Recently
McCain unceremoniously divorced the pastor he courted for over a
year. Like all marriages of convenience, McCain was after the
dowry--a dowry worth thousands of votes in the hotly contested Texas
republican primary. Before this story fades into the general
election campaign fog, it should be noted that Pastor Hagee is a
lobbyist. No, not one of those limousine driving “K” street
types that haunt the halls of power in Washington D.C. Pastor Hagee
has learned the joys of telecommuting, and phones his favors in long
distance.

Hagee founded and leads Christians United For Israel (CUFI). Lots has been written about this group recently, but what hasn't been discussed is that this organization's goals are flatly opposed to U.S. policy objectives in the Middle East. For the past many years the stated goal of U.S. policy vis-a-vis Israel is a two state solution whereby Israel and and the Palestinians co-exist as two independent entities. CUFI envisions things a little differently. Well, a lot differently actually. Not only do they believe that divvying up God's real estate is wrong, but that such an action will bring about God's wrath. The land of Israel, including the Palestinian territory, is for the Jews. The CUFI site links to a site about Christian Zionism (which Hagee is a proponent of, and CUFI is an instrument of). This site outlines their philosophy regarding Israel:

“ The Bible is very clear that the Jewish people were given the land of Canaan by God Himself. He gave the land to Abraham and to his descendent's through Isaac as an everlasting possession (Genesis 12:1-3)... ”

Please note that this passage says that the land was given to the descendent's through Isaac. This is important, because according to Hagee's theology, the Palestinians are descended from Ishmael, Abraham's bastard son born from Hagar. Hagar and Ishmael were not included in God's covenant with Abraham. What Hagee intends to do with the millions of Palestinians isn't clear, but what is clear is that he and his group do not advocate the course of action embarked upon by U.S. Middle Eastern policy. Based on this fact alone, one has to wonder why more media scrutiny wasn't brought to bear on McCain's much sought after endorsement.

CUFI hosts an annual convention in Washington D.C., where elected officials mix it up with the CUFI faithful. The attendee's are mostly republican, but Joe “Zell” Lieberman made a speech there last year. One of CUFI's stated goals is to enable its members to “personally speak with their elected officials to express concerns for Israel ’s security and their support of Israel ’s right to the land by Biblical Mandate.” Biblical Mandate is the operative phrase. It brooks no debate.

Hence, John McCain's former pastor is a lobbyist whose group is actively lobbying congress on position's contrary to the stated Middle Eastern goals of the Bush administration, and presumably, a McCain administration as well.