A film produced by the San Francisco lefty mag Mother Jones links McCain to the bigoted preacher Rod Parsley. Just as Jeremiah Wright felt compelled to speak venom to power, Reverend Parsley, who McCain describes as his "spiritual guide", doesn't shy away from spitting bile at Islam. Juicy bits include:
"America was founded in part with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed."
"Mohammed received revelations from demon spirits, not the living god."
"America has historically understood itself to be a bastion against Islam in the world."
"This is about to freak you out...Since September 11, 2001, 34,000 Americans have become Muslims...This means that thousands of Americans have embraced the very religion that inspired the worst assault upon their nation in a generation."
Will Parsley damage McCain as much as Wright has hurt Obama? Probably not. After all, it's far more acceptable to long for Manichean apocalypse than criticise one's own country.
Bizarre - I don't think that America was founded with Islam in mind. I don't think they'd even thought of it.
Perhaps the earliest encounter between the two was during the early 19th century when the Americans mounted some of their first overseas military expeditions to suppress the "Barbary Pirates" of North Africa.
