If there was any doubt how badly John McCain wanted to be president, let it end now: McCain is going to be the graduation speaker at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.
U.S. Sen. John McCain – a likely 2008 presidential candidate who once labeled the Rev. Jerry Falwell an “agent of intolerance” – will be Liberty University’s graduation speaker on May 13.
“I was in Washington with him about three months ago,” Falwell said. “We dealt with every difference we have. There are no deal breakers now. But I told him, ‘You have a lot of fence mending to do.’” Falwell, LU’s chancellor, said McCain, an Arizona Republican, is among the presidential candidates he could support in 2008. “This is not an endorsement,” Falwell said.
Goodness, the only thing appealing about John McCain is his “maverick” image and willingness to risk offending people like Falwell. What, Bob Jones University wouldn’t invite him?
Lynchburg News & Advance reporter Ron Brown points out, “McCain’s visit to the LU campus is, at the very least, an attempt to make peace with conservative Christians prior to the presidential campaign.”
Courting the base is essential and Falwell is right to say that McCain has some fences to mend. But this move just makes him look desperate. Brown again:
While running against then- Gov. George W. Bush in the South Carolina and Virginia primaries in 2000, McCain denounced Falwell and Virginia Beach televangelist Pat Robertson in what was seen as a move to lure more moderate voters to his campaign. “Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance, whether they be Louis Farrakhan or Al Sharpton on the left or Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell on the right,” McCain said at the time.
So, he’s going to the equivalent of Louis Farrakhan University to engraciate himself with the Republican Al Sharpton?
I believe our maverick has lost that lovin’ feeling.
