McCain’s Meeting with Billy and Franklin Graham
June 30, 2008
So if you’re keeping count at home on the Graham Family scorecard, it is now John McCain 2, Barack Obama 1. Obama met with Franklin Graham in Chicago earlier this month but McCain got the home treatment by traveling to North Carolina to meet with both Franklin AND Billy Graham. It’s like a game of poker; “I’ll see your Franklin and I’ll raise you a Billy”. Just kidding! It’s not often you see the word “poker’ and Billy Graham in the same sentence.
Before some analysis, read more from The Associated Press about the meeting Sunday:
John McCain met Sunday with evangelist Billy Graham and his son, Franklin, at the family's mountaintop retreat.
The Republican presidential candidate, who is actively courting religious voters and trying to reassure skeptical conservatives, visited privately with the Grahams on the grounds of Little Piney Cove in the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina.
"We had a very excellent conversation. I appreciated the opportunity to visit with them," McCain said after the 45-minute meeting.
The meeting was McCain's first with Billy Graham, 89, and his son, although McCain's father and the elder Graham were acquainted.
The world-renowned evangelist is in poor health but apparently felt well enough to visit with McCain, who flew to North Carolina with the expectation of meeting only with Franklin Graham, who is president and chief executive of the evangelistic association his father founded in 1950.
McCain said he did not know if the Grahams would vote for him. "I didn't ask for their votes," he said, calling them "great leaders."
After the meeting, Franklin Graham issued a statement praising the Arizona senator's "personal faith and his moral clarity."
"The senator and I both have sons currently serving in the military, and also have a common interest in aviation," Franklin Graham said. "I was impressed by his personal faith and his moral clarity on important social issues facing America today."
Franklin Graham said his father told a story about meeting McCain's father, a Navy admiral, on a trip to Vietnam during the war when John McCain was being held prisoner of war. The two prayed for John McCain during his captivity.
Franklin Graham said his father "expressed gratitude for the senator's long and brave service" to the country. "We had an opportunity to pray for the senator and his family, and for God's will to be done in this upcoming election," Franklin Graham said.
The whole story is here.
It goes without saying that McCain did himself a favor by sitting down with Billy and Franklin Graham at their home. It’s a great photo-op and McCain needs as much positive Evangelical PR that he can get. But let’s not be fooled by photo-ops.
Evangelicals don’t vote for a candidate just because they meet with a Billy Graham, Franklin Graham, James Dobson or whoever. It’s a nice storyline for both McCain and Obama (who met with Graham BEFORE McCain) but ultimately McCain is going to have to try and connect in some way with Evangelicals on issues important to them. Trotting out your voting record isn’t the final answer.
Let’s cut straight to the bottom line. If McCain really wants to appeal to Evangelicals and get this important base excited then he’s going to have to engage more forcefully on issues like abortion, marriage, the culture war and yes, talk about his faith. This can’t just be a checklist situation. McCain and his advisors shouldn’t just look at this as, “Well, I did the speech on abortion today” or “I did the faith speech today”. Look, McCain loves town hall meetings right? Why not have a half dozen devoted to issues of faith where McCain can discuss abortion, traditional marriage, embryonic stem cell research and his faith walk? McCain could really try and connect with voters in this way. I understand there is risk. So what. I understand he doesn’t want to pander but holding a town hall meeting on faith issues doesn’t look like pandering. It looks like you’re willing to engage voters on these very important socially conservative issues. If you can design campaign themed tours aimed at working class Independents, why not do the same for voters who care first and foremost about hot button social issues.
Sorry to tell ya but talk about “pork barrel spending” and “reforming Washington” is not going to hit the emotional trigger button of Evangelicals. They may care about those issues but it doesn’t necessarily get them to the voting booth.
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