The Democracy Now! piece was particularly strong, as it was set up by some clips that are-of course-better heard than read in transcript. Russert badgering Obama about Farrakhan, for example. And McCain proudly embracing Hagee. Then, in the interview itself, Amy strated right off, asking Sarah just who this Hagee fellow is:
SARAH POSNER: Well, his church has been around since the early 1970s. He actually started it after a previous church went out of business, so to speak, after he divorced his first wife. And he has built this church that he has now, Cornerstone Church, to 19,000 members.
Hagee preaches the Prosperity Gospel, which essentially says that God wants believers to be rich, that you-believers can call riches into existence for themselves through their faith, and that you get rich by tithing to your pastor ten percent of your income, what Hagee calls your "first fruits," meaning pay him your tithe before you pay the rent, before you make the car payment.
Gosh! Divorced first wife? Prosperity Gospel? Is this a match made in Heaven or what? And you thought BushCo had made parody obsolete! The M$M doesn't like to talk about McCain's first mariage and divorce, you see. It makes him look like Newt Gingrich. Heck, it almost makes Gingrish look good!
[SARAH POSNER]: Hagee also, as you alluded to in the opening, is a Christian Zionist. He b believes that God foretells-or the Bible foretells events in the Middle East that will lead to the Second Coming of Jesus. And he believes that all Middle East policy is dictated by this prophecy in the Bible. And so, he thinks all of these events are inevitable. He thinks that the United States should militarily attack Iran to preempt its nuclear ambitions and that this is all part of God's plan to bring about Armageddon and the Second Coming.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about his attitude to Iran, Sarah Posner?
SARAH POSNER: He believes that Ahmadinejad is the next Hitler, the Hitler of the twenty-first century. He believes that Ahmadinejad's goal is to wipe out Israel and the Jewish people and that by not confronting Ahmadinejad militarily, we are enabling him like Chamberlain enabled Hitler. So they make a lot of historical allusions to World War II. He often talks about World War III coming to pass. And he believes all of this-he finds all of this in his Bible. He believes that everything in the world, be it a financial transaction or foreign policy issues, are all animated by spiritual warfare, meaning war, spiritual war and actual war, between forces backed by God and forces backed by Satan.
Hmmm. I wonder which side won in his divorce?
AMY GOODMAN: I was in San Antonio in 2006. It was the time of the Night to Honor Israel at the Cornerstone Church. Can you talk-
SARAH POSNER: I was there, as well.
AMY GOODMAN: Sorry?
SARAH POSNER: I was there, as well.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about who was there and this combination of politics and religion? Just describe the scene for us.
SARAH POSNER: Well, there were obviously a lot of members of Hagee's church there, but also members of the Jewish community in San Antonio, former and present Israeli government officials, prominent members of national Jewish organizations, and they all converged on the stage at Cornerstone Church to, what Hagee believed was, quote-unquote, "honor" Israel. And this included speeches, songs sung by Hagee's Cornerstone Church Choir. They sang "Hava Nagila" Texas-style. They showed videos of Jerusalem, where the Dome of the Rock was omitted from the scenery, because, of course, for Hagee, that would be part of the Second Coming, that the Temple Mount in Jerusalem would be controlled by Jesus and not-this is one of the reasons why he's opposed to a two-state solution or the sharing of Jerusalem between Jews and Muslims, because he believes that God gave it to the Jews and that that presages the Second Coming of Christ.
So it was a remarkable combination of his eschatology and wrapped into the realpolitiks of the Middle East. And this is a big reason why McCain does not want to back away from Hagee, because all of this Middle East politics is very, very charged, and Hagee, even though he's very controversial within the Jewish community, there are many within the Jewish community who openly embrace him and welcome his, quote-unquote, "support" of Israel.
And you thought the neocons were crazy!
Oh, wait, these are the neocons!
AMY GOODMAN: The whole issue of the neoconservatives and Hagee's church and John Hagee himself, like former CIA Director James Woolsey, a featured speaker-
SARAH POSNER: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: Talk about Douglas Feith, Woolsey, where they fit into John Hagee's politics and religion.
SARAH POSNER: Well, they-someone like Woolsey came and spoke at what was called the Middle East intelligence briefing that was part of that same weekend in San Antonio for the Night to Honor Israel. And Hagee will bring in people like Woolsey to speak about Middle East politics, about terrorism, about counterterrorism, and it adds sort of this patina of authenticity or reliability to Hagee's really outlandish view of the Bible dictating current events.
