OUCH! Hagee throws weight behind McCain

“John McCain is a man of principle" said San Antonio mega-church pastor John Hagee at a news conference yesterday, effectively squashing the hopes of Mike Huckabee at getting the evangelical pastor’s support. Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor had preached at Hagee’s Cornerstone Church in December.

Hagee, known for his intense Christian Zionism said, “John McCain has publicly stated his support of the state of Israel, pledging that his administration will not permit Iran to have nuclear weapons to fulfill the evil dreams of President Ahmadinejad to wipe Israel off the map.”

Maybe Hagee missed Mike Huckabee’s article in the Jerusalem Post. I know how busy one can get with futuristic doomsday prophecy. But if Hagee is genuinely concerned for Israel’s safety he ought to keep up with present, as well as future, events. Huckabee has publicly stated his support for Israel with much more eloquence than John McCain and has strongly denounced Iran. In the February 4 edition of the Jerusalem Post, Huckabee wrote:

I want everyone in the Middle East to know that America is committed to its trategic interests in the region, including a safe and secure Israel...If the annihilation of six million Jews taught us anything, it is that appeasement doesn't work; it just results in the deaths of innocents and makes the job of eradicating evil all the more difficult. So I share Israel's concern about an aggressive unchecked Iran. And I share Israel's determination that Iran will not become a nuclear power. As president, I will not take the military option off the table.

Mr. Hagee also praised Mr. McCain for his “solid, pro-life voting record for the past 24 years.” When TV evangelists spend all their time with Armageddon charts and prophetic beasts and deciphering the Whore of Babylon, they tend to get a little rusty with Biblical ethics. But contrary to Hagee's recitation, John McCain does not have a solid, pro-life voting record. McCain favors destroying human life at its embryonic stage of development for stem cell harvesting. So while the good senator has been “solid” on votes against abortion, he hasn not consistently applied that same Biblical ethic—respect for human life—to the embryonic stem cell issue.

Unfortunately, Hagee is being politically naïve. He forgets that McCain railed against Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell as "agents of intolerance." And he’ll soon be saying the same of John Hagee. If McCain wins the nomination, he'll be running against either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton--two staunch pro-abortion advocates. To help defeat them, McCain will be courting Catholic Church leaders--necessarily distancing himself from the rotund Reverend from San Antonio he now gushes over. And once enough pressure mounts on McCain, I have little doubt he’ll be tossing Hagee to the wind (not literally, of course).

Catholic League president Bill Donohue doesn’t think they come much more “intolerant” than John Hagee, calling Hagee a “bigot.”

In a press release yesterday, Donohue said, “There are plenty of staunch evangelical leaders who are pro-Israel, but are not anti-Catholic. John Hagee is not one of them. Indeed, for the past few decades, he has waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church. For example, he likes calling it ‘The Great Whore,’ an ‘apostate church,’ the ‘anti-Christ,’ and a ‘false cult system’.”

There can be no doubt of Hagee’s influence in Texas. With the upcoming primary, it cannot be anything but a setback to the Mike Huckabee campaign. Hagee is another evangelical leader who has chosen selfish expediency and political defeatism over reality—Mike Huckabee is the only true conservative vying for the Republican nomination.

And while Hagee’s ill-timed endorsement is frustrating for Huckabee supporters, it has done little to dampen grassroots efforts to give him the largest Republican state in the nation.

And just in case you want to give $5, $10 or $25 to Mike Huckabee to destroy the media and Christian elite who try to manipulate us into accepting a less-than-acceptable candidate, go here and give--right now!