Dems blast McCain for Falwell flip-flop

Sen. John McCain started feeling the heat of being the GOP White House front-runner yesterday as questions arose over his embrace of Jerry Falwell - a man he once labeled an "agent of intolerance."

The Arizona maverick who lost to George Bush in 2000 once criticized the conservative alliance that Bush tapped into for the win, including saying the ideas of Falwell and the Christian right wing were not good for the GOP.

But McCain recently agreed to speak at Falwell's Liberty University in what many see as a sign he's shifting to the right to win a GOP primary - much the way many say Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) has tried to move to the center with her eye on 2008.

He stood by his choice yesterday after being reminded of some of Falwell's positions, such as blaming 9/11 on God's anger over "the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians."

"I believe that the Christian right has a major role to play in the Republican Party," McCain said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "I met with Rev. Falwell .... We agreed to disagree on certain issues, and we agreed to move forward."

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