McCain's Campaign says "No" to meeting with Billy Graham, further alienating the Evangelical Voter.

I am sick and tired of John McCain.

In fact, as of right now, I am voting for Bob Barr instead.

Once again, John McCain's Campaign says "screw you, I don't need your support" to the 40 million Born-Again Evangelical Christians.

In another disturbing sign that Sen. John McCain has little interest in reaching out to his conservative base, including evangelical Christian voters, his campaign has declined an offer to meet with the Rev. Billy Graham.

For almost six decades, Graham has been America’s most influential preacher and evangelist, a man sought out by every president since Harry Truman.

Brian Jacobs, a Fort Worth Texas minister and consultant to the Billy Graham Association sought a meeting with Billy Graham and Presidential hopeful John McCain.
Instead of an expected warm greeting from the McCain camp, here is what he got instead.

Dear Mr. Jacobs,
Thank you for your kind letter offering to set up a personal meeting between Senator McCain and Dr. Billy Graham.
Senator McCain appreciates your invitation and the valuable opportunity it represents. [italics added by McCain campaign]
Unfortunately, I must pass along our regrets and do not foresee an opportunity to add this event to the calendar.
I know you will understand that with the tremendous demands on his time and the large volume of similar requests, events such as this are extremely difficult to schedule even though each one is important. However, we will keep your event in mind should an opportunity present itself in the future.
I know that the Senator would want me to thank you for your interest and to send his very best wishes.
Sincerely,
Amber Johnson Director of Scheduling John McCain 2008

The rejection of an offer to meet with Graham is yet another indication that the McCain campaign has made a deliberate, strategic decision to chart a new course for the GOP, a course without the sizable evangelical Christian voting bloc serving as its base.

The danger for McCain is in his campaign’s failure to grasp the size of the born again vote. Latest surveys show that fully 42 percent of all Americans claim to be “born again.”

But the risk is not just that the Republican nominee will lose evangelical voters but that he will lose its massive infrastructure: megachurches with their schools, television programs and massive mailing lists which traditionally play a crucial role for Republicans in voter registration and voter turnout. The cost to the party of replicating this role themselves would be incalculable.

McCain’s new course is a stunning turnabout for the GOP. In the summer of 1980, Ronald Reagan reached out to evangelicals gathered at the Religious Roundtable in a Dallas, Texas, saying to his audience of 10,000, “I know you can’t endorse me, but I want you to know that I endorse you.” It marked the beginning of a GOP relationship with evangelicals that became a winning coalition for three presidents.

McCain's staff is notoriously hostile. McCain adviser, Charlie Black, and campaign manager, Rick Davis, have a long, troubled history with the evangelical wing of the party.

The pair were said to be behind McCain’s decision to throw televangelist John Hagee “under the bus” after audio recordings suggested Hagee believed Adolf Hitler was an agent of God. Though Hagee’s views of “predestination” are mainstream among many Christian denominations and Hagee obviously never suggested support for Hitler or Nazis, McCain called Hagee “crazy.” Only weeks before he denounced Hagee, McCain had publicly trumpeted the pastor’s endorsement.

McCain’s hasty decision to discard Hagee was seen by many evangelicals, even those who are not fans of Hagee, as a betrayal.

But Hagee and Graham are not the only evangelical leaders to be rebuffed by McCain. Press reports indicate McCain has turned away olive branch invitations from the influential Dr. James Dobson for the senator to visit him at his headquarters in Colorado Springs.

The theory behind the McCain campaign’s strategy to ignore evangelicals is that they have nowhere else to go, that Obama is too liberal, and they’ll vote against him come November.

Nowhere else to go?? Think again Mr. McCain. We Evangelicals can just stay home or vote for Bob Barr, the Pro-Life Libertarian candidate.

If you don't need us, we don't need you. It is as simple as that.

McCain’s decision not to meet with Graham will likely provoke outrage. And the campaign will likely back down. Graham is no Hagee or Dobson. They will say it was all a mistake and blame it on staff or a “misunderstanding.” But in the process they have revealed their mind-set. Their decision to ignore the leaders of America’s 80 million born-again voters represents a stunning, high wire act for a Republican presidential candidate.

Stupid McCain. He keeps going more and more to the Left. From his union with the Global Warming fanatics to his open disdain for Conservative Evangelical Christians, John McCain is not only going to lose my vote but many of the 40 million Evangelical voters. What does he think, Obama voters are going to vote for him. Ha Ha Ha. That is a joke.

Only an about face renunciation of his fanatical global warming views and a strong right turn will get me back.

Until then, I am supporting Bob Barr.

Jimbo