John McCain visits with Billy Graham

MONTREAT, North Carolina -- Sunday morning, John McCain made a (relatively) last-minute stop in North Carolina to pay a visit to the world’s best-known evangelist, the Rev. Billy Graham, and his son, the Rev. Franklin Graham, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There was also a cameo appearance by a country music star, which we’ll get to in a moment.

McCain planned the stop to pay homage to the man who has counseled every American president for the last half century. To say that the Graham retreat was out of the way is an understatement -- about a 45-minute drive from the airport, up a very windy road that did not look entirely suitable for a motorcade of brawny SUVs. The homestead, high atop a forested hill, was quite modest, at least from the outside (reporters were not invited in). The house is a large brown shingled cabin with a tall rough-hewn stone chimney, a screen door and an old iron wheel at the front door.

The visit came at the behest of the presumptive Republican nominee, who has had a somewhat rocky relationship with Christian evangelicals. We know McCain asked for the meeting because about 15 minutes after it ended, his campaign released a statement from Franklin Graham saying just that:

"Sen. McCain’s office had requested a meeting …and we appreciate the effort he made to travel to my father’s home," the younger Graham said. "I was impressed by his personal faith and his moral clarity on important social issues facing America today."

Graham added that both he and McCain have sons in the military and both have a common interest in aviation. The Grahams, as ministers, do not endorse candidates. And McCain didn't even ask for their vote, he told reporters later during an impromptu press conference on the tarmac in Asheville.

"We had an excellent conversation," said McCain, as five reporters put their voice recorders about three inches from his face to catch what he was saying, since his Gulfstream jet had already fired up its engines. "Bill Graham recalled that during the Vietnam War when I was in prison, he visited my parents in Hawaii twice and he and my mother and father prayed together for me, and I expressed my appreciation for that a long time ago.…I am very grateful for the time they spent with me."

The meeting generated no news but McCain got a handy souvenir photo of himself sitting between the Grahams, and that certainly won’t hurt him with evangelicals, some of whom don’t find him suitably conservative and are still offended by what some believe was his calculated attempt to garner moderate votes in 2000.

McCain then condemned Pat Robertson and the Rev. Jerry Falwell as "agents of intolerance" during the campaign. By 2006, however, with his eye on the White House again, he’d changed his tune, telling Tim Russert that he no longer would apply that label to Falwell. A short time later, McCain gave the commencement speech at Falwell’s Liberty University.

Oh, about that country music star. A half-hour into the senator’s visit, singer Ricky Skaggs -- a bearish middle-aged guy with gray hair -- pulled up the driveway and made his way into the house.  He was scheduled to have lunch with the Grahams. A short time later, Franklin Graham and Skaggs stepped onto the small porch to bid the senator goodbye.

-- Robin Abcarian

Photo: LM Otero/Associated Press

Comments

[Bill Taromino]

I am always amazed at what the candidates will do to appeal to voters.

[wm musson]

who cares what these phoney killers agree about.....

[Clyde Nugget]

Will Obama visit Billy Graham and state what he said in June of 2006 at the Christian group Call to Renewal: "Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our Defense Dept. would survive its application." Perhaps Rev. Graham could convert Obama to Christianity and teach him the meaning of the Bible.

[Johnsy]

So who is this Billy Graham guy and why do we care?

[steve johnson]

More gratitude in separation of church and state. If Wright had been caught talking about Jews in the manner that Graham has been there would be a firestorm from the media.

[El Grindio]

Graham, a financially successful tele-evangelist, according to a Nixon aide's book, referred to "satanic Jews" and their "stranglehold on the media". How close he adheres to the Bible was shown when he denied those statements. When the Nixon tapes were released, they revealed:
BG: "This stranglehold has got to be broken or the country's going down the drain,"
RN: "You believe that?"
BG:"Yes, sir,"
RN: "Oh, boy,so do I. I can't ever say that, but I believe it."
BG: "No, but if you get elected a second time, then we might be able to do something."
Graham mentioned friends in the media who are Jewish, saying they "swarm around me and are friendly to me." "They don't know how I really feel about what they're doing to this country."

