Just as John McCain is catching flak from just about everyone over his praise of fundamentalist pastor John Hagee after Hagee endorsed him, our governor jumped in the line of fire today with his endorsement of McCain. Perhaps he (or Buddy Roemer) can persuade McCain to denounce Hagee.
"I'm very honored by Pastor John Hagee's endorsement today," McCain said at a news conference. "He has been the staunchest leader of our Christian evangelical movement in many areas, but especially, most especially, his close ties and advocacy for the freedom and independence of the state of Israel."
Hagee, standing beside McCain, said he admired the candidate's pro-Israel stance, commitment to nominate conservative judges and opposition to abortion.
"Victory is within our grasp because John McCain knows it's never wrong to do the right thing," Hagee said.
McCain attempted to backtrack a little today with this mild statement:
"I don't have to agree with everyone who endorses my candidacy. They are supporting my candidacy. I am not endorsing some of their positions. . . . And I am very proud of Pastor John Hagee's spiritual leadership to thousands of people . . .
If Barack Obama had said that about Louis Farrakhan, we would never hear the end of it.
Hagee, you will recall, said that God punished New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina because there were gay events scheduled in the city that weekend.
Hagee wants to bomb Iran now so we can hasten armageddon. He's ready for the end of the world, and the heck with God's schedule, he wants the USA to host the event.
Oh, and then there's the great whore, the Roman Catholic Church. Glenn Greenwald has a great article on this and more at Solon.com.
Clarification on John Hagee's views:
I was challenged by a friend to document the statement above about hastening Armageddon and that Hagee is ready for the end of the world, particularly that Hagee desires to hasten Armageddon.
1. Hagee did indeed address the end of the world, but emphasized that when he uses that term, it means the end of the world as we know it. He does agree with Senator Lieberman that we should launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran. Lieberman believes that this will forestall a nuclear attack from Iran.
2. Whether we do it through a 'preemptive' strike, or whether Iran acquires nuclear weapons and bombs Israel, as Hagee believes they intend to do, he believes that the anti-christ is alive today, and that within 20 years the Christian church will be raptured - taken physically into heaven.
3. At that time will come the tribulation - a period of 3½ years.
4. After the tribulation comes the great tribulation for a period of 3½ years.
5. At the end of the tribulation will be a war ending in the battle of Armageddon, which will result in the return of Christ.
By his own words, Hagee believes that from today the tribulation is about 20 years away and the end of the great tribulation, and the beginning of war is 7 years from that time - so, sometime within the next 30 years we will approach Armageddon.
I hope this has helped to clarify his views.
Here are Pastor Hagee's views on the Catholic Church.
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