Election 2008:

Political miracle links McCain, Virgin of Guadalupe

Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Associated Press / Jae C. Hong

Xavier Rivas, a Republican activist working on John McCain’s Nevada Leadership Team, shows a card featuring a photo of Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, walking past an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Henderson.

Sen. John McCain’s earthly profile dominates the foreground; the Virgin of Guadalupe’s luminous visage nearly floats in the background.

2008 Elections

Local talk show host Xavier Rivas saw a national group called Catholics for McCain displaying the photo at the GOP convention last month and transferred it onto palm-sized cards.

Now he hands them out, along with campaign material, in his door-to-door efforts to gain local Hispanic support for the Republican presidential candidate — an uphill climb, judging by the 2-to-1 Hispanic voter preference for Barack Obama seen in swing-state polls.

And although the image has not been without controversy, Rivas says it reflects the Republican candidate’s closeness to Hispanics. The photo came from McCain’s July visit to the Mexico City basilica named after Our Lady of Guadalupe. Rivas and Catholics for McCain transformed it into “a juxtaposition between politics and a religious icon ... that amounts to a Catholic Hispanic endorsement,” says David Sanchez, assistant professor of theology at Loyola Marymount University and an expert on the Virgin of Guadalupe.

“I can’t think of a more powerful juxtaposition ... for Mexican-American voters,” he adds.

Rivas, whose show is broadcast in Spanish daily on KRLV 1340-AM, describes himself and his mother as devoted “Guadalupanos,” or followers of the Virgin of Guadalupe. He recalls his mother’s laying flowers on shrines to “the mother of our country” every year.

He says he doesn’t give out the cards to everyone, but instead first gets a feeling for whether a person is receptive to its message.

The message: “She represents a symbol of our culture, our feelings ... and (the photo) is sending a signal to Mexican-Americans that McCain is saying, ‘I know and care about your community.’ ”

Fernando Romero, president of the local nonprofit organization Hispanics in Politics and a McCain supporter, says the image gives him “a warmer feeling about the guy.” Romero adds: “He made the effort to visit something spiritual that is in the hearts of all Mexicans” — some 100 million of whom are Catholic.

But not all Mexicans saw McCain’s July 3 visit in the same light.

According to a Mexico City news account published the next day, someone yelled out in the basilica, “McCain: You can’t play around with the people’s faith!”

A few days later, a columnist titled his take on the visit “In la Virgen de Guadalupe We Trust,” dryly implying that the phrase could become a McCain campaign slogan.

Rivas says he has occasionally come across similar reactions among fellow Mexicans and Mexican-Americans here. “But then I explain why I’m doing it, and they understand.”

Sanchez says using the photo is a logical consequence of the social conservatism Republicans embrace. “Part of that is religiously based social conservatism, and it is powerful for them to use these images.”

He also notes that the card may carry other meanings for Hispanic voters.

“The image of the Virgin of Guadalupe is invoked as a pro-life symbol,” Sanchez says. “The message is, ‘We put our pro-life symbol next to him.’ ”

At the end of the day, the image is “so evocative, with multiple layers of meaning. You just have to find yours.”

As to whether joining religion and politics is appropriate, Sanchez suggests that horse may have left the barn.

“Religion is so embedded in political discourse these days, I’m sure we’ll see more of this.”

Discussion: 15 comments so far…

By neiman1

10/16/08 at 7:53 a.m.

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John McCain has worked for the Hispanic community for decades. He tried to find a real solution to the immigration problem in the US by bringing the two sides together and got kicked in the teeth for it. But he did it to try to end the horrible situation everyone is in today. McCain will bring real solutions and not just lip service.
By tvalois

10/16/08 at 8:56 a.m.

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I would have to that as an "orthodox" Catholic these people are in deception - and no, I am not an Obama supporter. I do have 12 years of research behind me,however, and I know that there is no real substantive difference between the two main parties. I would encourage all Americans to check out the constitution party and to "vote out of the box."
By UNLVStud

10/16/08 at 10:29 a.m.

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Whatever happened to separation of church and state? Religion and political ideology cannot live together happily because there are too many disparate religious views. Right wingers, therefore, need to stop pushing one group's "religious morales" on society.
By battlecarrot

10/16/08 at 1:54 p.m.

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Separation of church and state is meant to protect the expression of religion FROM the state.In other words the state cannot impose an official religion-that's all-read the constitution!"Right wingers"(your pathetic characterization)need to do no such thing.People of faith ARE their faith-typical of a leftist to try to silence speech he or she does not agree with.Why do you get to impose you secular,materialist,athiestic religion on the rest of us?P.S.Learn how to spell before you start lecturing anyone.
By johnevegas

10/16/08 at 2:19 p.m.

