John McCain is desperate. Like a wounded animal, he's going to start lashing out furiously at Obama and his associations -- that is, William Ayers, Tony Rezko and (maybe) Jeremiah Wright.
Do the Republicans really want to bring this topic up? John McCain and Sarah Palin have made a number of unsavory associations. In some cases, they're closer than Obama's associations with Ayers/Rezko/Wright. In other cases, they're thinner.
I'm sure many of you have heard of most (if not all) of these people, but I wanted to provide a handy guide.
G. Gordon Liddy
Liddy planned and committed the Watergate break-ins, proposed firebombing the Brookings Institution and the kidnapping anti-war activists, and planned the never-carried-out murder of a newspaper columnist, Jack Anderson.
He did five and a half years in prison for the aforementioned burglary and illegal surveillance, where he was unrepentant and called himself a "prisoner of war." In 1994, he advocated the killing of federal ATF agents if they came to take your guns, suggesting that you aim for the head because they'll have bulletproof vests. When called out on it, he said he was sorry and encouraged supporters to aim for the groin instead. He also mentioned that when he went shooting, he labeled his targets "Bill" and "Hillary."
Liddy's donated $5,000 to McCain's political campaigns, and McCain had this to say about him: "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family. It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."
Col. Oliver North
After several Americans were kidnapped by Islamic Jihad, members of the Reagan administration hatched a scheme to release them. The original plan was to ship weapons (through Israel as a proxy) to well-placed moderate Iranians. In return, the Iranians would pressure Islamic Jihad to release the hostages.
Col. North came along and suggested to drop Israel as an intermediary and sell the weapons directly to Iran at an inflated price. The money from the sale would be covertly funneled to the Contras, a Nicaraguan anti-communist guerilla group.
When the plan was publicly leaked, North shredded documents pertaining to the plan. He was convicted of three felonies, but the convictions were later overturned on appeal due to legal technicalities (hey -- similar to Ayers).
In 1994, North was nominated by the Virginia Republican Party to run for Senate. Then-Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole denounced him and refused to endorse. John McCain endorsed him, albeit not particularly enthusiastically:
I know nothing illegal or unconstitutional that took place in the Virginia Republican Party's process of selecting their nominee. I'll support their nominee and it's -- clearly, it's Col. North at this time. And by the way, I'm the person that called for the resignation of the governor of this state, who was of my party. But I don't see anything wrong with the process. I think from a clear political standpoint, our chances of winning that seat are dramatically diminished. There's no doubt about that. But I respect the views and decision of the Virginia Republican Party.
On February 12, 2008, North wrote an endorsement of John McCain in the Washington Times. The McCain camp's response? They released a press release to trumpet the endorsement.
Charles Keating
In the first five years of McCain's political career, Keating gave $112,000 to McCain's campaigns. McCain's wife and father-in-law invested $359,100 in a shopping center run by Keating, and the McCain family went on several trips at his expense. But in the late 80s, his savings-and-loan business went insolvent. To keep his company afloat, he began making risky, potentially illegal investments -- something regulators were looking into.
To stop the investigation, Keating called up five Senators who he had given lots of money to: Four Democrats, and John McCain. McCain was angered at the Keating's request, but went to meet with regulators anyway... although allegedly to make sure that his constituent was being treated fairly. Upon finding out that Keating was being criminally investigated, McCain cut off all ties.
In the end, Keating's business failed and 21,000 people lost their life savings -- and had to be bailed out by the government. He was later convicted on 73 counts of wire fraud and served 4 years in prison before his sentence was overturned and he was re-tried; he pleaded guilty to 4 charges of fraud and was sentenced to time served.
McCain was investigated and cleared of impropriety, though he was criticized for "poor judgment." He later called it the biggest mistake of his life. Was he guilty of anything? Perhaps not, but it's a hell of a lot messier than Obama's relationship with Tony Rezko.
Rev. John Hagee
Rev. Hagee is the pastor of a non-denominational charismatic church, as well as the the CEO of a nonprofit organization that broadcasts his sermons on TV and radio.
Hagee holds some nutty beliefs in addition to his run-of-the-mill "charismatic" beliefs: he feels that Harry Potter is modern-day witchcraft, he condemns stay-at-home dads and thinks global warming is a conspiracy. He believed that Hurricane Katrina was divine punishment for New Orleans' sins, and thinks Armageddon is imminent (and can be coaxed along with a preemptive strike on Iran, which he supports).
Even more controversially, Hagee called the Catholic Church "A Godless theology of hate that no one dared try to stop for a thousand years produced a harvest of hate," blamed the Holocaust partly on Catholicism, and has insinuated that the Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon from the Book of Revelation. After being widely denounced by many, including the perpetually-offended Bill Donahue of the Catholic League, he claimed to change his mind about the Church.
Hagee has stated that "those who live by the Qur'an have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews; it teaches that very clearly... There are 1.3 billion people who follow the Islamic faith, so if you're saying there's only 15 percent that want to come to America or invade Israel to crush it, you're only talking about 200 million people. That's far more than Hitler and Japan and Italy and all of the Axis powers in World War II had under arms."
