He began as a food critic, at which he was reasonably competent. He followed that with a stint as theater critic - at which he was absolutely reliable: if he said something was terrible, that alone practically guaranteed it would be a Broadway hit.

I was quite surprised to see that he became a columnist/pundit a few years ago, and was involved in more than one conversation back in NY along the lines of: “wasn’t he the guy who was the theater critic…? And the qualifications he brings to this might be…?”

As has been apparent over the last few years - none. He is as often as not factually incorrect: an inevitable consequence of not knowing history, or how to research. (Or, if he does know how, not bothering.) It’s one thing to have an opinion, it’s quite something else to be constant in your mis-statement of facts, wrong in your attributions, and from Mars in your conflations.

But it’s reassuring that he’s there. It reminds us that the Times remains the Times. If he and Maureen Dowd ever started making sense, what a dislocation that would be!

Here’s a website that recounts that effort:

Hagee founded the Night to Honor Israel events in 1981 to give a voice to this growing support while highlighting Christianity’s debt to Judaism. Through these events, he has also raised millions of dollars to help Jewish refugees from the former Soviet Union emigrate to Israel.

After attending one of Hagee’s events, Stephen Strang, founder and CEO of Lake Mary-based Strang Communications, organized a similar event in Orlando to show his support and raise money for Magen David Adom (the Jewish equivalent of the Red Cross). His initial goal was to raise enough money for an ambulance but at the end of the event and through generous donations from readers of his “Charisma”
magazine, he was able to present the organization with $120,000—more than enough money for a full mobile intensive care unit.

Now it’s true that apparently Obama and Oprah were drawn to Rev. Wright because of his social conscience. However, while Pastor Hagee seeks to build bridges; Rev. Wright seeks to tear them down.

This just confirms my belief that MSM stands for Mostly Stupid Morons.
……