and family. McCain’s is a simple, dehumanized relationship characterized by the worst kind of political expediency.
Which one should really worry us more?
RUSSERT:
Of course, we can’t blame Timmeh for not having seen the many videos there actually are of this raving lunatic. It’s not his responsibility to seek out such materials, and report them to us. It’s not like he’s a journalist with his own TV show or anything.
Oh, and speaking of videos of Hagee…..
The Traditional Media will never cover this the way they covered Jeremiah Wright.
Besides, scary white preachers don’t scare middle America the way scary black preachers do.
“This false religion will be totally devoured by the anti-christ. And speaking of devoured, make sure you try the new BK triple stacker.”
That’s what I was expecting him to say next.
it’s important for every american to realize john hagee’s a pivotal cog between american fundamentalist fanatics and the more rabid zioinists -neither group which represents the majorities of america and israel, respectively.
hagee’s taken so much $$$, it seems, he’s willing to renounce christ as his messiah in an infomercial.
wonder how that’ll play in peoria?
Is there a video of Hagee having sex with boys? That’s the only kind of video that would get the rethugs interested.
what’s that old israeli intelligence motto?
“THROUGH TRUTH, THOU SHALT MAKE PEACE.”
did i get that right?
You know what? I think Hagee is a cook, but I can’t say I disagree with his distaste for the catholic institution.
JoGoBamma(formerly Jo) @ 18:
Let’s see, preacher always raving about teh gays and whores……oh you know there’s video of boy-loving somewhere.
The ones who should be mad about Hagee are the Catholics themselves, but Anti-Catholic bias only gets you in trouble in America if you are a liberal or moderate (Bill Maher). The Catholic Church under the last two popes is so deeply allied with the right that they have no problem with Hagee or Bob Jones University or any of the Catholic haters among the religious right in America. In the interest of stamping out liberalism within the Church, the Catholic hierarchy will tolerate any and all right-wing bigotry aimed at it’s own membership.
To me it all boils down to one simple fact. McCain asked Hagee’s endorsement. Obama didn’t ask Wright for squat.
McCain knew Hagee’s views and was certainly aware of the ugliness. Yet he still pursued his endorsement to woo that evangelical vote. That says volumes to me. McCain would literally sell his soul for an endorsement. And he did.
Bullfrog, I thought it was Through War, Thou Shalt Make Peace.
And black is white, up is down, and all goopers lie, lie, lie.
Republicans and their Taliban-like preachers suck.
MsJoanne @ 24:
Actually, it’s “through deception, thou shalt make war.”
Nice Mural.
It must take weeks to explain all of it.
It reminds me of the art work of schizophrenics i have seen.
If i was running for President i would want the endorsement of a schizophrenic.
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
Karen, yes indeed. I wrote a rather lengthy piece about that today.
Orders and Acts and Lies. Oh My!
This administration is useless for anything but war and destruction. And our elected officials are useless for, well, anything.
There is no Us in UsA any longer.
More Hagee goodness here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qNi7tPanUA
what’s worse?………….
meeting a new preacher, attending services and possibly excusing some ideas that don’t fit your own…..
-OR-
knowing for years the hate-filled idiocy of these televangelists, calling them agents of intolerance and then selling out and accepting their endorsements
Oh yeah, that video is going to get whitey all stirred up. Not. You can’t even understand what the fuck he’s talking about. The one submitted by Karen at #14 is a little more compelling, but even that one has to be explained to the idiots that can’t understand how un-christian it is. And I’ll bet many McCain supporters actually agree with Hagee’ about “welfare” anyway. To be effective, the video needs to stand alone attention deficient republican sheep. A nice video mash up of all those other assholes saying that God was exacting revenge on the U.S., with Haggee yelling that “the Catholic church is a whore” thrown in might do it, but don’t count on it.
There is little any longer that once was Christian.
Not torture. That’s perfectly ok, accepted, encouraged.
Not care for the poor. Screw ‘em. Let them pull themselves up by their boostraps.
Nothing about the fellow man unless they give you some cashola.
While there are some good people and leaders of faith, but this guy ain’t on of ‘em.
Of course Russert’s aware that videotapes of Hagee frothing at the mouth exist. It’s just that, in order to maintain his place as a Senior Member in Good Standing of the Village, he has to pretend that he doesn’t.
22 years. personal relationship. “spiritual mentor”. That’s the difference.
