On Saturday, in arguing for a strong defense of Georgia in its struggles with Russia, McCain twice noted that Georgia is a Christian nation - perhaps to distinguish it from other crumbling pieces of the former Soviet Union that are Muslim, such as Chechnya and Azerbaijan.
Such comments may pass unnoticed by most American voters and may be reassuring to some religious Christians and Jews. They may even go over well with some secular Americans who are pleased that he is using more inclusive language than some members of the religious right.
But his repeated invocation of "Judeo-Christian values" is sure to stick in the ears of Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and people of other non-Christian, non-Jewish faiths. And they're sure to be asking themselves: Just what is McCain trying to tell us?
So-called "Judeo-Christian values" aside, I find John McCain to be a phony, distasteful tool. But you already knew that.
Nevertheless, I find this kind of crap to be both frightening and astoundingly unenlightened, to put it mildly. As the Globe asserts, what exactly would America be telling non-Judeo-Christian nations about their values and cultures if this kind of twaddle became State Department canon:
"This just wasn't the elimination of a threat to Iraq - this was elimination of a threat to the West, part of this titanic struggle we are in between western Judeo-Christian values and principles and Islamic extremists," McCain said in 2006, after the killing of Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
To my mind, that really gives the impression that this is a religious war between Christianity and Islam. I know, I know....we've heard that from the hard-core PNAC'ers and wingnuts for years. But the basic premise the Globe puts forth is that McSame:
...often uses the term as a synonym for "American values."
AND...the kicker:
Even President Bush has resisted framing the war on terrorism as a clash of religions; his inexpert use of the word "crusade" early in the conflict set off a wave of criticism and backtracking. He's never repeated it.
Is this mere pandering, or does John McCain really think we're in a holy war?