McCain Campaign Clarifies ‘Christian Nation' Remarks

[sabra]

Source: NYSun

WASHINGTON — Moving swiftly to stamp out a potential political firestorm, the campaign of Senator McCain is trying to clarify the Republican presidential candidate's statements that he would prefer a Christian president and that the Constitution established America as a "Christian nation." "I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, that's a decision the American people would have to make, but personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith," the Arizona senator said when an interviewer for the Web site beliefnet.com asked him about the possibility of a Muslim running for president.

Elsewhere in the interview, which was published Saturday, he said: "I would probably have to say yes, that the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation."

Mr. McCain later contacted the Web site to say he would vote for a Muslim if he or she were the candidate "best able to lead our country and defend our political values."

...

"The senator did not intend to assert that members of one religious faith or another have a greater claim to American citizenship over another," the spokeswoman, Jill Hazelbaker, said. "Read in context, his interview with beliefnet makes clear that people of all faiths are entitled to all the rights protected by the Constitution, including the right to practice their religion freely."

Read more: http://www.nysun.com/article/63666

[Solly Mack]

1. Some people are dead and don't even know it

lay down already!

[no_hypocrisy]

2. As long as you're on a roll, hey John! Clarify this:

http://www.realchange.org/mccain.htm

[TwilightGardener]

3. He continues to disappoint. I could not have pictured him saying something

like this in 2000--how far he's fallen in trying to pander to the religious right. He might even believe this bullshit now.

[TlalocW]

4. "Poor" McCain...

In trying to cozy up to the religious right - a group he denounced in 2000 - he still chickened out and felt a need to clarify his remarks, which technically should go over well with them, and in coming back to "clarify" his statements, he loses any gains he might have gotten from them by waffling on the need for a government run only by Christians. And this is why I said, "technically should go over well with them," because both the religious right and the rest of the country now views McCain as a drooling sycophant who will say anything because he's so desperate to become president. This is just the latest example of his being a tool.

TlalocW

[paparush]

5. McCain - "Shit! Did I just say that out loud?"

[rateyes]

6. Talk about a flip-flop....

he castigated Falwell and Robertson and that whole bunch in 2000...now, he spouts this bunch of crap?

Maverick who's unafraid to speak the truth as he sees it, my rosy red ass.

[tchunter]

7. he really shot himself in the foot while it was still in his mouth

[cyr330]

8. Let's watch the loser squirm. . . .

He can't even stick with the drivel he spews. He's already "clarifying" what he "really meant". . . hehe-- NOT a recipe for obtaining votes. I can't wait to see that fucker go down in flames.

[krj44]

9. i thought that most

of the founding fathers were deist and this was a deist country.

[rodeodance]

10. your slip is out and around the world already McCain.

[coalition_unwilling]

11. What part of "Congress shall make no law regarding the

establishment of religion . . ." does McCain not get? Wouldn't those words prima facie mean that the framers of the Constitution explicitly ruled out a "Christian" nation? One of my old professors at the U. of Wisconsin claimed I was too 'logo centric' and I have to tell you at times like this logo centrism is a veritable curse.

[tanyev]

12. Stop beating that poor horse, John.

Rigor mortis has already set in.

[Kagemusha]

13. No one's even bothering to notice the clarification strikes a straw man.

No one got the idea that McCain was implying that some people were less CITIZENS than others. They got the idea McCain was saying they were not to be trusted in positions of authority.

[Trillo]

14. The reads like some lawyers have carefully parsed his words for him. n/t

[JBoy]

15. Some things should disqualify you from being President

Not understanding the basics of the Constitution should be one of them.

[Rage for Order]

16. You shouldn't bother Johnny boy

Your campaign was dead in the water before you spoke out of your ass (again). Your campaign couldn't get traction with a pair of tar shoes on warm asphalt.

[Synnical]

17. The Constitution never once mentions "god" or "christians"

Does McCain think we non-believers don't have constitutional rights, hmm?

[RiverStone]

18. all he has clarified is he is an arrogant ass

How dare he claim his faith should be that of the President's.

No way to pull your foot outta your mouth on this one McCain!