ABOUT FIRST READ

First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Political Reporter



McCain calls Hagee letter 'helpful'

Posted: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 4:30 PM by Domenico Montanaro

From NBC’s Kelly O'Donnell
McCain responded to Hagee's letter of apology to Catholics, calling it "helpful.” He describes his own attempts at reconciliation over the years with, for example, the anti war movement. When asked if he or his staff brokered the apology, McCain says he did not personally broker the deal, leaving open the possibility that advisors did encourage the Hagee apology to diffuse McCain's so-called pastor problem.

Here’s the full exchange, per NBC/NJ’s Carrie Dann:

Did you influence or support decision? 
MCCAIN: I don't know. I know that Pastor Hagee and the head of the Catholic League, Mr. Donahue, have joined together and exchanged letters, and that's the kind of reconciliation that I've been engaged in for any many years. I reconciled with the anti-war moment; I reconciled with David Ifshin; I reconciled with the Vietnamese in interest of healing the wounds of war. So I believe the fact that these two individuals came together is a laudable thing and a testimony to both individuals and their principles, which are Judeo-Christian values."

If he is comfortable with Hagee’s endorsement…
MCCAIN: "Look, as I've said many times I've accepted his endorsement. I didn't endorse everything that he said. The point is that the fact that he has made an apology I think is very helpful. Whether somebody apologizes for something they thing that they did wrong then I think that that's a laudable thing to do."

Were you involved in brokering the deal?
MCCAIN: "I certainly wasn't."

MAIN PAGE

Email this EMAIL THIS

Comments



GOOD NOW APOLOGIZE FOR HIS KATRINA REMARKS OLD MAN!!!
Mr. McDraft you sure don't sound very Presidential.

Bob, Chicago
When is Obama going to apologize for attending Wright's church for 20 years.
"I certainly wasn't."

I wish we could have seen his face during this little interview.  I wonder how red his face was, how much he sputtered getting this retort out or better yet, how much fire was shooting from his eyeballs!  LOL

I bet his nose was getting longer and longer too...
It is time to RECLAIM the Bible from the Right.

As a Christian, it is important to recognize that these hateful, intolerant comments and "leaders" are not in-line with the teachings of Jesus - and they do not speak for all Christians.  Instead of loving one another as Jesus taught us, they spew acid from their tongues.

Hagee, Parsley, Pat Robertson, and Ann Coulter are wolves in sheeps clothing!  They are false prophets!
It is time for love and tolerance to return to the White House!

Obama 2008
McCain must of been jealous of Obama and went and
got himself a Preacher of controversy, Hagee.
WHAAAATTTT!!!!???  OH PUHLEEZE!!!  He should be peppered about his pastors at every public sighting!!  The Apathy they've shown for Katrina and 911 is enough to make one retch!!  C'mon Chris, Chuck, Olberman, Abrams and you guys at CNN do your stuff!!  You had enough practice with Wright!  Fair is fair!  It's McSame's Turn.  Maybe we'll finally see his infamous anger on national display and help those people in WV be jolted to common sense!!!
As a man from Idaho, I assure you that I will never EVER vote for McCain. In fact, I know as well that my wife, and even my parents (both former DIEHARD Bush supporters), are switching sides and voting Obama in the Fall.

Viva Revolution!
Chuck all of you in the media have done us a GRAVE disservice by hounding Barrack for so many weeks about Wright but NO COVERAGE WHATSOEVER about HAGEE or ROBERTSON!!!  This is THE FIRST story you've run about this cretin only AFTER the "apology" thereby giving the GOP a way out in the GE!!  You Bias is Frustrating!  I spent soooo many weeks pleading with you guys during the Wright fiasco to do a story about Hagee and Robertson but no you wanted to pound Obama into the ground " . . . the story that won't go away . . .".  What did I get?  No posting of my comments and to my chagrin NO HAGEE or Robertson stories!  They during the Wright fiasco reiterated their debase views saying far worse things about 911 that Wright ever did but you guys were silent!  Your bias is sickening!!  What is it?  You guys want to go easy on the "War Hero"?  He gets off with gaffes like leaves on the wind meanwhile you guys parse every single word that comes out of Barrack, Hillary or Bill's mouth!!??? Good response DNC!  Don't let this die!  Keep hammering him on it!  I'm so tired of the double standard, kid gloves and the hypocrisy!!  GO DNC!!!  please post this
It is time we put an end to the power of the hateful sentiments seen and heard on both sides by these very public pastors and reverends.