[Stick]

Now I'm really in a pickle. I can't vote republican because McCain has ties to Billy Graham. What a joke. I can't vote democrat because Obama is Black and will have a Clinton as a running mate. What are my other choices? Oh, yeah. I don't have any. Didn't we used to complain about communism elections in that they only gave their people 2 choices in their elections?

Wake up, people. It's time we took charge of our lives and our freedoms. People complain about 8 years of Bush. If we'd had Gore they would be complaining about 8 years of Gore or whoever, it wouldn't matter, we'd still be tired of them for one reason or another and ready for a change.

The way I see it, whichever party wins, and my money's on the democrats, We lose. I'm tired of politicians running this country. It's no different that any other "big business". Money talks. I'd rather have someone with business sense that could maybe have an inkling about managing money, people, and turning a profit (so the taxpayers don't get shafted for more government programs to keep the welfare mongers fed). They would better know how to deal with useless, unneeded, costly programs.

[VJ Machiavelli]

Two of "IGODS" biggest supporters with McCain, as they say picture is worth a thousand .......

VJ Machiavelli
http://www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com

[Ken Boe]

Ode To Obama’s Wright

Oh, Mr. Obama, I hear the critics deplore,
you had twenty years with this dizzying pastor,
in all those years how could you ignore
the eccentric rage of this black-power master?
For his egregious wounds, were you also sore?
In the heat of his herd, were you out to pasture?

Your decision, they say, it must be flawed,
to tithe him your pay, and grant him your might
as he swirled his vitriol into the words of God!
Obama, why did you stay with the old Dr. Wright?
Yes, I hear the critics chant, and their followers nod,
how could you not have heard what was in plain sight?

But none of these critics has seemingly considered
that it was your families choice, not only yours,
as they shoot Old Fashioned’s with too much Bitters
critics forget that Church is social, not just his, or hers;
more the nudge in the pew than what words deliver
is the community of families on which we concur.

It is the food at the pot luck, the chorus of choir,
how the children grow up, how the wives keep score,
and the jokes in the restroom that the elders conspire.
But the tokens of rhetoric, even words put to The Lord,
I’m afraid are not the fuel of a congregations fire.
Is great loneliness for a man to dictate “No More!”

But Obama, neither sexist, nor adamant dictator
could not rule over his family so self-centered
to throw out the baby with the baptismal water,
his wife’s best friends, or the ring that he bought her,
is for America, I think, a good indicator
of a unifying leader for all her sons and daughters.
©2008 Ken Boe

[wordvarc]

Mr. Clyde Nugget (above):

Please explain the meaning of "The Sermon on the Mount." Your parroting the rovian slimy innuendo by waco Dobson is comic but patently false.

Obama was describing reasons why we separate church and state. Dobson was furious as he's lived the last twenty years attempting to politcize religion.

.
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[Puciret]

He's gonna need all the help he can get. He might want to stop in at a temple before he heads home.

[Sally]

A bunch of old guys meet. Who cares?

[WISE OWL]

It is good that McCain met with Billy Graham. Christians will bring down the anti christ, Obama just like they brought John Kerry down.

It is noteworthy that Franklin Graham has a son who is serving his country as Obama never has done.

[jimsparks]

Yes, El Grinidio, Billy Graham did say such things - 40 years or so ago - and has acknowelged it, said it was wrong, and asked for forgiveness. I sure hope that everything you have ever said won't be brought up later on to beat you over the head with.

Second, Billy Graham was not a "Tele-evangelist" in the sense it is used now. From the very beginning, he set up a board to oversee everything, especially salaries. His financial records were always open, and everyone could see exactly what his salary was. He, and his son Franklin, can not be put into the same catagory as those who mix TV and Christianity as a means of making money.

[the origional batman]

thats one ugly couch