It happens in our racist society.

"Behold the double standard," journalist Bill Moyers declared in his news magazine show on PBS on May 2.

"John McCain," Moyers said, "sought out the endorsement of John Hagee, the war-mongering Catholic-bashing Texas preacher who said the people of New Orleans got what they deserved for their sins. But no one suggests McCain shares Hagee's delusions, or thinks AIDS is God's punishment for homosexuality. Pat Robertson called for the assassination of a foreign head of state and asked God to remove Supreme Court justices, yet he remains a force in the Republican religious right. After 9/11 Jerry Falwell said the attack was God's judgment on America for having been driven out of our schools and the public square, but when McCain goes after the endorsement of the preacher he once condemned as an agent of intolerance, the press gives him a pass."

Yes, folks, these are outlandish ideas. Outlandish opinions from white preachers. Not any less outlandish than the opinions expressed by the black Rev. Jeremiah Wright in sermons in his Christian church in Chicago. The same church of which black presidential candidate Barack Obama is a member. The news media has made a big deal of Rev. Wright's comments. Let's wonder why. Is it because Wright and Obama are black? Meanwhile, the press gives McCain and his favored gaggle of preachers a break. Maybe it's because these players are white. So, yes, they get a pass. Ain't fair. But it happens in our racist society. --Jim Broede