They're all a little nuts and just a tad bit removed from reality don't you think?
So this is ok to you.  No! I saw that he apologized and then pulled it back so this is all for the TV.  If it were Rev Wright we would here so much.
He sought this guys endorsement.  Double standard and they say the media likes Obama.  
If you accept the endorsement then you endorse his hateful rants as well John.

John McCain=4 more years of misery
Of course, what else would he say, especially after coercing Hagee to do the needful and save his bacon?
This will probably be the extent of the media's comment on this. In my opinion Hagee's rhetoric is equal to that of Rev. Wright, but I doubt if we see 24 hour coverage of Hagee or Parsley or Fallwell, all of whom are hate mongers.  

Teflon John Lives.   He's very fortunate that the media is so in love with him.  
McCain is a bigger liar that Hagee!!!!
"I accept his endorsement, but don't endorse anything he says" -McCain on Hagee.

You got to be kidding me!  It's like accepting an endorsement from Hitler, but saying, I don't agree with killing all the Jews.
Just listened to your afternoon MSNBC host talk about Wright was apparently more 'relevant' because he was a pastor to Obama for 20 yrs.

.....And WHY would she say this???

If were' going to talk about relevant:  
Obama NEVER pursued Wright's endorsement....Wright was NOT a political relationship to Obama.

McCain did not just 'get' the endorsement of Hagee (as your host again just said.)  McCain PURSUED AND COURTED THIS **POLITICAL** ENDORSEMENT for a long time!!

And by the way, how ridiculous that you let McCain slip by with this one--on yet another level.  McCain's been touting the Hamas 'endorsement' as something that Obama should be responsible for.  Number one, that's ridiculous--and number two, McCain's simultaneously claiming that HE's NOT responsible in any way for Hagee endorsement.  Double standard?  More like triple--when you figure in that McCain SOUGHT Hagee's political endorsement.
Hagee = Hate
McCain = Hagee
Therefore....
McCain = Hate.
is this going to be quid pro quo?
Rev Wright's attacks should be just exculpatory.
Obama is moving on; they, I hope can too.


Very interesting, yesterday my brother and I almost feel out of our chairs. Pat Buchanan, your MSNBC analysis, called West Virginia a Confederate state. My first thought was he’s evoking ghosts to overtake their descendant’s will, if they’re inclined to vote Obama.
Give Pat a history book; better yet just let him read the news. These are examples so typical of polarizing the nation along racial tensions to discredit Obama an articulate, intelligent, young visionary, who just happens to be a Black man.

Hillary’s demands; including paying her debts is not good, (OBAMA CANNOT USE HIS CONTRIBUTIONS TO HELP YOU BUT CAN DO FUNDRAISING FOR YOU). Putting her on the ticket is contrary to change, a liability based upon the huge resurgent of people, who want to live in nonexistent Confederate states (is that typical)?  I don’t think so. The civil war ended in the 19th century. America lives in the 21st.
Hillary’s husband, Bill lost the White vote to Bob Dole. So people Stop including Hillary and others using White unashamed, racial, overtones to fuel her Impossible Dream. Hillary today is a good day for you; if use this day 5-13-2008, and Kentucky‘s primary if you urge/merge your coalition to see beyond race to the assumed presumptive Nominee, Barack Obama!
BTW: Why not have you ardent supporters pay your debts; since you’re so good at New Rules?
Also, this excitement you seem to be claiming has come from the grass roots coalition under the leadership of Obama.
I’ll ask you to ask yourself a question who’s the leader? I see from my perspective, Obama:
Most pledged delegates
Initiated a grass roots movement into a national movement no one excepted.
Most popular votes
Senator Obama is moving on; you're not. I truly hope you will. Unity!
Include your White Coalition with Obama's other White people, young people, Blacks, independents, and Obamacans (republicans).
Hillary is a liability. Allow her to bow out with grace and dignity and bring unity.


