hagee quote.y owns the idea that hitler's killing six million jews was god's idea. john hagee is actually not a member of any religion. he has a church, which would be better labeled a theater where he performs, and his website calls his performance art group "a non-denominational evangelical church." religiously, that means absolutely nothing. that means any fool, like hagee, can get up on his stage in his theater and say any foolish thing, because there is no religious doctrine to be observed in hagee's theater. the laws of gravity in that theater are whatever hagee says they are. southern fake preachers like hagee, vicious bigots like hagee, have problems with more religions than just judaism. hagee has said this about catholicism, which happens to be the single largest religion in the united states of america. he says catholicism is a false cult system, and that was just him warming up. that was just hagee taking batting practice against catholicism. he has also said catholicism is "a godless

hagee explained why he likes to hang with a fake preacher like hagee.litico reports governor perry plans to admit he's running for perry at his speech in charleston, south carolina, this saturday, the same day america's political attention was supposed to be focussed on the ames straw poll in iowa. joining me now is howard fineman, editorial director for "the huffington post" and senior political analyst. is he running? >> i think so. >> is this official breaking news from howard fineman? >> no, this is howard fineman talking into a very plugged in senior republican. >> not the engines running, plane set to go to new hampshire and he decide he's not going? >> put it this way, he's almost never wrong, he said he's definitely running, he's got close ties to the perry campaign but is not part of it. he said he's running, and the logic of it is pretty clear, lawrence, because number one -- newt gingrich of georgia is $1 million in debt. there's a big, gaping hole there for a southern appeal to the bible belt, which is what that rally was, and to the tea par

instead, hagee and a spanish translator took to the stage an hour and 18 minutes after governor perryhed, but that didn't stop hagee from mentioning his friend, rick perry. >> we pray for our governor, rick perry. who has had the courage today to call this time of fasting and prayer just as abraham lincoln did -- [ speaking in a foreign language ] -- in the darkest days of the civil war. >> hagee was not inspired to repeat his previous statements about hitler following god's wishes by killing jews or that catholicism is "a godless theology of hate." perry is yet to explain why he likes to hang with a fake preacher like hagee who thinks that hitler was doing god's work and that catholicism is a godless theology of hate. perry plans to admit he is running for president during his speech at the red state conference in charleston, south carolina this saturday, the same day that america's political attention was supposed to be focused on the aims strong poll in iowa. joining me now is howard fineman, editorial director for "the huffington post" and senior political analyst. is he running?

they are classified as a hate group and televangelist john hagee will speak at the event. also called catholicism "a godless theology of hate." perry invited the obama administration, texas legislature, and all 50 u.s. governors to attend the event. only one person accepted republican kansas governor, sam brownback, through his spokesman, though, now says the governor is on vacation this weekend and that it is "left to his discretion whether he'll actually make it to hang out with people who think catholicism is a godless theology of hate." even governor perry is down playing his role in his own event. he told reporters last week i'm going to be there, i may be ushering for all i know. and i'm going to be here tomorrow night and i may be ushering for all i know. joining me now, executive director of americans united for separation of church and state barry lynn, thanks for joining me tonight, reverend. >> nice to be here. >> reverend, you and the aclu of texas are running another event called the family faith and freedom event the night before governor perry's. if i could

and there's rather controversial participants, including reverend john hage who as a history of sayingersial things of talking about catholicism as a -- the catholic church as the great whore, katrina was god's punishment of new orleans, do you support or agree with what the governor is doing on this? >> i think that it never hurts to have people gathered together and pray. you know, i think that -- i don't even know who the participants are. i haven't really looked at the details of it. i'm sure they are very good people also participating. but you know, prayer is never bad. as long as it is praying to a god that we all agree is there and asking for help through a crisis that we know is upon us. >> but should the governor be making this a christian event and many people say violating the separation of church and state and making it specifically christian rather than acue men cal? >> certainly this is not a government state of texas function. i think he has been specific in saying that it's a private function, that christian leaders came together and wanted to do a day of prayer. and i

first of all it's controversial because of people like john hagee and orministers who are controversialain had to disavow a last time around. they have said some terrible things about the catholic church and other religious groups. plus it is defined as a christian prayer group. >> there is a cost-benefit analysis here. clearly the perry folks have come down believing there's more to be doinged than they lose. which is to say in a primary, that he -- we think he's going to be in now, that he could really news this as a way to appeal to cultural conservatives. it's a way of introducing himself through the swath of the conservative base that identifies as evangelicals. there's clearly a downside. he's going to be inviting a lot of scrutiny, a lot of press down there. obviously that can be used against him especially in a general election context. lastly, the optics. even if there's nothing controversial said, if he's getting all this buzz for a last month about the campaign and he draws a pretty small room and that big football stadium, that's going to raise questions, too. >> i talked ea

