:: in.a.mirror.dimly ::

It was bound to happen. If Senator John McCain wants a shot at the White House in 2008, then he has to suck it up and court the religious right. Apparently he has gone straight to the head man. After criticizing Jerry Falwall as an agent of intolerance, McCain and Jerry have tried to make nice for the sake of the common good: keeping liberals out of the White House.

It’s amazing how far two men will go to acheive a common goal. McCain has to swallow his pride and have his picture taken with Falwell. Falwell has to accept that McCain is not quite in the same camp on issues such as gay marriage. I for one am glad to see a moderating influence rise to prominence in the Republican party. I’m sick of the religious right determining the agenda. I don’t want the next election to center on gay marriage. Way to bite the bullet John.

The NY Times article has a few snippets of the speech. While I’m not in the same place as McCain, I do agree with him that we need to set things right in Iraq instead of pulling out and leaving a bigger mess. To his credit he made a very generous comment:

“Americans should argue about this war,” he said. “It has cost the lives of nearly 2,500 of the best of us. It has taken innocent life. It has imposed an enormous financial burden on our economy.”

This is more than I can ever expect from W by the way.

Oddly enough, it seems like McCain and Falwell had a sort of show-down. They know how much they need one another and perhaps they were each hoping the other one would blink and back off. Falwell was probably hoping that McCain would speak out against the rampant immorality in America. McCain was probably hoping that Falwell would fess up for his intolerance and wave a rainbow flag. Niether blinked. They both ran their separate ways, but they got the picture and the news articles. Maybe that’s enough.

In any case, here’s hoping for an election in 2008 that will focus on real issues.