Jenna Bush Wedding Pastor Rips McCain

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Jenna Bush Wedding Pastor Rips McCain

August 15, 2008 11:56 AM

ABC News' Teddy Davis, Hope Ditto and Rigel Anderson report: The pastor who officiated Jenna Bush's wedding ripped into Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Friday for jokingly volunteering his wife last week for a beauty pageant that often features contestants topless.

"Well, I don't know a lot about John McCain's family history, I do know, however, that as recently as last week I think it was, the senator made a comment in South Dakota regarding his wife entering some Buffalo Chips contest which is this topless deal and if she were to enter she would probably win it and my personal opinion and based on my understanding of the Christian faith, that's not, not, N-O-T, not the type of expression that a presidential candidate, or anyone for that matter who is a follower of the Christian faith, ought to make," said the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell. "I don't know if that is a perfect case in point, but it surely does help to juxtapose the DNA of Senator Obama, if you would, versus the DNA of Senator McCain."

Asked if McCain was unaware that the Buffalo Chips contest often features contestants topless, a McCain aide told ABC News that he believes the senator was aware but emphasized that the presumptive GOP nominee was joking and would not want his wife to participate in such a contest.

Caldwell, a close personal friend of President Bush who supports Obama for president, is the senior pastor at Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston. Caldwell made his comments on a conference call with reporters sponsored by the Matthew 25 Network, a liberal Christian Group. Matthew 25 is planning to air a pro-Obama ad on Saturday during the Rick Warren forum with Obama and McCain. The ad will air on CNN and possibly MSNBC, according to the group's spokesperson.

Caldwell said that McCain's Buffalo Chips comment stood in stark contrast with Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., whom Caldwell sees as a good family man supporting pro-family policies.

Caldwell then invoked comments that Rick Warren made about adultery in a Thursday interview with ABC News' Jake Tapper to raise additional questions about McCain.

"His marital history has been duly recorded," said Caldwell, referring to McCain, "and as recently as yesterday I think it is, our pastor from Saddleback, Rick Warren indicated that he would not feel comfortable voting for an adulterer and I don't know exactly to whom he was referring but I think the data speaks for itself, and again, at the end of the day, and I really appreciate you raising this because, at the end of the day again I think the American public deserves full revelation of the candidate's character and competency. Character and competency. So, whatever questions that should be asked that would give the voting public an indication as to who they are and what they've done should be fair game."

Asked by ABC's Tapper in the context of John Edwards if he would have compunctions about voting for someone who had cheated on his wife, Warren said, "Absolutely I would. Absolutely I would. Because if you can’t keep your faith to your most sacred vow – '’til death do us part' -- how in the world can I trust you to lead my family? My government? My nation? . . . Absolutely I would. I think people first need to ask forgiveness and then earn trust back over time Can trust be re-earned? Absolutely but it takes time."

In "Worth the Fighting For," McCain wrote that the collapse of his first marriage was attributable to his own "selfishness and immaturity."

"The blame was entirely mine," wrote McCain.

A McCain spokesman had no immediate reaction when asked about Caldwell's criticism.

UPDATE I:

McCain spokesman Brian Rogers has responded to Caldwell's criticism by saying, "These people are Obama campaign surrogates. These kinds of personal attacks are disgraceful. This absolutely exposes the hypocrisy of Obama's claim to represent a 'new kind of politics.'"

A Republican strategist, speaking on the condition of anonymity, reacted to the Caldwell comments by telling ABC News, "My advice to the Obama people: 'Proceed with extreme caution.' They don't want to get into a discussion of character and background. They are opening a door that they will not be able to close. They are putting on the table issues and personalities that they do not want to discuss."

Asked which personalities? The GOP strategist cited the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko and former Obama law partners.

The Obama campaign had no immediate reaction to Caldwell's comments or the McCain campaign response.

UPDATE II:

Former Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee defended McCain on Friday in Washington, D.C., in response to remarks made earlier by Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell.

"First of all," said Huckabee, "Sen. McCain has a great sense of humor like mine but sometimes it does not go over as well as we hope. I know a little bit about that.

"But I also believe," Huckabee continued, "that Sen. McCain has been very honest about his life and about not only who he was but I think very refreshingly who he is. And the one thing I find about Sen. McCain is that he is a man of honor. I said that on the debate stage even when I was his political opponent. I still say that today."

He added, "This is the kind of conversation that makes up a political campaign. People digging as deep as they can to find some little nugget to elevate and to amplify and that is what that is about. But I don’t think anyone who has ever been around John McCain would accuse him of being a person who did not have respect for his wife."

Huckabee made his remarks at a press conference held by TheCall, a prayer group that is holding a fast in the nation's capital on Aug. 16. The group calls on its members to live a lifestyle of "purity and godliness."

August 15, 2008 in Hunter, Duncan, Kucinich, Dennis, Tancredo, Tom, Thompson, Fred | Permalink | User Comments (116)

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Reagan fan you listen to hannity too much. 74% of coverage on obama is negative.

Posted by: ak | Aug 15, 2008 12:15:50 PM

Basically this says that McCain is not a nice person or a mean one. Edwards recently admitted his narcissism but it has been a part of McCain's life from day one along with an attitude towards women that is sexist and demeaning.

