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.