Day Three: No Straight Talk from McCain on Parsley’s Call for Destroying Islam

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mccain-rod-parsley250x200.jpg No call back from the McCain camp yet.

For the third day in a row, I’ve called Jill Hazelbaker, the communications director for the McCain campaign, seeking a comment on televangelist Rod Parsley’s call for destroying Islam. McCain, as I reported on Wednesday, has campaigned with this politically influential megachurch pastor, has accepted his endorsement, and has praised him as a “spiritual guide.” And I’ve been told–once again–she is unavailable.

McCain and his campaign will not say anything about Parsley’s advocacy of a Christian war against Islam that seeks to eradicate what Parsley dubs a “false religion.”

Where’s the straight talk now?

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We canā€™t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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