Posted by: bhciapol | Aug 15, 2008 12:19:49 PM

Hold on Reaganfan....election day isn't here yet. It is quite obvious that McCain has little respect for his wife if he would make comments like he did in SD. He has done this before and she basically just takes it. I feel sorry for her because he always walks one step behind him, and looks scared. She never speaks unless spoken to. I don't know. It seems like a weird relationship.

Posted by: truthtell | Aug 15, 2008 12:19:54 PM

Let the national media vetting of McCain begin!!! The reality does not match the mythology and more people need to be made aware.

Posted by: Lou R | Aug 15, 2008 12:29:37 PM

reaganfan - hardly a non-story.

Certainly not about issues related to the challenges our country is facing; that much I'll grant you. But when there's signs that Obama may have an opening with evangelicals, who aren't comfortable with some things they're seeing from McCain, it certainly is an interesting campaign dynamic.

Posted by: Paul | Aug 15, 2008 12:37:03 PM

Well i guess the Attack DOORS are open now to ATTACK OBAMA and his WIFE and RELIGION full force since Obama said to keep wives and Religion out of this.

Maybe if Obama denounces this then McCain supporters will keep Obama's American hating wife out of the campaign and his Rev+ Wright out of the media.

Posted by: The DOORS are OPEN | Aug 15, 2008 12:43:19 PM

Lets bring up Obama's mother then. Or maybe how Obama insulted his grandmother for political reasons.

The Attack starts now on Obama. Obama opened the door by not refusing the support of a false christian religion

Posted by: Harlot | Aug 15, 2008 12:47:52 PM

about time the McMedia starts focusing on the post POW McCain as close as they have Obama. At least have him answer the tough questions. there is still a long way to go before it's balanced.

Posted by: watching | Aug 15, 2008 12:49:06 PM

This pastor sounds just a little too judgemental to me.

Posted by: Lisa Again | Aug 15, 2008 12:56:51 PM

They can run all the ads they want against McCain. It will never do away with the fact he put his life on the line for freedom and idiot groups like Matthew 25 to spew out false religion supporting the false messiah Obama.

But the other side of the coin. Obama spent 20 years in an American hating Wrights church that said 3000 people deserved to die in the world trade center

Posted by: lenny | Aug 15, 2008 12:57:46 PM

I can't fathom how any woman can vote for McCain at this point. I hardly love Obama, but it's clear to me that the other side views us as less than them.

Posted by: Sandra | Aug 15, 2008 12:58:13 PM

Karen - I see it as even worse.

McCain's first wife was a swimwear model. A car accident left her crippled and disfigured. The timing could be coincidental but it was at this point the marriage started coming apart.

That's when he traded her in for his current wife, a much younger, much richer and now more attractive woman.

There's also some indication of other affairs with other women.

Posted by: Paul | Aug 15, 2008 12:58:58 PM

reganfan - "Another Non-Story!" - Non-story? What, you don't like the fact that the neocons and religious right are being uncovered for the frauds that they are? I mean, they try to portray themselves as the party of 'family values' then get caught in the stall with their 'wide stance' doing, well, you know what.

Posted by: jmengate | Aug 15, 2008 1:06:18 PM

Like most politicians, McCain has no common sense and his wife needs less peroxide and more personality on that pimple atop her shoulders. God help us all if he gets elected!!!

Posted by: Ray Fisher | Aug 15, 2008 1:09:25 PM

Cindy, keep your clothes on. Thank you.

Posted by: Ben Straub | Aug 15, 2008 1:09:27 PM

Any of you haters ever hear of a JOKE? I grant you it was not particularly funny, but he was not serious, people. It cracks me up how you commenters say stuff like, "Anyone who would offer his wife for a topless contest ...". IT'S A JOKE for crying out loud. If anything, he's simply gloating because his wife is kinda hot. McCain needs to quit joking though, cuz he's not good at it, and he's giving the opposition ammunition every time he tries to be funny.

Posted by: Lou Z. Anna | Aug 15, 2008 1:09:58 PM

Will,

Senator Obama is on vacation, and Mr. Foreign Policy can only garner a tie? That's it...a country, for which John McFraud has a lobbyist in his campaign, breaks out into a war, and he only ties? This does not bode well for McCain. What's gonna happen when Senator Obama comes back this weekend, makes the correct assessment, issues great vision on handling the situation, and McCain flip-flops to Obama's position? Not pretty for McCain, but then again...you were hoping all week long McFraud would get a boost in the polls from a WAR.

Posted by: BruhMan | Aug 15, 2008 1:10:14 PM

McCain is a scum and a loser, I am a 59 year old republican woman and that McCain makes me sick, I will not be voting for him

Posted by: Marjorie Kalman | Aug 15, 2008 1:14:07 PM

Lou Z. Anna - "McCain needs to quit joking though, cuz he's not good at it" - Do you honestly know any Republicans that are funny?

Posted by: jmengate | Aug 15, 2008 1:14:22 PM

McCain has nothing to offer this country all he can do is keep on with the Bush policies and the Bush people.
if that is what you want vote for McCain. He will send your children, grandchildren to war- continue the destruction of the constitution, destroy the supreme court. etc. etc. If that is what you want vote for him. The rest of us will be leaving the country for Mexico. We expect that you will do the same if Obama wins. There will not be any room for you here.

Posted by: cjr | Aug 15, 2008 1:18:48 PM

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