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Senator McCain and The “Me-Me On Camera” Pastor Hagee Problem

Posted by DR. CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTÉS, Assistant Editor, Columnist in Uncategorized.
May 4th, 2008 | Comments

It’s hard to see how it will be avoided.

See YouTube. Keywords: “John Hagee” or “Hagee Catholic Hitler.”

As Mr. Frank Rich over at the NYT so descriptively put it:

[on Youtube, you will see]

Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is “the Great Whore,” Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking “the blood of the Jewish people.” That’s because the Great Whore represents “the Roman Church,” which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust.

Mr. Rich continues:

Mr. Hagee is not a fringe kook but the pastor of a Texas megachurch. On Feb. 27, he stood with John McCain and endorsed him over the religious conservatives’ favorite, Mike Huckabee, who was then still in the race.

Are we really to believe that neither Mr. McCain nor his camp knew anything then about Mr. Hagee’s views? This particular YouTube video — far from the only one — was posted on Jan. 1, nearly two months before the Hagee-McCain press conference. Mr. Hagee appears on multiple religious networks, including twice daily on the largest, Trinity Broadcasting, which reaches 75 million homes. Any 12-year-old with a laptop could have vetted this preacher in 30 seconds, tops.

Since then, Mr. McCain has been shocked to learn that his clerical ally has made many other outrageous statements. Mr. Hagee, it’s true, did not blame the American government for concocting AIDS. But he did say that God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its sins, particularly a scheduled “homosexual parade there on the Monday that Katrina came.”

That might be a new one on God: punishing people BEFORE they commit a deed, rather than after.

But I wonder when I hear such sweeping condemnations by so-called ‘holy people,’ which God are such persons listening to? the one made small enough to merely fit inside their skulls? or the one of such magnitude, the human mind is too pea-brained to parse it all?

Some observers might say that’s a moot point anyway, as they form no idea of God. Yet, I know this seems a somewhat absurdist question, but isn’t a Christian whose God on Earth is called The Prince of Peace… supposed to kind of strive to act that way?

I dont know the final answers to how candidates can draw sharp boundaries around the “me-me’s” who bum-rush the candidates… and attempt to colonize the candidate… whilst seemingly wanting to stage show after show of themselves as the center point.

I do know that the moment one becomes ‘famous,’ the Devil shows up, saying “I will give you all of this… if you will just relinquish your soul to me.”

But, you shouldn’t have to sell your soul to run for President.

You ought to be able to say “No, not for sale”… whether a presidential nominee or a pastor.

LadyLogician

And Senator McCain has been going to Hagee's Houston church for HOW many years?

The answer is zero.

LL

runasim

So, where is the outrage"
Oh, I just realized. Hagee isn't black, so of course his interpretation of God's vengeance (Katrina and homosexuals) is not nearly as extreme, radical or rabid as Wright's. Naturally, he is not a bufffoon, but a respected scholar of the Bible.

The double standard infuriates me, especially when I read conservative blogs making excuses. But, but, but....... I guess he's okay as long as he supports someone, anyone other than a Democrat.
Why are Jews,not outraged by Hagees plans to eventually convert them to Christianity? Is that okay as long as we bomb Iran first?

It's only fair to put Hagee in his context, like some of us tried to put Wright in his.
I would like to know what Hagee is doing to be a good citizen (help the poor, etc.) before the rapture takes place. I'm having a hard time finding anything of substance. All I read seems to be about power, with no respect or tolerance for anyone but those who think and hate like him. No 'blacks and whites together' singing, like in Obama's church. Only an eagerness for the final conflagration and the suffering of the not-saved.

Maybe he's nice to his freinds, and I don't care for blanket character assasinations.
But many of the 'legitimate' questions that were asked about Wright should be equally urgently asked about Hagee.

runasim

"And Senator McCain has been going to Hagee's Houston church for HOW many years?
The answer is zero"
________________

And how many times did Obama ask Wright to get involved in (support) his politics.?
The answer is zero.

And how many times did McCain approach Hagee for political reasons?
The answer is: at least once.

Weightman

My, my, my… politics does indeed make strange bedfellows. For the past century, the Left has been hammering the Church about the Crusades, the Inquisition, abortion, the Holocaust, pedophile priests, and over-fishing of the seas as a cause of global warming.

