McCain Ally Hagee Sees Hitler as Fulfilling God's Will

Posted by Steve Benen, The Carpetbagger Report at 7:01 AM on May 22, 2008.

Last week, John Hagee, a televangelist sought out by John McCain for political support, expressed regret to Catholics for his attacks on the Roman Catholic Church (he’s called the church, among other things, “the great whore” and “a false cult system”). This week, it looks like it’s time for yet another apology.

John Hagee, the controversial evangelical leader and endorser of Sen. John McCain, argued in a late 1990s sermon that the Nazis had operated on God’s behalf to chase the Jews from Europe and shepherd them to Palestine. According to the Reverend, Adolph Hitler was a “hunter,” sent by God, who was tasked with expediting God’s will of having the Jews re-establish a state of Israel.

Seriously. He really did make the argument.

This is the guy whose support McCain worked for a year to earn. It’s also the guy McCain refuses to repudiate, and to this day, whose endorsement he’s “proud” and “glad” to have.

For that matter, it’s also the same guy Joe Lieberman defended on Fox News last week, because, as Lieberman explained, Hagee “represents a lot of people in this country, particularly Christians who care about the state of Israel.”

More from Sam Stein’s report:

Going in and out of biblical verse, Hagee preached: “‘And they the hunters should hunt them,’ that will be the Jews. ‘From every mountain and from every hill and from out of the holes of the rocks.’ If that doesn’t describe what Hitler did in the holocaust you can’t see that.”

He goes on: “Theodore Hertzel is the father of Zionism. He was a Jew who at the turn of the 19th century said, this land is our land, God wants us to live there. So he went to the Jews of Europe and said ‘I want you to come and join me in the land of Israel.’ So few went that Hertzel went into depression. Those who came founded Israel; those who did not went through the hell of the holocaust.

“Then god sent a hunter. A hunter is someone with a gun and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. And the Bible says — Jeremiah writing — ‘They shall hunt them from every mountain and from every hill and from the holes of the rocks,’ meaning there’s no place to hide. And that might be offensive to some people but don’t let your heart be offended. I didn’t write it, Jeremiah wrote it. It was the truth and it is the truth. How did it happen? Because God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said my top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel.” (Listen to the audio below.)

The sermon, which was first posted by Bruce Wilson on his site, Talk To Action, adds another element to Hagee’s controversial stance on the state and history of Israel. It also may provide a new round of political headaches for McCain who has admitted that seeking out Hagee’s endorsement was a mistake, but still declared himself “glad to have” it.

John Hagee’s Ministries did not immediately return request for comment.

I can’t imagine why not.

I’m trying to imagine what the reaction would be if Obama sought out a pastor, accepted his endorsement, campaigned alongside him, defended him from criticism, and then we learned that this same pastor thought Hitler was fulfilling God’s will. I have a hunch reporters might ask Obama if he’d be willing to repudiate such a person.

Tagged as: mccain, hagee, hitler