Tim Russert's Double Standard for McCain

Tim Russert, who, as you know, I think is a complete idiot and a curse on the American political system, recently tried to tie Barack Obama to Louis Farrakhan, on the basis of nothing whatsoever. In a line of questions in the most recent Clinton-Obama debate that for all the world seemed like Massah Tim interrogating Uppity Negro Barack, Russert badgered Obama about Farrakhan's unsolicited "endorsement" (if that) of the Illinois Senator, and repeatedly tried to get Obama to use the language that Massah Tim insisted he needed to in rejecting Farrakhan. The whole display was disgusting, to say the least. Russert was deliberately trying to corner Obama and whip up a non-existent "issue" between Obama and American Jews.

However, John McCain has received the enthusiastic endorsement of one of the most militantly insane far-right religious lunatics in America, John Hagee. How demented and dangerous is Hagee? Glenn Greenwald is on it. Here are some highlights of Hagee's McCain acceptable views:

* All Muslims are programmed to kill and we can thus never negotiate with any of them. From an NPR interview Hagee gave to Terry Gross in 2006:

TG: If you use the Bible as the basis for policy, is there any room for compromise? And if you use the bible as the basis for policy, should Muslims use the Koran as the basis for their policy, and then again, what possible basis is there for compromise at that point?
JH: There is really no room for compromise between radical Islam --
TG: I'm not talking about radical Islam. I'm just talking about Islam in general.
JH: Well Islam in general -- those who live by the Koran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews.

* God caused Hurricane Katrina to wipe out New Orleans because it had a gay pride parade the week before and was filled with sexual sin. From the same interview:

JH: All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that.

The newspaper carried the story in our local area, that was not carried nationally, that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it would was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other gay pride parades.

So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the Day of Judgment, and I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.

* The End Times -- Rapture -- is imminent and the U.S. Government must do what it can to hasten it, which at minimum requires: (a) a war with Iran and (b) undying, absolute support for a unified Israel, including all Occupied Territories (hence, Joe Lieberman's love affair with them). From Christian Palestinian Daoud Kuttab in The New York Times (h/t PZ Meyers):

A small minority of evangelical Christians have entered the Middle East political arena with some of the most un-Christian statements I have ever heard. . . . [Rev.] Hagee, a popular televangelist who leads the 18,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, ratcheted up his rhetoric this year with the publication of his book, "Jerusalem Countdown," in which he argues that a confrontation with Iran is a necessary precondition for Armageddon (which will mean the death of most Jews, in his eyes) and the Second Coming of Christ. In the best-selling book, Hagee insists that the United States must join Israel in a preemptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West.

Hagee believes that "the president's support for Israel fulfills a biblical injunction to protect the Jewish state," which "will play a pivotal role in the second coming." These views are not unrelated to Hagee's support for McCain. Quite the contrary; Hagee cited McCain's so-called "pro-Israel views," his belligerence towards Iran, and his social conservatism as reasons for the endorsement. And in critical contrast to Obama and Farrakhan, McCain actually seems to share some of Hagee's more twisted views, as evidenced by McCain's joyful singing about dropping bombs on Iran.

Pretty damned shocking, isn't it? Pretty damned horrifying, in my opinion. Now, here's the $64,000 question:

How many of you think that Timmy Boy is EVER going to ask his hero St. John McCain about Hagee's desperately vile opinions? Anyone who thinks Russert will hold McCain to the same standard that Timmy Boy applied to Uppity Negro Barack is a fool. The MSM is stacking the deck in favor of McCain. If we don't spread the alarm far and wide, we're going to regret it for the rest of our lives.