But given the opportunity to score cheap debating points against a moderate Republican, the Lefties are riding to the rescue of Holy Mother Church. Save your breath, boys, the Church doesn’t need your help. She’ll be a going concern long after Marx and his epigones are forgotten.

CStanley

And how many times did Obama ask Wright to get involved in (support) his politics.?
The answer is zero.

Huh??? So Wright's initial position as head of the religious outreach of Obama's campaign, and his initial slot to give the invocation at Obama's announcement of his candidacy are down the rabbit hole? Not to mention quotes like this from Obama:
"What I value most about Pastor Wright is not his day-to-day political advice," Obama said. "He's much more of a sounding board for me to make sure that I am speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible and that I'm not losing myself in some of the hype and hoopla and stress that's involved in national politics."

I think that Hagee's positions are more odious than Wright's, but as for the relationship that each had with the respective candidates, there's no doubt that the Obama/Wright one was much more significant. I don't see how it helps Obama for anyone to try to rewrite the history- Obama did in fact benefit initially from this relationship because he needed credibility in the black community of S. Chicago- he may very well have also found positive things in the message and activity of that religious community-but in his national political career it has become necessary to distance himself from people who speak divisively about race and about Jews, as Wright does.

JSpencer

Weightman, if your point (however much unintended) is that we would all be better off if superstition took a backseat to common sense and science (not to mention the Constitution), then I would agree with that. Runisim is right, the doublestandard with regard to Hagee not receiving the paranoid, out of proportion scrutiny Wright has seen is nothing short of blatant hypocrisy.

DLS

"And Senator McCain has been going to Hagee's Houston church for HOW many years?

The answer is zero."

The cheap shot against McCain was guaranteed to fail the way it always has.

DLS

"as for the relationship that each had with the respective candidates, there's no doubt that the Obama/Wright one was much more significant"

That is the key, even if some are too incompetent or dishonest to admit it, and of course, they are even worse if they claim there is a similarity of any kind, and are even worse the closer they approach a claim of identicality (and bogus "hypocrisy" charges associated with such a false claim).

GeorgeSorwell

McCain is trying to have it both ways over Hagee. McCain sought Hagee's endorsement, then called it a mistake, then (30 seconds after calling it a mistake) said he was glad to have Hagee's endorsement.

Desperate, hypocritical Republicans want Catholics to ignore Hagee.

Our Dumb Media doesn't get Hagee.

George Stephanopoulos lets McCain flip-flop with impunity on Hagee.

Hannity and Colmes (and Newt Gingrich) discuss Hagee.

John Stewart is the only TV broadcaster willing to ask what McCain is doing about Hagee.

Talking Points Memo had a YouTube report in March on McCain and Hagee.

It's apparently perfectly responsible for McCain to pander.

runasim

CStanley.

"He's much more of a sounding board for me to make sure that I am speaking as truthfully about what I believe as possible"

The quote makes my argumetn for me.
According to people who know them both, the Wright-Obama relationship was basted on a whole lot of contentious debate. DEBATE. It was never a simple minded teahcer-pupil relatonship. The only way to make sound judgments of one's own is to consult and understand ALL the facets of the patchwork of what constitutes the American experience and then forge one's own personal vision.
Forewarned is forearmed.

It is a much sounder way than making decisions from the safe distance, as long-armed as possible, of willully remaining uninformed and misinformed.
Wright's shock value sprang from this willful ignorance. , and the resulting surprise: What? Some black people are unhappy about some facets of their experience? How dare they? How dare they be diferent?

I've learned enough about Wright to know what I agree with in his ministry and what not. I see no reason whatsoever to reject the whole man because of the areas of disagreement. A major theme of his ministry is reconciliation, and it wourld be self-defeating to reject that because he is wrong about AIDS.

I haven't found anythng written about or by Hagee to make that kind of approach possible. . More to the point: what did McCain bother to be informed about so that he could take this kind of reasoned approach?
If it turns out that Hagee has also spoken about reconcilitian or any other topic helpful to finding a way forward, I'll give that due consideration.
Ir it turns out McCaim . has given Hagee's ministry the same kind of in-depth scrutiny, I'll give that due consideration.

Until then.....

