McCain is "very proud" to have the support of radical televangelist John Hagee, who McCain has evidently been courting for some time.
But some question whether Hagee's somewhat unique beliefs should be embraced by any mainstream presidential candidate.
The Endorsement
The Dallas Morning News reports today that
John McCain on Wednesday picked up the endorsement of San Antonio televangelist John Hagee, who praised the Arizona senator as a stanch supporter of Israel and the war in Iraq, an opponent of abortion and someone who would appoint conservative judges.
Mr. Hagee, a leading figure in the Christian Zionist movement, said he's confident Mr. McCain can attract wary evangelicals by emphasizing his conservative positions on Israel and abortion.
"On those two issues, they will get on common ground," Mr. Hagee said.
Mr. McCain deflected a question about whether he agreed with Mr. Hagee's end-times theology in which he connects Iran's nuclear threat with the Apocalypse, the final battle of good and evil on earth.
"All I can tell you is I'm very proud to have pastor Hagee's support," Mr. McCain said.
(Emphasis added.)
While the endorsement announcement is tucked away at the end of the article, McCain has evidently been courting Hagee for some time.
http://www.dallasnews.com/...
Now, whether the United States should pursue war against Iran as some end-timer scheme certainly should provide some intersting questions for the first debate between McCain and the Democractic nominee, but there are some even more troubling statements by Pastor Hagee that I have trouble believing could have come out of the mouth of anyone now embraced by a man who is asking to be made President of the United States of America.
Over at Talk to Action, Bruce Wilson reported some time ago in admirable depth about some of the other notions that Pastor Hagee has revealed in his speeches and his writings. One of the most startling notions relates to whether the Jews somehow brought the Holocaust upon themselves.
In "Jerusalem Countdown: A Prelude To war" Hagee has stated that Jews brought the Holocaust upon themselves by rebelling against God and that the Holocaust was God's way of forcing Jews to move to Israel where, Hagee predicts according to his interpretation of Biblical scripture, they will be mostly killed in the apocalyptic Mideast conflict Hagee's new lobbying group seems to be working to provoke and which John Hagee believes to be a necessary precondition for the "Rapture" that will lift Christians, but not Jews, bodily into Heaven to enjoy physical immortality amidst paradise.
http://www.talk2action.org/...
There's more, lots more, but frankly I think that's enough.
Bring out the Rejection and Denunciation Lapel Pins and lets get this party started.
I just have to wonder if we may be looking at a supersized 'oops' from John McCain's SNAFU Express.
More background can be found here:
Bush, Democrats, & Iraq : Flushing Our Future Down The Toilet
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Iran: The Religious Right's New Bugbear
by Bill Berkowitz
http://www.commondreams.org/...
Bill Moyers: Christians United for Israel (CUFI)
http://www.pbs.org/...
The Maverick and the Armageddon Advocate
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/...