Rev. Kirbyjon Caudwell marries Jenna Bush and Henry Hager
It’s probably statistically impossible to be wrong all the time, and the Rev. Kirbyjon Caudwell is living proof. The good pastor is known as George Bush’s spiritual adviser, and recently officiated at Jenna Bush’s wedding. He has also led a ministry for recovering homosexuals and wannabe recovering homosexuals at his 14,000-member Windsor Village (mega)Church in Houston. Oddly, he has come out (so to speak) in support of Barack Obama.
But Obama is not the only thing he’s right about. He’s also appalled, as was I, that John McCain recently stood in front of a mob of drunken bikers in Sturgis, S.D. and offered his wife up as a contestant in the Miss Buffalo Chip contest. The pageant consists of egging nearly-nude women into becoming as close to fully nude as they will go in order to earn the colorful title. The disrespect shown to the potential First Lady by her husband boggled my mind, and evidently Rev. Caudwell’s.
“Well, I don’t know a lot about John McCain’s family history, I do know, however, that as recently as last week I think it was, the Senator made a comment in South Dakota regarding his wife entering some Buffalo Chips contest which is this topless deal and if she were to enter she would probably win it and my personal opinion and based on my understanding of the Christian faith, that’s not not, N-O-T, not the type of expression that a presidential candidate, or anyone for that matter who is a follower of the Christian faith, ought to make,” said the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell.
The fun part of all this is hearing the response from the McCain team. A reporter offered them a gaping out by asking if McCain realized the contest was so explicit. Hell yes, his campaign answered. But they added McCain was only kidding.
Asked if McCain was unaware that the Buffalo Chips contest often features contestants topless, a McCain aide told ABC News that he believes the senator was aware but emphasized that the presumptive GOP nominee was joking and would not want his wife to participate in such a contest.
That was their initial response. Later, they added some blustering umbrage as well.
McCain spokesman Brian Rogers has responded to Caldwell’s criticism by saying: “These people are Obama campaign surrogates. These kinds of personal attacks are disgraceful. This absolutely exposes the hypocrisy of Obama’s claim to represent a ‘new kind of politics.’”
Another McCain-ite, this one anonymous, threatened the Obama campaign with opening a big ol’ can of scandal on their asses. Which is hilarious, because if they had anything, they a) would have used it long before now, and b) would use it no matter whether the Obama campaign talked bad about McCain or not.
“My advice to the Obama people: ‘proceed with extreme caution.’ They don’t want to get into a discussion of character and background. They are opening a door that they will not be able to close. They are putting on the table issues and personalities that they do not want to discuss.”
Sounds juicy!
Asked which personalities? The GOP strategist cited the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, and former Obama law partners.
Oh. Whatever.
For their part, Obama’s folks are staying out of it.
The Obama campaign had no immediate reaction to Caldwell’s comments or the McCain campaign response.
