Ann Althouse becomes, I think, the first conservative blogger to get on John McCain’s case about his accepting the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee, who holds somewhat … primitive … views about Catholicism. Kudos to her.
One of Althouse’s commenters puts his finger on the key point:
One thing is quite clear: If Obama said “I’m proud to accept Farrakhan’s endorsement,” his campaign would be over tomorrow.
Another commenter points out that Hagee is far more virulently anti-Catholic than Bob Jones. In 2000, the McCain campaign made “Catholic Alert” phone calls denouncing George W. Bush for speaking at Bob Jones University. Of course, that was then, and this is now.
McCain is in a tough spot. He flew all the way to Texas to accept Hagee’s endorsement. He continued to say he was proud to have it even after having some of Hagee’s anti-Catholic rant quoted to him. So it backpedaling would be hard.
And Red Blogistan is in an equally tough spot. How many Redbloggers will follow Althouse, and how many will simply button their lips. Anyone who criticized Barack Obama for being insufficiently vehement in denouncing Louis Farrakhan but who doesn’t join Althouse in rebuking McCain for actively seeking out the endorsement of a bigot like Hagee, has no intellectual integrity at all.