Last week, after reports surfaced that radical televangelist John Hagee had described Hitler as fulfilling God’s will, John McCain, who had wooed Hagee for a year, had seen enough. After touting Hagee’s endorsement, and campaigning alongside him, McCain announced that he now “rejects” Hagee’s support.
But what about Joe Lieberman? It was Lieberman, of course, who went on Fox News to defend Hagee from charges of bigotry: “He represents a lot of people in this country, particularly Christians who care about the state of Israel. He founded a group called Christians United for Israel.”
Now that McCain has decided he no longer wants anything to do with Hagee, will Lieberman follow McCain’s lead? Apparently not, at least not yet. Max Blumenthal reports:
Senator Joseph Lieberman is scheduled to headline Pastor John Hagee’s 2008 Christians United For Israel Washington-Israel Summit this July 22. In accepting Hagee’s invitation, Lieberman became the most senior elected representative confirmed to appear at the annual gala. Last year, when Lieberman spoke at Hagee’s summit, he compared the Texas televangelist to the biblical prophet Moses, dubbing him “an Ish Elochim,” or “a man of God.” Unless he rescinds his pledge to appear at this year’s summit, Lieberman can be expected to deliver another soul-stirring tribute. […]
[P]rior to McCain’s sweeping renunciation, Lieberman could have reasonably claimed to be unaware of the preacher’s repugnant views on the Holocaust. Now, he has no excuse for ignorance. As a key McCain surrogate who McCain may select as his running mate, Lieberman must know why Hagee is no longer welcome on the so-called Straight Talk Express.
So why the silence? Why won’t Lieberman, who is married to the daughter of Holocaust survivors, end his relationship with Hagee as well? Why, in apparent defiance of the McCain campaign, does he remain scheduled to headline Hagee’s upcoming summit?
Those sure are good questions. If McCain sees Hagee as too nutty to be associated with, Lieberman hardly has any incentive to hang around with this radical preacher. That is, unless Lieberman actually agrees with this clown.
That really is what it comes down to. Without a partisan or electoral motivation, Lieberman either a) has no idea what Hagee believes, but stands by him anyway; or b) knows what Hagee believes, but doesn’t care.
Maybe the Hitler revelations weren’t persuasive enough, because, as far as Lieberman is concerned, Hagee’s “support” for Israel matters most. But that’s actually part of the problem. Ben Smith explained recently that Hagee’s support for Israel is “rooted in the belief that the Jewish state will — soon — be the site of Armageddon,” and his “brand of Christian Zionism closely links support for Israel to the end of the world and the conversion of the Jews to Christianity.”
Hagee’s predictions are very clear. Armageddon, the final battle, could begin, he wrote in his 2007 book “Jerusalem Countdown,” “before this book gets published.”
The Antichrist “will be the head of the European Union,” he writes.
Using geographical calculations based on the Book of Revelation, he writes that Israel will be covered in “a sea of human blood” in the final battle.
The Jews, however, will survive the battle, Hagee says, long enough to have “the opportunity to receive Messiah, who is a rabbi known to the world as Jesus of Nazareth.”
Hagee also believes Jews have been persecuted over the centuries, but as far as he’s concerned, it’s their own fault.
“It was the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, God’s chosen people, to their covenantal responsibility to serve only the one true God, Jehovah, that gave rise to the opposition and persecution that they experienced beginning in Canaan and continuing to this very day.”
And while we’re at it, Hagee’s “support” for Israel is rooted in the notion that Hagee welcomes Israel’s destruction.
[Hagee] argues that a strike against Iran will cause Arab nations to unite under Russia’s leadership, as outlined in chapters 38 and 39 of the Book of Ezekiel, leading to an “inferno [that] will explode across the Middle East, plunging the world toward Armageddon.” During his appearance on Hinn’s program at the end of last March, for example, the host enthused, “We are living in the last days. These are the most exciting days in church history,” but then went on to add, “We are facing now [the] most dangerous moment for America.” At one point, Hinn clapped his hands in delight and shouted, “Yes! Glory!” and then urged his viewers to donate money faster because he is running out of time to preach the gospel.
So, it’s not that Hagee loves Israel, so much as he foresees a blood-soaked war in the Middle East that leads to Jesus’ return, at which point the Jews who survive will become Christians.
Lieberman is not only comfortable with all of this, but is even willing to headline one of Hagee’s events?