McCain cannot run away from his pastor's problem...
McCain always comes across as deceitful to me, like he's covering up his real thoughts. I guess its because he wants to keep his nut job conservative base happy while keeping a mask of respectability for the rest of us. Kinda reminds me of Hillary.
Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama picked up two pledged delegates today from the official results of the Ohio presidential primary held March 4th.

The Associated Press had withheld the two delegates because of the large number of provisional ballots cast in Ohio on Election Day.

According to the Ohio Secretary of State's office, almost 100,000 provisional ballots were counted.

What a croc!!!!! So now we're supposed to believe he didn't mean the things he's been saying for years. But Republicans will continue to hammer Wright and say he didn't apologize. Sounds contrived to me.


McCain's Preacher seems excuseable.

Is that because he is white?

At least Obama had the common sense to distance him-
self from a controversial Preacher.

Is this a black/white issue or does common sense supercede race?
Why is it that no one at MSNBC has talked or written anything in regards to Pat Buchanan’s response to Senator Obama’s race speech?  
Isn’t this a double standard? AGAIN DOUBLE STANDARDS!!!! HAGEE!!!! This is so sad and you guys just back off and you ran Wright 24/7 The news media is so unfair!!!!!!!

That was a typical mealy mouthed political apology. If any of the hard workin', white Catholics vote for McOld, then they're dumber than dirt.
"McCain's so-called pastor problem." ...of course if this were someone who had endorsed Obama - it would be a full blown 24-7 media frenzy pastor problem - but with John "donuts with sprinkles please" McCain - it is a "so-called pastor problem"

The media needs to stop bringing baked goods to this man's press conferences and start treating him with the scrutiny with which they treat the other candidates (Obama and Clinton)
It might matter to some that he apologized, but did he or did he not make those remarks from the pulpit? He has more to do than send out a letter of apology to the catholics.
It is to bad that there isn't some sort of fairness doctrine would require all the networks to run, over and over and over again, the clip of Hagee dissing the "Great Whore" and dancing on the flood bloated bodies of the New Orleans poor that his "God" saw fit to punish in retribution for the issuance of a Gay Pride Parade permit. What happened to the McCain we knew? The one that would sooner eat barbed wire than get soiled next to these agents of intolerance?
Where ever he is he is lost forever and the person that impersonates him HAS lost.
I really do want all this to end and have never thought that anything religious should ever have ANYTHING to do with politics, however, that being said, it's simply amazing to me that the media has given the McCain campaign such a free ride on this.
Hagee's statements were just as bad, if not worse in many ways, than Wright's.  The double standard lies in the groups that were being referenced. Radical, "patriotic" bigots apparently aren't the threat to the US that gay Catholics are. What was that about "Judeo Christian" values?    
I hope McCain remembers that Obama did not "endorse" Wright's statements either -- we need to remind McCain of this a few months down the road when he attempts to resurrect the Wright issue.
If Obama would have accepted Farrakahn's endorsement people would have been all over him, attributing F's beliefs to Obama. But Mccain can accept teh endorsement of the wacko Hagee and get a free ride in the press.
2 years ago I would have never beleived that McCain and the "Straight Talk Express" would have veered so far to the right. McCain is trying so hard to court the right wing that he is forgetting about the center and all the moderates that would have supported him.
well do whatever you want McCain join his church for all I care. the way Isee it you are just makin it easier for obama to kick your butt in November!!!
The guy apologized to Catholics....half-heartedly...but to no other group he offended or insulted.  And John McCain still hasn't renounced and rejected his endorsement even though McCain went out of his way to pursue.

If the media doesn't cover this with the same vigilance as Wright then I'm going to lose my mind.  And don't tell me no audio or video exists because I found it here:

- Comparing Catholic Church to Hitler:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG2jemUx7Xo

- Saying Katrina was a work of God because of our Israel Policy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeBOXqEfKRw&feature=related

- Katrina was punishment from God because of Gay
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEFWLb-a_as&feature=related
People should realize that the toughest decision the American people had to make this election season was between a wicked HRC and a unknown junior senator from Illinois.  McCain really is a non-issue.  Wait until we get into GE mode.  But this probably wont happen soon enough because the media will paint HRC as the "Comeback Kid" tonight and tell the American people that Barack has a major problem with white-working class voters because the so-called exit polls said so.  I don't care if Barack loses by 60 points.  WV has five, count em, 1,2,3,4,5 electoral votes.  If people really want to elect John McCain even though he doesn't know much about the economy let them do so!  But when these working class voters stand watching the television next Spring when McCain is president because they voted for more failed Bush policies they will be sorry.  Oh, they will be so sorry.

