Dems pressure Cornyn over pastor's remarks
March 12, 2008
Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn should follow the lead of presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain and denounce the anti-Catholic remarks made by San Antonio televangelist John Hagee, the communications director for the Texas Democratic Party said Tuesday.
Written by John Moritz, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn should follow the lead of presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain and denounce the anti-Catholic remarks made by San Antonio televangelist John Hagee, the communications director for the Texas Democratic Party said Tuesday.
Cornyn, who is running for his second term in the Senate, was with McCain in San Antonio two weeks ago when Hagee endorsed the Arizona senator as "a man of principle" who would oppose abortion rights and stand up for the rights of Israel. Hagee and his wife, Diana, have contributed at least $4,300 to Cornyn's campaigns over the years.
Soon after Hagee issued his endorsement of McCain, the Republican frontrunner came under fire for at first declining to condemn the minister's descriptions of the Roman Catholic Church as "the great whore," "the Antichrist" and a "false cult system."
On Friday, more than a week after the endorsement was made, McCain relented.
"I categorically reject and repudiate any statement that was made that was anti-Catholic, both in intent and nature," he said. "I categorically reject it, and I repudiate it."
Democratic Party spokesman Hector Nieto said Cornyn should do the same.
"The Texas Democratic Party would hope to see Sen. Cornyn do the right thing and denounce Hagee's comments, but after watching Cornyn vote lock-step for President Bush and Karl Rove's radical agenda for the last eight years, no one here is holding their breath," he said.
Hagee, who started San Antonio's Cornerstone Church in 1975, and it now has about 19,000 members plus national television and radio audiences. Hagee founded the lobby group Christians United for Israel, and his church operates numerous services for young people, victims of sexual abuse and prison inmates.
A spokesman for Cornyn, who faces Democratic state Rep. Rick Noriega of Houston in the November election, said Hagee should not be judged solely on his remarks about Catholicism.
"Senator Cornyn values highly Pastor Hagee's work in a number of areas," Kevin McLaughlin said. "He obviously does not agree with statements viewed as anti-Catholic."
Nieto said such statements do not go far enough.
"This is a clear message that the Republican Party will continue to use wedge issues to divide a nation," he said.
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