GOP presidential candidate John McCain says America is better off with a Christian President and he doesn't want a Muslim in the Oval Office."I admire the Islam. There's a lot of good principles in it," he said. "But I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith."
In a wide-ranging interview about religion and faith with the Web site Beliefnet, McCain said he wouldn't "rule out under any circumstance" someone who wasn't Christian, but said, "I just feel that that's an important part of our qualifications to lead."
A Mormon such as rival candidate Mitt Romney, he said, would be okay.
"The Mormon religion is a religion that I don't share, but I respect.
"More importantly, I've known so many people of the Mormon faith who have been so magnificent," he said.
Dude, just shut up. You’ve shot yourself in the foot. Get your finger off the trigger.
Just what is his faith? This site says Episcopalian, November 2000. The Daily News article says he’s going to undergo a full immersion baptism after the campaign. So I wonder, does he even have a solid grounding in his faith?
In the interview, the senator also said the "Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation."
That is so not true. It would be awfully nice if the next president we get actually knows the Constitution.
Somebody must have gotten to him after the interview, because he called the website conducting it afterward to “clarify”.
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."Yesterday, his campaign took a step further, issuing a statement from its chief spokeswoman that sought to explain and clarify his remarks, but without retracting them.
"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."
Yeah, just not to be president.
He added, “I think the number one issue people should make [in the] selection of the President of the United States is, ‘Will this person carry on in the Judeo Christian principled tradition that has made this nation the greatest experiment in the history of mankind?’”
The American Jewish Committee, an international think tank and advocacy organization based in New York, issued a statement criticizing the Arizona senator, arguing that McCain should know that the United States is a democratic society without a religious test for public office.To argue that America is a Christian nation, or that persons of a particular faith should by reason of their faith not seek high office, puts the very character of our country at stake," Jeffrey Sinensky, the group's general counsel, said Monday in a statement.
Well, to be fair, the character of our country has pretty well lain down in the gutter, and there isn’t much at stake in that regard, so I think the senator has done more damage to himself than to the country.
”There’s a lot of good principles” in “the Islam"??? He gives George a run for his money in the speaking department, doesn't he?
McCain really seems to have no personal principles or ideas. It's as though he says whatever some third-rate handlers are telling him will boost his image, and he's not intelligent enough to see just how wrong they are. Or else he isn't independent enough to buck them. Like the 'gay sweater' deal.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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