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"Why do you get to impose you secular,materialist,athiestic religion on the rest of us?"

I'm a liberal and a Hindu, and, am disgusted by your right wing constituents referring to Obama as an "Arab" or "Muslim" as if these are two things that everyone openly discriminates against.

"P.S.Learn how to spell before you start lecturing anyone."

athiestic? Look whose talking, smart guy! Don't cha have spell check on that Apple IIe?
By redferret

10/16/08 at 3 p.m.

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Hate to point out the obvious, but atheism and secularism aren't "religions". I get that people of faith try to characterize them as such, but they aren't. It's like trying to say science is a religion. It isn't.
Here's an example.
People are generally hetero-, homo-, or bisexual. When someone has absolutely no desire for any sex they are asexual ("a" meaning without). They are outside of the classifications. Same with "a"theism. There is no god/gods. The have NO religion. I'm personally an atheist, but not the militant kind. Live and let live. You want to pray to something/someone. Fine. As long as you don't hurt other people or force it on others.
By davidpoll

10/16/08 at 11:45 p.m.

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The last time we mixed politics and religion, people got burned.
By kdiddy

10/17/08 at 6:44 a.m.

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I think the picture of McCain with Our Lady of Guadalupe spells out the major difference between McCain and Obama - McCain is pro-life and not afraid to speak up for the unborn.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the mother of the Americas and her image is a symbol for the pro-life movement. The picture of McCain and Our Lady of Guadalupe sums up for me the difference between McCain and Obama - McCain will stand up for the life of the unborn! What more important issue in is there than life?
By Sunlizard

10/17/08 at 8:16 a.m.

Comment removed by staff.
By boftx

10/17/08 at 1:59 p.m.

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Seperation of Church and State is to protect the STATE, not the Church. In our form of government it is all too easy for values from one dominant set of beliefs to be legislated into law and imposed on all others. The old blue-laws are a classic example of this.

Athieism is as much a system of belief as is any church. An athieist holds the belief that there is no God with the same fervor as any evangelical Christian. It the agnostics who hold the middle view that it can not be known if there is or is not, and generally don't care.
By OkeyMor57

10/17/08 at 2:43 p.m.

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In the end, he voted against his own legislation just to conform with his party. He will dump you if it does not suit his political ambition.
By redferret

10/17/08 at 2:48 p.m.

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Atheism has NO belief. Therefore NO system of belief. There simply is a lack of religion. It's like looking at bacteria reproducing, which is male/female? There is no gender. Same concept appies. I don't push atheism on others, but I damn well stick up for my lack of belief and tell you we have no religion. Where is the god? Where is the sacrament? Where is the church/synagogue/shrine/mosque? Where is the clergy? Where is the book that lays down a cogent set of beliefs for the "faithful". There is NONE, therefore it is not a religion.
It's like Christian, Jewish, Muslim, N/A. Atheist are N/A, not applicable.
By boftx

10/17/08 at 3:19 p.m.

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Does (a) God exist?
A) Yes
B) No
C) The question can not be answered.

If you chose B then you are an athiest. If you chose C you are an agnostic. If you chose A then you are probably following what your parents told you.
By redferret

10/17/08 at 4:11 p.m.

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oh, and kdiddy, are you in favor of forcing women who've been the victims of rape or incest having to carry those babies to term? The fact that the dad (or in some cases granddad/dad) will not be a part of the woman's life and will not help her support that kid certainly hurts your argument. Not to mention if the woman is already married, or is under the age of 18, having to carry a rape/incest baby severely changes her life (beyond the whole rape thing) in ways she didn't at least passively accept (as in passively understanding that sex will make babies versus being raped). The point is that Palin wants to force victims to have to carry these babies to term, which is disgusting. In any case getting rid of abortion is STUPID. Are you that naive to think that because the government says you can't do it, it will go away? Sure that worked well during prohibition and for marijuana. Outlawing abortion will only move it to the black market or across our borders to other countries. Either way it takes money out of the real economy and puts it in the hands of either criminal organizations or to other countries. Smooth.

I'm all for limiting abortion. Women should have the right to chose, but that being said abortion shouldn't be on demand as a form of birth control. Also with that being said, I don't think government has the right to tell a woman what to do about her body.
By lucero

10/17/08 at 5:30 p.m.

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Who do we call to order these beautiful cards? I love them and want to purchase a million of them to give away all over the nation! God Bless John McCain and Sarah Palin!! Que Dios los bendiga a ambos!