Dr. J.'s 'He Really Said That': John McCain and the Jerry Falwell Endorsement

Senator John McCain celebrated his surprising 4th place finish in Iowa by announcing the next in a series of surprising endorsements he has been receiving since November. The first was that of Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), the self-described "Faith Candidate" representing Christian fundamentalism. Before endorsing Sen. McCain, Sen. Brownback had recently dropped out of the contest for the Republican Presidential nomination (and now, given the performance so far of the other frank Christian fundamentalist in the race, Gov. Huckabee, probably wishes he hadn't). That of course is the same John McCain who took apart the Christian fundamentalist leadership in the 2000 Presidential campaign.

At about the same time, back in November, Pat Robertson came out with his endorsement of Rudy Giuliani. (Who?) Then in December, McCain picked up the endorsement of the party-less Sen. Joe Lieberman. This despite the fact that McCain had previously declared that he did not regard non-Christians as qualified to govern (The Progress Report, "Blackout and Brownout," Oct. 1, 2007). Now, with Huckabee's win in Iowa coupled with his own strong showing (what was that, Senator?), McCain happily announced another endorsement from the Christian Right. That personage is none other than the Robertson brother-in-hate, Jerry Falwell.

When a reporter questioned how that could be when Falwell was dead, the spokesman first said it was a matter of controversy, "you know, like global warming." Then he asked a question back: "What, you think that Robertson is alive? And after all," he went on, "the Senator's good friend Joe Lieberman, although breathing, is not qualified to govern and is therefore dead as a political figure. But in any case," the spokesman further allowed, "following Senator Brownback's lead, and indeed that of Gov. Huckabee, about what counts in life, we take the Falwell endorsement on faith."

Steven Jonas, MD, MPH is a Professor of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook University (NY), a weekly Contributing Author for the Web zine The Political Junkies.net; a Special Contributing Editor for Cyrano's Journal Online; and an invited contributor to the Web log The Daily Scare.

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