And so, when he had his event, CUFI event, here in Washington last summer, even more people within the foreign policy community and Congress, were there to basically bless what he was saying, including John McCain. Joe Lieberman compared Hagee-at that event, compared Hagee to Moses. Roy Blunt, the House Minority Whip, said that CUFI was part of God's plan. And so, he's gotten a stamp of approval by people inside the Beltway, in Congress.
During that same trip, or I think maybe it was the CUFI event the year before, in 2006, Hagee and some other officials with CUFI had a meeting with Elliott Abrams, who is the head of Middle East policy for Bush's national security team. So they're very connected within the foreign policy community and particularly the neoconservative foreign policy community, because their eschatology fits so nicely with the neocon foreign policy agenda.
So, you can just imagine how bad all of this would look if those involved were actually questioned about what the hell they're doing. Bogus intelligence is one thing, but consorting with someone who is rooting for the end of the world....
AMY GOODMAN: You write about the 2000 film, Left Behind, based on the blockbuster novel by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, that has Hagee and his wife there.
SARAH POSNER: Right. You know, in those books, when the Rapture happens, believers are whisked away to Heaven, and everybody else is left here to struggle through the Tribulation period before Jesus defeats the Antichrist. And so, there's a scene in that movie where-on an airplane, where all of a sudden the people left on the airplane realize that everyone else has been whisked away to Heaven. And so, in one shot, you see Hagee and his wife sitting together on the airplane reading a book or enjoying some conversation, or what have you, and then the next moment they're gone.
Now, what would it look like, if Russert were to do the folowing to McCain?
TIM RUSSERT: On Sunday, the headline in your hometown paper, Chicago Tribune: "Louis Farrakhan Backs Obama for President at Nation of Islam Convention in Chicago." Do you accept the support of Louis Farrakhan?
SEN. BARACK OBAMA: You know, I have been very clear in my denunciation of Minister Farrakhan's anti-Semitic comments. I think that they are unacceptable and reprehensible. I did not solicit this support. He expressed pride in an African American who seems to be bringing the country together. I obviously can't censor him, but it is not support that I sought. And we're not doing anything, I assure you, formally or informally with Minister Farrakhan.
TIM RUSSERT: Do you reject his support?
SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Well, Tim, you know, I can't say to somebody that he can't say that he thinks I'm a good guy. You know, I-you know, I have been very clear in my denunciations of him and his past statements, and I think that indicates to the American people what my stance is on those comments.
TIM RUSSERT: The problem some voters may have is, as you know, Reverend Farrakhan called Judaism "gutter religion."
SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Tim, I think-I am very familiar with his record, as are the American people. That's why I have consistently denounced it. This is not something new. This is something that-I live in Chicago. He lives in Chicago. I've been very clear, in terms of me believing that what he has said is reprehensible and inappropriate. And I have consistently distanced myself from him.
Well, of course, they'd have to run twenty-some years of coverage highlighting Hagee's bigotry first, in order to make him radioactive. But they're never going to do that.
And then there's the whole Mammon side of the God-And-Mammon Party:
AMY GOODMAN: What about [Sen. Charles] Grassley's investigation of televangelists-not Hagee-but that include Kenneth Copeland, who supported Mike Huckabee?
SARAH POSNER: Right. Senator Grassley is investigating whether six televangelists, who preach a similar prosperity message to Hagee, wrongly used tax-exempt donor funds for a non-exempt use. So, looking at luxury cars, huge mansions, private jets that these televangelists have, Grassley is asking questions, in his capacity to oversee the IRS and tax-exempt organizations, whether they were misusing or exploiting their tax-exempt status for their own personal gain.
Now, many of the televangelists under investigation have denounced Grassley's investigation as an unwarranted intrusion into Church affairs, including Copeland. He was quite explicit about that. And Grassley has actually also been denounced by-even by Christians who do not necessarily embrace the Prosperity Gospel, but who also believe that it's a slippery slope of the government intruding into Church affairs. But Grassley has been very clear that he's not investigating Church doctrine, that he's just looking into whether the tax-exempt policy is operating correctly in this circumstance.
In short, Hagee is someone far, far worse than Louis Farrakhan, not to mention much, much more powerful.
Which is why the media backed off so quickly from dealing with him.
But this isn't going away. The fractures and ruptures within the conservtive coalition are not being papered over with triumphant successes anymore. And the Catholic demogauges like Bill Donohue are not going away any time soon.
The Versailles media may not want to touch any part of this story any more than Superman wants to touch kryptonite. But were not in Kansas anymore. Were in YouTube land:
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