WHAT'S WITH McCAIN AND THE RELIGIOUS FANATICS ALL OF A SUDDEN? MEET ROD PARSLEY

McCain's campaign is more than just lobbyists

If you think McCain is nuts for cavorting around with high profile bigot John Hagee (future head of McCain's National Weather Service... well, you're correct. And wait 'til you get a load of his other spiritual advisor, televangelist huckster Rod Parsley. Parsley-- when he isn't bilking his Ohio flock for everything they're worth-- is a Republican warrior, urging Christians to go to war against Islam to "destroy" it. He not only endorsed McCain, McCain endorsed him.

A few years ago my friend Tim was working for Sherrod Brown in Ohio and he became very aware of the Parsley phenomenon there. He looked into it closely and found a pretty ugly picture:

He has preached this prosperity gospel while accumulating vast personal wealth, including a $1 million, five-bedroom, 5 1/2-bath house with a swimming pool; a $63,000 Cadillac ESV and a $68,000 Lexus LX470 for himself and his wife, Joni; and a $5,000 Polaris all-terrain vehicle. Parsley shares a gated 21-acre compound in Fairfield County with his mother and father-- church officials Ellen and James Parsley-- who live in a $940,000 home. The senior Parsleys also own a $450,000 vacation home on Lake San Marcos near San Diego.

Parsley's megachurch and related industries raking in millions of dollars and pays no taxes, yet he is one of the most blatantly political preachers in America, his so-called churches an offshoot of the Ohio Republican Party. He endorses candidates left right and further right, a clear violation of his tax-exempt status. "On February 26, McCain appeared at a campaign rally in Cincinnati with the Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, a supersize Pentecostal institution that features a 5,200-seat sanctuary, a television studio (where Parsley tapes a weekly show), and a 122,000-square-foot Ministry Activity Center. That day, a week before the Ohio primary, Parsley praised the Republican presidential front-runner as a 'strong, true, consistent conservative.' The endorsement was important for McCain, who at the time was trying to put an end to the lingering challenge from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a favorite among Christian evangelicals. A politically influential figure in Ohio, Parsley could also play a key role in McCain's effort to win this bellwether state in the general election. McCain, with Parsley by his side at the Cincinnati rally, called the evangelical minister a 'spiritual guide.'"

Senator Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran (R-AZ) has bonded with Parsley as though he were Rosemary or Sage. Like McCain, Parsley is a war-monger, pushing America into a posture of aggression towards other countries civilizations.

I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.

...We find now we have no choice. The time has come. We may already be losing the battle. As I scan the world, I find that Islam is responsible for more pain, more bloodshed, and more devastation than nearly any other force on earth at this moment.

Just a few years ago McCain was telling Americans Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were "agents of inolerance." Now he's ready to start drafting young Americans to send them off on a misguided Christian crusade to slay Moslems.