McCAIN'S SPIRITUAL ALLY, JOHN HAGEE, MAY HATE AND DEMONIZE CATHOLICS BUT HE IS CERTAINLY NO FRIEND OF ISRAEL'S OR THE JEWISH PEOPLE EITHER

Is there some religion that aspires to a Gospel of Hatred and Bigotry?

If it wasn't enough that normal people are upset that McCain has decided to stay in bed with arch-bigot and fringe loon John Hagee, their bizarre alliance is also being questioned from the right. Yesterday in Texarkana the Rev. Mike Huckabee "accused the Rev. John Hagee of playing politics over principle by endorsing" the Double Talk Express. Despite the furor raised over the endorsement by American Catholics, especially by Republican Catholics, Huckabee feely admits he wanted Hagee's endorsement. Is this the party of crazy extremist bigots or what?

Speaking after a rally in Texarkana, Huckabee said he was surprised by Hagee’s endorsement because of McCain’s lack of fervor on abortion -- despite his 100% anti-abortion rights voting record. (McCain has, however, voted for stem-cell research.) Huckabee also said Hagee told him he endorsed because he assumed McCain would win the nomination.

“He just thought that the political rationale was he wanted to get on Sen. McCain’s team, and he thought he was gonna win the nomination,” Huckabee said. “I don’t think that’s a foregone conclusion, and even if I did, I would stand on principle more than I would politics.”

If Hagee has accomplished nothing else in his miserable career of duping suckers and frightened congregents out of their savings, he at least has the usually biased mainstream media-- who have built McCain up into some kind of grand moderate he never was-- looking into McCain's connections with the dangerous lunatic fringe of extremist politics and religionism. It will be hard for them to get out from under the way they grilled Barack Obama about a non-existant relationship with Louis Farrakhan without using the same standards, for a change, in looking at the very real relationship between John McCain and John Hagee. As Glenn Greenwald reminds us today:

Hagee's so-called "commitment to Israel" actually means that he wants Israel united so that the Rapture can happen and all Jews, including Israelis, will be slaughtered and sent to hell. And the "spiritual leadership" which McCain heralds consists of calling the Catholic Church the "Mother Whore" and a "cult" and arguing that Hurricane Katrina, which resulted in the devastation of tens of thousands of lives, was God's punishment against New Orleans because it scheduled a gay pride parade that week.

The fact that McCain thinks he can get away with openly embracing one of the most influential and hateful bigots in the country is a reflection of the profound media double standard he knows favors and protects him. Just imagine if Obama had issued a statement similar to McCain's with regard to Farrakhan: "I am very proud of Minister Louis Farrakhan's spiritual leadership to thousands of people" and "don't have to agree with everyone who endorses my candidacy. I'm still 'honored" to have his support."

As it is, Obama -- who never appeared on a stage with Farrakhan or sought or praised his support -- was attacked by the Jamie Kirchicks of the world even though he denounced Farrakhan's views and rejected his support. Yet here is McCain, refusing to denounce anything about Hagee, instead openly embracing him and expressing "honor" at receiving the endorsement, and there is... almost nothing. For those in the media who sputtered on about the nonexistent Obama/Farrakhan matter -- and even for those who didn't -- how can you possibly justify not covering all of the aspects of this odious McCain/Hagee association?

UPDATE: WILL REPUBLICAN JEWS VOTE FOR McCAIN?

Will McCain disavow Hagee's assertion that Jew's are repulsive to God? He may. But he won't disavow Hagee's bizarre ideas about getting all the Jews gathered up in "Greater Israel" so Armageddon can get going already. That's because McCain himself believes that tripe.