Get real people.  It's time for the GE
The right-wing's perversion of the Christian message is despicable. When I read the Bible I see love, tolerance, and inclusion not hatred and bigotry. Didn't Jesus teach us to love everyone?

Maybe I wasn't paying attention in Catholic school, but folks like Larry Hagee do not represent the core goodness at the center of Christianity.
McCain is a coward.  The MSM are cowards as well.  Hagee's not sorry at all and McCain will stall and see how this polls.  There are so many nutcases that have endorsed Sen. McCain but he has a reservoir of good will with our chickenhearted press so I'm not holding my breath on McCain having to show any accountability.  McCain is no maverick and he will not escape his most detrimental association--Mr. Bush.  Well I guess that the GOP will nudge Mr. Parsley, Mr. Robertson, and the rest of these hatemongers out to issue some more fake apologies.  I want to see the same level of outrage that the Rev. Wright issue received.

TO:John McCain, The White House

When is Hillary gonna explain living with a rapist for 20 years ?
Are we sure McCain knows who Hamas is?
Powder Keg McCain's lost his bearings.  I might have voted for 2000-McCain.  But 2008-McCain is a whole different animal.
Ha...I am sorry ..but John McCain is going to be such a joke.......He has no clue...you guys need to read the plan he has to balance the budget...I think he and Hillary take the same "same anything, mean nothing" pills.

Hilarious
OBAMA DIDN'T DISTANCE HIMSELF FROM HIS RADICAL PASTER, THAT WAS JUST A FACADE; UNTIL HE GETS THE WHITEHOUSE.  `PASTOR WRIGHT HIMSELF SAID HE WILL BE RIGHT AT THE WHITEHOUSE DOOR IF HE WINS THE PRES.
we live in san antonio,tx. and a couple of weeks saw hagee and family at resturant, did say grace before they ate (stuff his fat face) and his wife pulled out in a brand new denali and he in a brand new bmw 740i told my wife jesus would drive a bmw. this guy is worst than Wright.
Matthew, Newark...

You hit it right on the head! MSM should beat McNut up about this, but NO! The free bias pass must end.
My friends, give an old, senile, incoherent man a break. I don't even remember him endorsing me.

I never said I don't know anything about economics.

I love war.

I hate Catholics and gays and abortionists. Send them all to Iran.
It's kinda hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube.  The apology is a joke - Hagee has a long standing history of this type of talk - a leopard can't change it's spots.  McSame is just running for political cover, and he'll no doubt get it because both he and the preacher are white.  there's a really glaring double-standard on this issue.  If hagee represents christianity - you can keep it!
Will the "Useful Idiots" fall for it?  Stay tuned
WAIT A MINUTE.  I believe in forgiveness!!! But why as a society are we "allowed"  to forgive someone like Hagee and NOT Farrakhan or Wright?  Obama must distance but McCain can get away with viewing a written letter.  You may be offended by what Farrakhan and Wright have said (passionate dialogue can get offensive at times).  However, their work in the AA community (while society otherwise turned their backs) have been amazing.  You can ask Rendell - he verbally praised Farrakhan when he was Mayor of Philly!
Rob, San Diego, CA - The teachings of Jesus?!?!?!?!?!

Seriously Rob, if Jesus was able to see what is done in his name on this planet, he would have God destroy all humans and simply walk away.  
Hagee is just doing what is politically correct for McCain. This is nothing but bullsh*t and everyone knows it. Once again, John "The Panderer" McCain comes out to play. He's going to get trounced in November but fortunately, he will have a lot of his wife's beer to cry in.


SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

TRACKBACKS

Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/trackback.aspx?PostID=1016795

First Read e-mail alerts


Sign up for First Read alerts
The first place for key political news and analysis

Syndicate This Site

Add First Read to your news reader:
live.com xml
myyahoo msn
bloglines newsgator
google