Jesse Jackson - Keep Hope Alive

OBAMA/WRIGHT vs. McCAIN
HAGEE: IS McCAIN GETTING A 'FREE RIDE'?

This week on "KEEP HOPE ALIVE with REV. JESSE JACKSON"…

Last week we had an eye-opening trip to Haiti…

And now we're just two days away from the Indiana and North Carolina Democratic Primaries and the race has tightened considerably…

Just yesterday, Obama won Guam in a squeaker by just seven votes, with 50.1% of the vote to Clinton's 49.9%---thereby splitting Guam's four delegates---two for him, two for her…

Why and how has the gap between Obama and Clinton begun to close?

Many see at least two culprits: the "Bittergate" dustup, as well the overwhelming media focus upon the relationship between Senator Obama and his pastor of twenty years, the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright…

All the while the press fawns over the improbable viability of the candidacy of the presumptive Republican nominee, Senator John McCain, in what should be a far more hostile environment for a Republican…

In most polls, McCain either narrowly beats the Democratic nominee or he narrowly loses to the Democrat: How can that be?

According to the latest Gallup Poll and CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey, President Bush is the most unpopular President in modern American history the history…

Yet, even in this climate McCain is coasting on a rising tide of popularity and approval: Why? How is he able to achieve this feat? Is McCain this formidable?

Or, is it because the media is giving McCain a FREE RIDE?

We'll talk about this with Eric Boehlert of MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA, which has just released a book by the same name, FREE RIDE: JOHN McCAIN AND THE MEDIA…

MEDIA MATTERS just published a review which found that since February 27th, the date that televangelist Pastor John Hagee endorsed Senator McCain's candidacy, the NEW YORK TIMES and the WASHINGTON POST have published more than 12 times as many articles mentioning Rev. Wright and Sen. Obama as they have mentioning Hagee and McCain…

Why is this noteworthy? Well, as calls for Wright's repudiation by Obama have fired forth, the media has remained oddly silent about a similar denunciation of Hagee by McCain…

Hagee after all has made all manner of controversial statements…

He teaches that the Catholic Church is "the whore of Babylon" and a "cult"…

He has said that "those who live by the Quran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews"…

He claimed that "Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans" because it "had a level of sin that was offensive to God," as evidenced by plans for a "homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came"…

He once wrote that "the difference between a terrorist and a woman with PMS" is that "[y]ou can negotiate with a terrorist"…

In response to questions about these statements, McCain has said…

"I'm very proud to have Pastor Hagee's support"…

AND,

"…Pastor Hagee endorsed my candidacy for president…However, in no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I in turn agree with all of Pastor Hagee's views, which I obviously do not"…

But, beyond those statements: that's it, no more questions for McCain about Hagee…

Is there a double standard here? Why is criticism of McCain "off limits"?

Let's talk about it…