HOW TO MAKE HAGEE McCAIN'S RUNNING MATE

In today's column, Frank Rich discusses a YouTube video in which the Reverend John Hagee points to an "image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts" and dubs her "the Great Whore," a representation of "the Roman Church," which, he says, drinks "the blood of the Jewish people." Rich notes that when John McCain was interviewed recently on ABC by George Stephanopoulos, he faced questions about Hagee, but no video clips (despite the recent ubiquity of Jeremiah Wright video excerpts):

I wonder if Mr. McCain would have given the same answer had Mr. Stephanopoulos confronted him with the graphic video of the pastor in full "Great Whore" glory. But Mr. McCain didn't have to fear so rude a transgression. Mr. Hagee's videos have never had the same circulation on television as Mr. Wright's.

Well, double standards happen -- but there might be a way to turn this around.

Is anyone working on a documentary that quotes Hagee's most shocking words and links him to McCain and other right-wing politicians (mostly Republicans, including several who've been mentioned as possible McCain running mates, but also Joe Lieberman)? This wouldn't be a short clip -- it would be a long-form documentary, something at least a half-hour long that can be broadcast on TV or shown in theaters and released on DVD.

I mention this because I remember Stolen Honor, a film made in 2004 (by Carlton Sherwood, a right-wing journalist and participant in the Pentagon's military propaganda program) that accused John Kerry of harming U.S. POWs in Vietnam with his denunciations of the war, and that was scheduled for broadcast by Sinclair stations just before the '04 election.

Even though it wasn't aired in full as scheduled, it received huge amounts of free media attention -- it was a documentary, a work, not just an online clip, so its release was seen as a big event.

Yes, I know -- there was no documentary about Wright. That's a double standard. But this might be a way to overcome that double standard. Brave New Films, maybe? Anyone?