Should endorsements by extremists/fanatics/bigots reflect poorly on a candidate?, Oba

[OrangeEmpire]

Obama has been criticized because he recieved praise from Lous Farrakhan and attends a Christian church where the pastor associates with Farrakhan. Obama was pushed by Clinton in the last debate to reject Farrakhan because of his comments in the past about Jews. - source

Obama renounced Farrakhan at the debate:

"I obviously can't censor him, but it is not support that I sought," Obama said. "And we're not doing anything, I assure you, formally or informally with Minister Farrakhan."

Pressed if he specifically rejected the endorsement, Obama said, "I can't say to somebody that he can't say that he thinks I'm a good guy" and that he didn't "see a difference between 'denouncing' and 'rejecting.'"

Responding later in the exchange directly to Clinton's comments, Obama said, "There's no formal offer of help from Minister Farrakhan that would involve me rejecting it."

"But if the word 'reject' Senator Clinton feels is stronger than the word 'denounce,' then I'm happy to concede the point, and I would reject and denounce," he added.- source

He also earlier rejected his ministers support/praise of Farrakhan - source
-----------------------

McCain sought the formal endorsement of a politically influential televangelist in Texas, John Hagee ,who holds some odd views about using US foreign policy to hasten Armageddon/the return of Christ and basically thinks the Catholic Church is an instrument of the devil. The Catholic league among others has called on McCain to renounce Hagee as a bigot and reject his endorsement. - source

McCain has thus far responded with the following statement:

"Yesterday, Pastor John Hagee endorsed my candidacy for president in San Antonio, Texas. However, in no way did I intend for his endorsement to suggest that I in turn agree with all of Pastor Hagee's views, which I obviously do not.
"I am hopeful that Catholics, Protestants and all people of faith who share my vision for the future of America will respond to our message of defending innocent life, traditional marriage, and compassion for the most vulnerable in our society."- source

So does any of this matter? Should endorsements by these kind of bigots matter? Does it matter if the endorsement was sought and formal in nature or if it was not sought? Should the candidates be pushed to renounce these people and their endorsements?

Thoughts?

 

[allvol123]

Candidates should make it clear as day that they want nothing to do with these people.

 

[KB5252]

The problem here is they do not want to denounce these people and organizations because they want to have their cake and eat it too.

 

[droski]

when one of your closests advisors has declared Farrakhan to be a "great man" you have some serious explaining to do. and obama has been pretty flakey about this issue. No where has he said Farrakhan was a bad person, just that he can't stop Farrakhan from endorsing him.

 

[Rasputin_Vol]

No candidate can control who supports him/her.

 

[GoVols817]

No candidate can control who supports him/her.

No, but I'd say it's a good idea to keep anyone close to you from calling a radical muslim a "great man" when you've had to fight to keep yourself from being labeled the same.

 

[MG1968]

Obama can control who his advisers are though. Some of his foreign policy advisers leave much to be desired, particularly Samantha Power.