Lieberman to speak at conference hosted by Hagee

Sen. Joe Lieberman said Wednesday he will address a conference hosted by the Rev. John Hagee, who was spurned by Republican John McCain for his claim that God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land.

"I believe that Pastor Hagee has made comments that are deeply unacceptable and hurtful," Lieberman, I-Conn., said in a statement. "I also believe that a person should be judged on the entire span of his or her life's works. Pastor Hagee has devoted much of his life to fighting anti-Semitism and building bridges between Christians and Jews."

Lieberman is one of the strongest supporters of likely GOP presidential nominee McCain. He also has been mentioned as a possible running mate.

Lieberman plans to appear at Hagee's "Christians United for Israel" summit in Washington. He called Hagee's group "a vital force in supporting the war against terrorism and defending our ally, Israel."

The liberal advocacy group Democracy for America called on Lieberman to cut his ties to Hagee and his extremist views.

"If even Lieberman's new best friend, Senator McCain, can figure out that Hagee's message is bad for America and bad for Israel - so can Joe," the group's executive director, Arshad Hasan, said in an e-mail to supporters.

McCain, R-Ariz., last week rejected Hagee's months-old endorsement after an audio recording surfaced in which the preacher said God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land. McCain called the comment "crazy and unacceptable."

Hagee has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as "the great whore" and called it a "false cult system." He also has linked Hitler to the Catholic church, suggesting it helped shape his anti-Semitism. Hagee apologized to Catholics earlier this month.

Lieberman had praised Hagee during his speech to the pastor's group last year.

Lieberman was Democrat Al Gore's running mate in 2000. He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004.