Last week John McCain saw fit to denounce John Hagee, the anti-everyone preacher whose endorsement he so eagerly courted a few months ago. You probably read the series of front page articles in the Times about Hagee’s hate filled message and the fact that McCain’s campaign was foundering due to the all Hagee all the time talk on the cable news. Oh, wait, sorry, those articles were about Obama and Wright. But you probably did see the very short article on Hagee stuck somewhere in the bowels of your favorite newspaper, or you may have heard fleeting mention of the controversy on the self same cable news. McCain had only a moderate amount of problems with Hagee for being anti-Catholic, anti-gay, and anti-black (views from which he disassociated himself, while accepting yet another free media pass) but even McCain had to give way when it turned out that Hagee gave a sermon in which he said Hitler was doing God’s work when he ordered the holocaust. You see, some of those pesky Jews were just too slow about going back to Israel, where they were needed to start a Jewish state and set the stage for the rapture (in which all of the self same Jews will be killed for the heathens they are.) Hitler, according to Hagee, was giving them a little nudge by making it clear to them that they weren’t welcome in Europe. Make’s you wonder, doesn’t it, whether he thinks we should get a Hitler of our own to clear out our Jews and shove them toward Palestine.
Hagee isn’t losing any sleep over McCain’s rejection, because he still has Joe Lieberman at his side. Yes, that’s the Joe Lieberman who condemns people like us for being intolerant of people like Joe. (Okay, it’s true, we are).
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.
Over at Sadly, No , (via Kos ), they ask:
We’ve heard a lot of nonsense in recent years that any left-wing Jew who doesn’t unconditionally back the Israeli government’s actions is “self-loathing.” This lazy smear has been applied to many people over the past few years, including Steven Spielberg, Avraham Burg, George Soros, Noam Chomsky, Paul Krugman, and countless, countless others who have refused to wave the Likud pom-poms.
But ask yourselves: What behavior could possibly be more self-loathing than when someone deems that political convenience is worth tolerating the mad notion that one of history’s greatest crimes against humanity was all part of ‘God’s plan?’ Isn’t it time that we take a long look at what it actually means to be a ’self-loathing Jew?’
In defense of Lieberman, he has every right to be self loathing. Why should he feel any differently about himself than everyone else?
We can only hope that the press of the state into which Lieberman never steps (that would be Connecticut) might pick up on this and, you know, tell people about it. When it comes to Lieberman we too often find that what goes on outside of Connecticut, stays outside of Connecticut, leaving Joe’s putative constituents ignorant of the fact that he is bringing disgrace on our once proud state.
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