Published: May 17, 2008 09:40 am         

Other View: Elections are eye-opening

This eventful 2008 contest for the White House is constantly rewriting the campaign rule books, and there must be a chapter on associations with firebrand pastors whose preachings can't survive national scrutiny.

Barack Obama has already been through hell because of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. ...

Then it was Republican John McCain's turn to deal with the Rev. John Hagee. McCain sought his endorsement and got it -- along with the uproar over Hagee's harsh views of Catholicism. William Donohue, the over-the-top crusader for the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, hammered Hagee for weeks ...

That's really what inspired Hagee's newfound religion of conciliation ... Hagee issued a weak clarification -- in the "if I offended anyone" category. Amazing, isn't it, how elections can open everyone's eyes?

Newsday