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McCain attacks Religious Right

Christian Century, March 15, 2000

REPUBLICAN presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R., Ariz.) on February 28 lashed out at the "self-appointed" leaders of the Religious Right, calling them "agents of intolerance" and comparing them to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton, the brash New York civil rights leader. On February 29 he lashed out again, accusing evangelical figures Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell of wielding "an evil influence" over the Republican Party. He later apologized for the latter remark.

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In a February 28 campaign appearance in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the home turf of Christian Coalition founder and president Pat Robertson, the Arizona senator billed himself as a candidate who can reach beyond the Republican Party's conservative base and lead his party to victory in November. "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.

While campaigning in California on February 29, according to the New York Times, McCain told reporters that it was part of his job "to stand up and take on the forces of evil,... and I can't steer the Republican Party if those two individuals have the influence that they have on the party today." McCain also castigated the Religious Right for its "vicious attacks" on Colin Powell, former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and on the cochairman of his own campaign staff, former New Hampshire Senator Warren Rudman.

The next day McCain apologized for characterizing Robertson and Falwell as evil influences: "I do not consider them evil, and I regret that my flip remark may have mistakenly created that impression." McCain said that he often jokes about "Luke Skywalker, evil empires and death stars. It was in that vein that I used the phrase."

McCain's criticisms of the Religious Right were part of a high-stakes strategy to reach beyond his party's conservative core in an effort to build a "bigger Republican Party" and galvanize those Democratic and independent voters who gave him decisive victories in New Hampshire, Arizona and Michigan.

McCain's attack on Robertson and Falwell came after his main rival, Texas Governor George W. Bush, apologized in a letter to New York Cardinal John O'Connor for not speaking out against the anti-Catholic and racist policies at Bob Jones University, where Bush kicked off his South Carolina campaign February 2. Calling his failure to comment on the policies and viewpoint at Bob Jones a "missed opportunity," Bush said he wished he had distanced himself from the fundamentalist school, which bans interracial dating. "On reflection, I should have been more clear in disassociating myself from anti-Catholic sentiments and racial prejudice," Bush wrote in his letter. "It was a missed opportunity causing needless offense, which I deeply regret."

Bob Jones's positions are hardly a secret. On its Web site the university states that its ban on interracial dating began nearly 50 years ago, a time when "Christians nationwide understood that interracial marriage was best avoided." The university also states, "If there are those who wish to charge us with being anti-Catholic, we plead guilty. But we are not Catholic-haters .... All religion, including Catholicism, which teaches that salvation is by religious works or church dogma is false."

Bush's campaign has been dogged by charges of anti-Catholic bias following his speech at the university, and McCain's campaign sent taped phone messages to Michigan voters before the state's February 22 primary faulting Bush for not speaking out against Bob Jones. McCain continued the attacks in his February 28 and 29 comments. "We are the party of Ronald Reagan, not Pat Robertson.... We are the party of Abraham Lincoln, not Bob Jones," McCain said on February 28.

Bush, after hearing McCain's comments, chided the senator for using religion to polarize voters and failing to follow the example of former President Reagan, whose mantle both men seek to claim. "Ronald Reagan didn't point fingers," Bush said. "He never played to people's religious fears like Senator McCain has shamelessly done."

McCain did, however, praise some Religious Right leaders, including former Nixon aide Chuck Colson, president of Prison Fellowship, and James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family.

Meanwhile, insisting that lawmakers have an obligation to condemn Bob Jones University, Democrats introduced a resolution February 29 to denounce the school. "George W. Bush's stop at Bob Jones University has turned over a rock under which has lived all sorts of bigoted practices," said Senator Harry Reid (D., Nev.).

Democrats contend that Bush's apology for not speaking out did not go far enough, pointing out that he did not apologize for his silence about the university's policy on interracial dating. But Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R., Miss.) refused to consider the Democrats' resolution, which was introduced in both the House and Senate.

McCain attacks Religious Right

Christian Century, March 15, 2000

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