"Power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution -- these can lift at a colossal humbug -- push it a little -- weaken it a little over the course of a century; but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand." -Mark Twain
"The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet."
- Mark Twain
What a sad fall from grace. John McCain used to be one of the few principled members of the Republican party left who did not need nor solicit the support of the Religious Right. A vestige of rationality, McCain was even the antidote to the radicalization of the Republican party, calling Falwell (and his fellow nutcases) "agents of intolerance" after the smear campaign waged by the Religious Right in the 2000 North Carolina presidential primary.
No more. McCain has been cozying up to the politically-powerful religious right, most evident in his upcoming commencement address at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. Watch this video from Meet the Press chronicling McCain's reversal: Quicktime or WMV.
Maybe, though, what is most sad is what McCain's reversal says about the Republican party: he is their best candidate and leader, but is still impotent without the support of Evangelicals. Even a smart, moderate, charismatic, and principled Republican must must capitualate to the Far Right to court their votes. It seems that, Republicans are, or will be, ultimately beholden to Religous Right groups and the radical social agendas they seek to further.
Better Yet...
The Daily Show talks to McCain about Falwell and "Crazy Base World": Watch Video
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