Billy Graham's 1972 comments still drawing fire
Over the last week, Billy Graham's 1972 Oval Office comments about Jews have continued to draw reaction from newspapers and magazines. While earlier in the week most pundits were suggesting that the evangelist was merely blinded by power and just "went along" with Nixon's anti-Semitism to maintain good relations with the president, comments later in the week were distinctly harsher.

On the on the other side of the Atlantic, however, the comments are both harsh and satiric. John Sutherland's column in The Guardian is ironic. "Graham has always been close to the Republican White House," notes Sutherland. "He was, not long after schmoozing anti-semitically with Nixon, the man who saved young George Bush from the demon drink. What did the Reverend say during those closeted hours of spiritual counselling—that America's breweries and distilleries were owned by 'Satanic Jews'? No tapes, unfortunately."

Writing in The Nation, Robert Scheer largely keeps the focus on Richard Nixon's end of the conversation, but he doesn't let either man off the hook. "When we are busy condemning national chauvinism, religious hatred and war crimes abroad, it is no time to whitewash our own past. To utter such thoughts invites the riposte that one seeks to weaken our nation rather than strengthen it," Scheer writes. "Thankfully, this country has a clear history of questioning sanctimonious expressions of authority, and the release of these tapes, however late, is a clear example of that."

Much of the questioning now seems to be how much the comments represent Graham's "real" views. Of course, much of the question is raised by Graham's own statement, "They [Jews] don't know how I really feel about what they're ...