Because of the false report earlier that the McCain campaign had rejected a meeting with Billy Graham, Jeremy Blume, a spokesperson for Franklin Graham wanted to clarify the situation.
The following statement was sent to The Brody File. It reads:
"The offer to meet with Mr. Graham was extended by someone who is not in an official capacity to arrange such a meeting, nor is he affiliated with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
So far, Billy Graham's office has not been directly contacted about meeting with Sen. McCain.
Franklin Graham did receive a message from one of Sen. McCain's staffers several months ago saying that they were reaching out to evangelical leaders and that if Franklin Graham would like to meet with McCain that would be welcomed. This was during the primaries and Franklin did not have any follow up to that call.
But Franklin said he would now be willing to meet with Sen. McCain or Sen. Obama."
More on the situation here.
I realize John McCain has some work to do with Evangelicals. That's no secret but through this false story we've learned that actually the McCain camp IS trying to reach out to the Graham family. That is an encouraging sign. However, this outreach to the Graham family came a few months ago and what we learned through this statement above is that there's really been no direct contact since the primaries ended. You would think that the McCain camp would be overly aggressive when it comes to outreach to the Graham family.
McCain needs that photo-op sooner rather than later. More importantly, he needs a solid pro-life conservative VP pick or he'll have a grassroots evangelical revolt on his hands. Bibles will be flying. Watch out.