The wingnuts would (and will) call this trash, but it is a very relistic and simple perspective, that should be available for more Evangelicals and socially conservative Catholics to ponder.

If anyone reading this has the asbility to post this to one of the right wing blogs, please do so... it might not stay up very long, but it might also tweak the conscience of more than one McCain doubtful.

Imagine if it was Obama who had this in his history. Hand-dity and Limpaugh and Orally would all be standing on their microphones and shouting it to the world.

HYPOCRITES!!!

Yup. Quite the blessing there.

And don't forget that in that same interview he referred to convicted-felon father-in-law as a good "role model" for young people.

Excellent! If only this was the message going out to the American public. It's so obvious but why isn't the rest of America understanding this?

Your mistake is thinking "blessed" refers to Christianity. He has been blessed by a different God-- The Military Industrial Complex. Now confess your sin, and say 10 Lockheed Martins.

McCain is not a member of North Phoenix Baptist Church. He has not been baptized as a member of the church, and has been going there 17 YEARS.

To true believers, he has not had his 'age of reason,' he has not ever gone through a 'born again' phase. He was baptized episcopalian, but not into his current (due to cindy) baptist photo ops.

So the crowd gave him only tepid applause. He's not a member. I wouldn't figure to judge his motives here, but he seems to be more into the public relations and political gain of coming into the building rather than living his life through the teachings of Christ.

Progressives may not get all that. Evangelicals, where he has a major weakness related to this very fact, absolutely DO.

Progressives need to know it can be 'mentioned' that he's been walking in the building 17 years and never committed to the church. The right wants to attack with a certain pastor. Evangelicals at least understand Obama joined his church. McCain never joined his.

You gotta laugh regarding McCain's version of the self-made man rap.

This is one way of dealing with McCain:

"Who Does McCain Remind you of? A New Game for Hard Times"
http://msa4.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/who-does-mccain-remind-you-of-a-new-game-for-hard-times/

Today we learned that John McCain will do away with any ethical consideration, will break any word he gives, will employ any means to get into the White House. The founding spirit of America means nothing to him. We, the people, have to be focused and steady in our reply ...

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/08/one-house-one-spouse-obama-bid.php

If you look at the totality of McCain's life - his academic record, his philandering, his abandoning of his children, his association with the Keating 5, and now his unabashed hypocrisy in swift-boating Obama, you end up with a man with a flawed character. His one saving grace, his heroism as a POW, he's now tarnishied by exploiting it for political game.

Examining someone's marital life is difficult. We can't know what happens when the front door is closed. But by all accounts, McBush's mental health was fine. He wasn't a PTSD victim entering rehab or on anti-depressants. He was a skirt-chaser on the beaches of Hawaii going after a young blond with a rich father. He can dump his wife and turn his back on his children. He can marry for wealth and social status. He can even marry young in the hopes that it gives him the keys to fountain of youth. But run for President and call that a blessing? Sign me up for the church that blesses me when I chase a blond heiress in her 20's.

A Followup Question for McCain:
Do the service men and women coming home from years in Iraq have the same opportunities to achieve the American Dream that he had? If so, why are so many of them suffering financially (and otherwise)? Is it because they are not as good as McCain at taking advantage of America's opportunities or is it because the opportunities themselves suck today?

Carol McCain has said that John being a POW and her car accident had nothing to do with their divorce. The divorce happened because John, in his forties, wanted to be and acted as if he was still in his twenties.

Quite honestly it is very tiring to have John McCain and his supporters constantly throw the POW think into, seemingly, every error in his life.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1024927/The-wife-John-McCain-callously-left-behind.html

An excerpt:

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit.

‘When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it.

‘Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better.

‘This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.’

And for some context as to McCain's "blessed" lifestyle growing up, this is from a retired Navy vet:
>
>What is it like to grow-up as the son of a Four Star Admiral in the United States Navy? Well, your dad is a King and you are the son of the King. For those of you who don’t know what that means: First, you have the best house on the block, in the ultimate “gated” community, and maintained by a rich uncle (you never, never cut the grass nor do the Jehovah’s Witnesses ever come to your door). Second, your dad has a professional staff consisting of one or two cooks, several Philippine stewards, a chauffeur and a car on call, he is guarded at all times by armed Marines, he has a full Navy Captain as an Aide-de-Camp and a Chief Warrant Officer as his personal secretary. (Your mom never writes a letter or presses his pants.) When your father enters or leaves the base on official duty he is honored by six side-boys lined up at rigid attention and everybody salutes as he passes. In other words you grew up 24/7 in a world of splendid isolation and special privilege that few of us ever experience.
>
>Now this John McCain would like to portray Barack Obama as an elitist celebrity out of touch with common people, but I would bet that Mr. McCain's mom never had to apply for food stamps and that he never personally knew or worked with or on behalf of an inner city welfare mother as Obama did as a community organizer in Chicago.