‘Clergy Controversies’ Inspire New Simon and Garfunkel Hit: ‘Parsley, Hagee, Jeremiah and Slime’
http://satiricalpolitical.com/?p=1608
Repubs in Housing Bubble Paradise (Hussein) @ 2:
John Hagee’s band of loony tunes have been taking a dump on the Faith for the last 20 or so years. Where have you been? And Hagee is also emphatically not an esoteric Christian. His brand of Christian, one I know all too well, considers itself exoteric, and looks on esoteric Christians and in general even the more moderate of their ilk as Satan’s workers.
Those types of Christian are Fascism repackaged in an American form, not at all even the dark Christianity of the Torquemadas and Basil IIs. Hageeism is a new monstrosity that, if it is as close to McPapen as I fear, will spark a match in the current situation of a room covered in fine powder in gasoline up to McPapen and Hillary and Obama’s waste with dry wood everywhere and nitroglycerin, too.
While all three are carrying matches, and John Hagee has flipped up the lighter.
So yeah, this Christian wants to see these heretics shoved back in their little hole while the rest of us try to recover from the damage these fascists are doing to the Faith.
Timing is EVERYTHING in politics!
The left needs to hold off on this Hagee thing until after the Republican convention. If you release it now, McCain will have more than six months to sweep it under the table.
Patience my friends, patience!
I want the media to obsess over their obsession of Rev. Wright and disinterest in Hagee.
“Sen. McCain, much has been made of Rev. Wright over the past few weeks, but we have ignored Rev. Hagee and his comments. Would you like to comment while you accepted his endorsement after being made aware of this remarks?”
Just once I want to hear the mainstream media carry this narrative onto the Republican candidate. Notice how investigation of Bush’s AWOL status by Rather would cost him his CAREER and John F. Kerry was PILLORIED for serving honorably in Vietnam.
Unlike the AWOL incumbent Preznit
ferrofluid @ 11:
I was going to respond with the usual critique of the corporate media bias. Instead, I was stopped in my tracks by the statement above. I live in a neighboring state and know quite a bit about the Navajo Nation. This is the kind of info about McCain that has been swept under the carpet for years. Come on Arizona, tell the media the truth about the Republican candidate. Challenge Timmeh and others to do some research. Here’s their mailing address: Tim Russert, NBC, Washington Bureau,
4001 Nebraska Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016. Yes, this is a mailing address. I cannot locate an email for the distinguished Russertcon. They can say anything, do anything, and nobody, especially voters, can contact them. You might also try your local NBC affiliate.
ferrofluid @ 1:
Hagee’s on McCains couch wearing dirty shoes. F*** yo couch!
abarts @ 33:
A spiritual mentor is not a person you want to agree with 100% of the time. A spiritual mentor is a person who challenges you to think for yourself on issues of faith. A mentor’s purpose is not to mold you in their image - they are to assist you in realizing your own potential.
A mentor does not herd sheep. Televangelists herd sheep.
bullfrog @ 17:
How many people in Israel recognize the injustice done to the Palestinians in 1948 and subsequently in 1967? 2%? 4% of the population?
Do those who call the Palestinian Nakba a myth fall under the “doesn’t represent the majority of Israelis” umbrella or do they belong in the “zealot Zionists” category?
Here’s the perspective from a few Israeli Jews (These guys are considered fringe left in Israel and represent a tiny fraction of the population:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bCJkmqj6Lw
The angry man at 3:40 says in Hebrew “You’re talking about the Nakba? Shame on you [for brining it up]”.
Take action! Send the youtube URL for the above video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uViQ0hVV57Q to Meet the Press at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6872152/ . Get others to do it. Include this quote: “RUSSERT: He sure did. There’s been a lot of chatter on that, you know, about Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson’s comments after September 11th. If there was video of Hagee, it makes all the difference in the world….” and say, oh but there is!
Pressure them!
Rev. Hagee is Fred Flintstone…a modern stone-age charlatan…and he’s got pebbles for brains, too.
We’ll have a gay ol’ time! (really, we will…then we’ll meet afterward for a little redemptive therapy…wink, wink.)
General_Rennenkampf @ 35:
Consider this Christian with you on that wish. Nothing scares me worse than “Hageeism”.
This is my favorite. McCain , Hagee, Lieberman, and all the Zionist wackos in Blumenthal’s Rapture Ready viddy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjMRgT5o-Ig