Ghostdreams

I don't think the point is to compare the McCain/Hagee "experience" to the Obama/Wright "experience"...
In reading the article and watching the video (then to take the names and hit search and google it, etc) it seems obvious the Senator McCain made a very unwise decision and should be asked why he has made such decision.
The question I ask myself is, "Why would Senator McCain want to alienate Catholics or any group of people (like the gay folks refered to by Hagee as being responsible for Katrine)?"
I think that right now it's so important for our candidates to be working to BRING Americans of all faiths, denominations, political groups, ethnicities, races, etc. together, rather than to divide us.
At this point in our history I really don't feel that we can afford the hate that has come to own the souls of so many Americans. We really need to try to work together for a better world rather than find ways to destroy each other.
Senator McCain has made an error and should be held accountable. I would like an explanation why he would want (and ask) for the endorsement of such a man such a Pastor Hagee.
I really don't think it's too much to ask for either.

FACTS

After reading all the comments above nothing was said of what the Bible had to prove about Hagee's opinion. If you read the Bible you will know where he formed his opinions. He is not trying to have the Jews change to Christianity but to have them believe that Jesus is the Messiah whom they are looking for. Messianic Jews. Read Revelation and you will find more information. I didn't go along with what Rev. Wright had to say about the U.S. I just know that the media doesn't understand Christianity and the truth of the Bible, which is their down fall and loss.

toolman3

first of all, it's hypocracy. what everyone seems to overlook is that rev. wright was cast into a limelight due solely to obama's running for the nomination, and has embellished the oppurtunity to spread his ignorance. the reason hagee hasnt recieved the same persecution is that he's been an idiot publicly for years. anyone who perceives the king james version of the bible as anything more than science fiction, is historically nieve about its history--no book has been changed, manipulated, and misinterpreted more than the bible. the story of christ ( being born of a virgin mother--being sought by three wise men following the star) was told thousands of years before christs time on earth by the egyptians. its the story of horus whose name translated to son of god which is why horus is the ancient sun god--the same story is used for religions across the globe.--in horus' case, its astrological--the three wise men are the three stars of orion's belt and the star they followed being( forgive me forgetting the name) is directly left of orion's belt. during the winter months in the northern hemisphere it is the brightest star in the sky. so all the god squad members can take pride knowing that christianity is merely borrowed rhetoric from many ancient stories that predate christ's time on earth. people like hagee and rev. wright make their very comfortable living by convincing the small minded their theories are reality. they are presented a forum to preach to the masses by those that oppose them, simply by all the scrutiny that their ignorant ramblings bring. and by the way even bible scholars are not sure who wrote the book of revalations. all signs lead to a man named john who was being persecuted living in exile near present day sicily which greatly post-dates the rest of the books of the bible. the truth of the bible has been shrouded by the inaccuracy of the bible. why is it that the koran is looked upon by christians as evil when most of the books in it are from the same cloth as the christian bible. gabrial in the koran is the same gabrial in the K.J. bible. the koran even contains the book of mary magdalene which the catholic church banned hundreds of years ago because it cast jesus in a light other than a strictly godly being. our beloved peaceful savior has seen countless die in his name dating back to the 1st crusade. in two thousand years we as a society and a global civilization have yet to learn how to peacefully coexist and look past the difference in religions. maybe instead of reading the bible we should first read the history of the bible.

TheGreatSpoon

It's about time some one exposed these Religious Reich Wingers for what they are!

What I DON'T understand is where all the animosity towards Rev. Wright comes from. The nicest thing I've seen said about him here is "Wright's shock value sprang from this willful ignorance." As a minority, as a woman, as a lesbian his "most objectionable" views and statements struck a deep chord with me. As I watched them on the news I kept saying to myself "Yes! I DO feel that way!" and "YES! He's speaking for me!" My Domestic Partner who comes from the white upper class had just the opposite reaction of course. She wasn't sure why but it scared her half to death!

On the other hand there is John Hagee, Every time that man opens his mouth on TV he scares the bee-jingles out of me!

Not too very long ago I was reading about Germany at the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of the rise of the Nazi Party. I was struck by how close the stated political aims of the Nazis were to what Rev. Hagee and other televangelists in the Christian Reconstructionist Movement advocate. It's truly frightening!

As Ghostdreams said "Senator McCain has made an error and should be held accountable. I would like an explanation why he would want (and ask) for the endorsement of such a man such a Pastor Hagee.
I really don't think it's too much to ask for either."

I just wonder now, how much of it was a mistake and how much of it was a case of like minds?

Joyce

Amen- read the Bible to gain the truth along with Revelation to know where we are in the end times of the Lord to return to gather the Church which is the Bride- a spotless church-

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