The airwaves were filled Tuesday afternoon and evening with tributes to the abruptly late televangelist Jerry Falwell, and nowhere was the fawning more feverish than among the 10 announced Republican candidates gathered for a "debate" in South Carolina.

Well, of course, they all had to say something. Falwell and his partners in zealotry, most notably Pat Robertson and James Dobson, have effectively hijacked the once Grand Old Party, and woe be to any candidate who doesn't bow before them.

It was still sad to hear.

Did Rudy Giuliani really believe "we all have great respect for him"? Does John McCain - who was savaged by Falwell and his ilk in the 2000 presidential race - really think Falwell was "a man of distinguished accomplishments"? Did Mitt Romney really find it a good thing that "the legacy of his important work will continue"?

Does Sam Brownback genuinely think that Falwell's "great words and actions will never be forgotten" and that "Jerry's moral character and principles will forever be remembered deep within my heart"? And Mike Huckabee, surely, did not call Falwell "one of Christendom's great leaders." Oh, yes, he did. Sadly.

The truth is, Jerry Falwell was a nasty fundamentalist zealot, a small-minded, ignorant man whose soft Virginia drawl masked the hatefulness (and sometimes loopiness) of what he said. But in the age of the internet, nobody can really hide from his past. Some choice Falwell morsels are just a mouse click or two away:

On medical science: "AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."

On feminism: "It appears that America's anti-biblical feminist movement is at last dying, thank God, and is possibly being replaced by a Christ-centered men's movement which may become the foundation for a desperately needed national spiritual awakening."

More on feminism: "I listen to feminists and all these radical gals - most of them are failures. They've blown it. Some of them have been married, but they married some Casper Milquetoast who asked permission to go to the bathroom. These women just need a man in the house. . . . They need a man to tell them what time of day it is."

On ecumenism: "If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."

On global terrorism and Sept. 11, 2001, when Islamic terrorists flew planes into American buildings: "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.' "

On homosexuals: They are "brute beasts . . . part of a vile and satanic system" that "will be utterly annihilated, and there will be a celebration in heaven."

On children's television, specifically the Teletubbies' Tinky Winky: "He is purple - the gay-pride color, and his antenna is shaped like a triangle, the gay pride symbol. . . . As a Christian, I feel that role modeling the gay lifestyle is damaging to the moral lives of children."

On Hillary Clinton: "I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate. . . . Because nothing will energize my (constituency) like Hillary Clinton. If Lucifer ran, he wouldn't."

On free will: "Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions."

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