john hagee prayed over the host of the event saying rick perry, who's had courage today to call thisof fasting and prayer just as abraham lincoln did in the darkest days of the civil war. well, are we forgetting perry and lincoln would likely have been on opposite sides of the cessation argument that brought about the civil war? perry began floating this idea back in 2009 in a show of opposition to higher taxes. next up, finding it difficult to scrape by without being a target of comedians' punch liens in their career. an unlikely figure 2 is managing to do just that. sarah palin is a voiding him. let's hear an explanation for keeping his routine palin-free. >> i heard her speak the first couple of times after a couple of weeks and i knew she was like for me, the mother load, but i was so shocked that she was running. it stunned me so much, i said onstage, i wouldn't make jokes about her, because i could not live in this world if i believed she was a real person. i have, for the entire time that she's been around, treated her as a hallucination. >> hallucination. i love that guy. we'

when i look at the fact that you guys have fans like hague or even john mccain had to -- remember wh hageee said i believe that new orleans add level of sin offensive to god and they were recipients of the judgment are endorsing this. i mean, referee gaddy, it is certainly you and i have your beliefs, but this level of hatred and bias, and to use god to push this kind of partisan political kind of bringing together of these kinds of people is just beyond believe to me. >> i don't think this ever started out to be a real prayer meeting. as you know, well, the most authentic kind of prayer commended is when one gets alone and prays very quietly and very sincerely about their interest. the whole announcement of this event was tied to rumors about governor perry casting himself into the run for the presidency. the invitation about not go to religious people in houses of worship, it went to the governors. and so, i think the intent all along was to use prayer as a tool for attracting attention to a man that wanted to win a political office. >> and i think is clear, we both believe in prayer and

he's out there with them, with hage and all these people.f paying dividends, and i think they concluded that he's a better candidate in the general election than bachmann is, would be my guess. >> eric, history tells us that while evangelicals is important in the early primaries like iowa and north carolina, they don't generally get their candidates nominated. could that be different this time? >> gloria, i think if we look after labor day, i think whoever is the front runner for the republicans after labor day has been the nominee for every election since 1964 other than in 2008 when it was jewll yagiud mccain nipping at their heels. i think the polling of evangelicals and people who consider themselves born-agains are misplaced and displaced. they think about fiscal issues, too, and they look at obamacare and all this, and they look at michelle bachmann and wonder, can she beat obama, and i think the question is who is the most evangelical of these candidates, but who can beat barack obama, and i think a lot of people relate to perry in th

there was a concern that somebody would say, whether it was pastor john hagee who's been controversialone on stage would say something controversial and it would be associated with governor perry. but for the most part that didn't happen. critics will say just because perry is being spoken about as a 2012 candidate made it in some ways political in and of itself. and there were groups that are protesting both the day before and outside of reliant stadium who said that this event was one political -- that perry was using it for political gains, and two, that it was exclusionary. one of the groups that was cohosting it, have said controversial things about same-sex marriage and abortion. so there was a connection there and some concern about that. now, perry did make a statement, "i believe in a god that is not a political god, that is too wise to be affiliated with any political party." that's the message he was trying to get across. >> carrie dann, our campaign reporter on the official non-campaign campaign of rick perry. carrie, thanks very much. >>> up next, all eyes will be on the h

the american family association which holds strong anti-gay policies and controversial pastor john hagee will speak. spokesperson eric burse? why would the governor want to share the stage with controversial figures? >> there's controversy in the eye of all americans. what we can do despite our days greelts come together and pray. >> reporter: the stadium seats 75,000 and only about 8,000 tickets have been sold. however the event could give perry a boost among republicans in next week's iowa straw poll. >> a conservative with proven leadership in tough times. >> reporter: a state where perry is already running ads, with the fiscal credentials of a strong texas economy, political experts say if perry can connect with the political right he could be the savior the republican party is looking for. karen brown, cbs news, houston. those who have followed governor perry for quite some time say he has an extremely strategic politician, so listen to this, one-quarter of the national electorate are white evangelical christians. >> karen brown, thank you. joining us from houston as well as wayne s

i am sarah hagee from the department of commerce. i want to know if your strategy is this partnership for citizen security. it is not the same thing of the central american regional security and should initiative? i've heard a lot about that i know something about it. that is official question but i've been working also, my second is the partnership for growth is something in el salvador that we have been working out quite a bit and a lot of the economic competitiveness for economic growth initiatives that are part of that had a lot to do with security and crime and while we do -- my point is that i hope you would comment on this, the needing government in the united states when we are coming up with a strategy for how to deal with central america, could we get the greater cooperation are sharing of ideas between various groups that are always organized to address these challenges? and i mean the intelligence, your group and other organizations? i often feel that we address problems in different stovepipes. that is an internal usg qu