Again, Lieberman Compares Pastor Hagee To Moses

Enough is enough.  McCain surrogate Joe Lieberman appeared on Tuesday at Pastor John Hagee’s Citizens United For Israel (CUFI) conference and made a disgraceful, pandering speech.  You’ll recall that Hagee’s endorsement of McSame provoked outrage until McCain rejected it.  But, even without all of that, Lieberman’s appearance was a utter disgrace worthy of condemnation.

The Connecticut Post reports:

With a pump of his fist and a wave, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman Tuesday evening greeted the thousands of members of Christians United for Israel who came to the nation’s capital to lobby on behalf of the Jewish state.

“I am your brother Joseph,” Lieberman told the crowd gathered in the cavernous D.C. conference center. They stood up from their dining tables and cheered, waving American and Israeli flags as they warmly embraced him.

Lieberman said that he proudly stands by them as a man of faith, believing in them and believing in the Rev. John Hagee, the controversial Texas televangelist who founded the group. As he did a year ago, Lieberman once again compared Hagee to Moses, but this time in reference to the imbroglio that erupted over remarks the pastor made that had offended Jews and Catholics.

“Even Moses fell short of God’s expectations. He made a mistake and hit the rock rather than speaking to it as God commanded. His sister, the prophetess Miriam, sinned too when she spoke badly about Moses. But this didn’t make Moses and Miriam bad people or failed leaders. Their shortcomings were only part of the larger fabric of their remarkable lives of faith and service. And that’s the way the Bible and those who read it view them,” Lieberman said.

Lieberman’s appearance, of course, occurred despite outrage by Jews and Catholics.  According to the NY Times:

Over 40,000 signatures were delivered to Mr. Lieberman’s office encouraging him not to speak at the event.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, executive director of J Street, which started the “Don’t Go Joe” campaign, said, “The purportedly ‘pro-Israel’ views of Hagee and his supporters bear little to no resemblance to the consensus of the vast majority of American Jews, who strongly support a negotiated, two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and active engagement by the United States to facilitate it.”

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Similar views were expressed by Jewish Voice for Peace, which sought to have ADL condemn Hagee.

Pastor Hagee, you will recall, at one time professed that Adolf Hitler’s persecution of Jews was carried out in fulfillment of God’s will, claimed that God sent Hurricane Katrina to punish residents of New Orleans for immoral behavior, and referred to the Catholic Church as “the great whore.”

According to the Connecticut Post:

Before Lieberman spoke, Hagee addressed the group and talked of the surreal media war that has misstated his comments and mischaracterized the group. Blaming the media for not understanding the Biblical view, Hagee made no apologies for CUFI being a Bible-based organization.

“We are here today and we are here to stay,” he said. Hagee said that his support for Israel comes from the Bible, noting that Christianity cannot explain its existence without Judaism. And, he added that what he did not say was that his support for Israel came from a wish to speed Armageddon or to usher in the end of times. “I didn’t say that because we do not believe that – because God is sovereign. He has set the time and we are powerless to change his timetable,” Hagee said.

Hagee, apparently, thinks his characterizations of what he said are more accurate than his speeches on youtube.  For example:

Lieberman, too, claimed victimhood at the CUFI speech.  He felt he had been misinterpreted and mischaracterized:

Like Hagee, Lieberman stood on the stage flanked on either side by the flags of Israel and the United States and spoke of “an organized and aggressive campaign” to persuade him to cancel his speech. He did not, he said, because he feels a bond with Hagee and with them that is “much stronger than that.”

“I am proud to stand with you here,” he said. Lieberman said it is easy for those who do not know someone to condemn them “to write off the life and work of another human being you’ve never met, on the basis of a sound bite you just heard or an old video you have just seen.”

“That is the world that we live in, but that is not the world we should want to live in. A person should be judged on the entire span of his or her life’s works,” he said.

Lieberman said he does not agree with some of the things Hagee has said that are offensive and hurtful to people. But, he believes his life’s work is worth supporting.

This is bigotry at work.  Hagee’s life work is raising money for fringe wacko politicians.  How could we expect anyone, much less Lieberman, not to support that?  Lieberman’s pandering to these bigots is a disgrace.

What, I want to know, are the Democrats going to do about this?

Crickets.