Hagee has also insinuated that the Jews' rebellion against God is the reason why they've suffered throughout history, including during the Holocaust (which he also believes was a divine plan to bring the Jews back to Israel); he also believes that the (Jewish) Rothschild family is part of some sort of global conspiracy.
Not only did John McCain receive Hagee's endorsement, he sought it out; for two months, after word of these various statements started coming out, he continued to honor the endorsement while disagreeing with the particular beliefs. Finally, the pressure built up to the point that he rejected the endorsement (and taking a shot at Obama while doing so).
Rev. Rod Parsley
Parsley is the pastor of a charismatic Ohio megachurch (and televangelist) who opposes the separation of church and state. He has said that Christians must wage war against the "false religion" of Islam, an "anti-Christ" religion revealed not by God, but rather by demons, and suggesting that the United States was founded in party to destroy Islam. He also used some creepy talk in referring to the IRS and the media:
The secular media never likes it when I say this, so let me say it twice. Man your battle stations! Ready your weapons! They say this rhetoric is so inciting. I came to incite a riot. ... Man your battle stations. Ready your weapons. Lock and load — for the thirty, forty liberal pastors who filed against our ministry with the Internal Revenue Service. ... Let the struggle begin. Let it begin in your heart today with a shout unto him who has called us to war — not only that, he has empowered you and I to win.
McCain sought and received Parsley's endorsement as well, calling him a "spiritual guide", but again took at least two months to reject the endorsement (taking a shot against Obama in the process). Parsley then withdrew his endorsement of McCain.
Rev. Thomas Muthee
Rev. Muthee has founded over 400 churches in Africa, but not without controversy. Early in his career, he claims to have had a vision that the source of crime in a particular region of Kenya was due to a witch named "Mama Jane". He demanded that she convert to Christianity or leave town. After people died in a car accident in front of her clinic, Muthee's followers decided that she was, indeed, responsible for evil deeds; they gathered to stone her to death, but the police intervened and she fled town. Muthee claimed a victory for spiritual warfare and said that since she left, the crime rate has dropped (not true).
Muthee has made quite a few guest appearances at the Wasilla Assembly of God, Sarah Palin's old church, where her pastor referred to him as having powers of prophecy. He's asked God to bring money to Sarah Palin's campaigns and help her guide the nation in the right direction (and to protect her from witchcraft). Sarah Palin was seen praising him and his speeches while in church.
Evil? Questionable. Weird? Kooky? Hell yes.
Ed Kalnins
Kalnins is the pastor of Sarah Palin's old church, the Wasilla Assembly of God. I quote the Huffington Post:
During the 2004 election season, he praised President Bush's performance during a debate with Sen. John Kerry, then offered a not-so-subtle message about his personal candidate preferences. "I'm not going tell you who to vote for, but if you vote for this particular person, I question your salvation. I'm sorry." He added: "If every Christian will vote righteously, it would be a landslide every time."
Months after hinting at possible damnation for Kerry supporters, he bristled at the treatment President Bush was receiving over the federal government's handling of Hurricane Katrina. "I hate criticisms towards the President," he said, "because it's like criticisms towards the pastor -- it's almost like, it's not going to get you anywhere, you know, except for hell. That's what it'll get you."
Hardcore. Kalnins also seems to think that the War on Terror is a world war in which Christians should stand up to sacrifice their lives:
What you see in a terrorist -- that's called the invisible enemy. There has always been an invisible enemy. What you see in Iraq, basically, is a manifestation of what's going on in this unseen world called the spirit world. ... We need to think like Jesus thinks. We are in a time and a season of war, and we need to think like that. We need to develop that instinct. We need to develop as believers the instinct that we are at war, and that war is contending for your faith. ... Jesus called us to die. You're worried about getting hurt? He's called us to die. Listen, you know we can't even follow him unless you are willing to give up your life. ... I believe that Jesus himself operated from that position of war mode. Everyone say "war mode." Now you say, wait a minute ... he's like the good shepherd, he's loving all the time and he's kind all the time. Oh yes he is -- but I also believe that he had a part of his thoughts that knew that he was in a war.
I quote the Huffington Post again, because I'm getting too lazy to paraphrase:
He preaches repeatedly about the "end times" or "last days," an apocalyptic prophesy held by a small but vocal group of Christian leaders. During his appearance with Palin in June, he declared, "I believe Alaska is one of the refuge states in the last days, and hundreds of thousands of people are going to come to the state to seek refuge and the church has to be ready to minister to them."
He also claims to have received direct "words of knowledge" from God, providing him information about past events in other people's lives. During one sermon, he described being paired with a complete stranger during a golf outing. "I said, I'm a minister from Alaska and I want you to know that your wife left you -- you know that your wife left you and that the Lord is gonna defend you in a very short time, and it wasn't your fault. And the man drops his clubs, he literally was about to tee off and he dropped his clubs, and he says, 'Who the blank are you?' And I says, 'well, I'm a minister.' He says, 'how do you know about my life? What do you know?' And I started giving him more of the word of knowledge to his life and he was freaked out."
Conclusion
John McCain's and Sarah Palin's interesting associations don't forgive Barack Obama's, but there is a warning here about people in glass houses not throwing stones...