McCain's Rev. Wright(s)

(McCain,left, with Parsley, right, at a Feb. campaign event)

While the media frenzy over Sen. Obama's pastor, Rev. Wright, continues for a fourth week, McCain gets a free ride.

McCain began actively seeking the endorsement of key figures on the religious right once he assumed the "presumptive nominee" label. The "maverick" was on thin ice with many "true-blue conservatives."

The first of such questionable endorsements came from John Hagee. Hagee has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as "the great whore" and called it a "false cult system." He has also linked the Catholic Church to Adolf Hitler. McCain stood side-by-side with Hagee on Feb. 27, 2008 and gladly embraced the endorsement.

When pressed about Hagee's controversial views at a future press conference, McCain attempted to distance himself from Hagee's views, "It's simply not accurate to say that because someone endorses me that I therefore embrace their views."

However, Catholic League President Phil Donohue saw a double standard in how the press covered, and subsequently did not pressure McCain to denounce the endorsement, relative to Farrakhan's endorsement of Obama. "Senator Obama has repudiated the endorsement of Louis Farrakhan, another bigot," Donohue said. "McCain should follow suit and retract his embrace of Hagee."

The issue simply fizzled away for McCain.

Round 2: McCain receives the endorsement of Rod Parsley, pastor at an Ohio mega-church.

McCain refers to Rod Parsley as a "spiritual guide." Similar to the Hagee endorsement, McCain stood side by side with Parsley in late-February and gleefully received the endorsement of the controversial pastor.

PBS's Bill Moyers has had his eye on Rod Parsley for several years now, referring to him as the new incarnation of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell.

What is all the fuss with Parsley? The Columbia Journalism Review sheds light on the extreme bigotry preached by Parsley:

Parsley has called for Christians to wage war against the “false religion” of Islam, in order to destroy it. He does not distinguish between Islamic extremists and ordinary Muslims. “What some call ‘extremists’ are instead mainstream believers who are drawing from the well at the very heart of Islam,” he has written.

And it’s not just Muslims he’s got it in for. Last year, Parsley’s organization called for people who commit adultery to be prosecuted, and in January he compared Planned Parenthood to the Nazis.

As an avid reader of the news, I was shocked that I did not learn about Parsley or McCain embracing his endorsement until today when I found the story on Al Jazeera News based out of Doha, Qatar.

Given the our country's current global standing, I find it appalling that the media has chosen to ignore Parsley's endorsement of McCain (the inflammatory remarks pertaining to all of Islam are much more damaging to the image of our country). It shows a complete double standard with respect to the coverage that Rev. Wright has received.

I do not believe that Obama or McCain share the extreme views of either pastor. However, it is purely unprofessional journalism that has led to Obama getting lambasted for the comments made by Rev. Wright while McCain receives a free ride upon embracing the endorsement of a pastor that has declared war on all of Islam.