TEXARKANA, Texas — Huckabee accused the Rev. John Hagee of playing politics over principle by endorsing McCain, and criticized the Republican front-runner for not accepting a debate.

Speaking after a rally in Texarkana, Huckabee said he was surprised by Hagee’s endorsement because of McCain’s lack of fervor on abortion — despite his 100% anti-abortion rights voting record. (McCain has, however, voted for stem-cell research.) Huckabee also said Hagee told him he endorsed because he assumed McCain would win the nomination.

“He just thought that the political rationale was he wanted to get on Sen. McCain’s team, and he thought he was gonna win the nomination,” Huckabee said. “I don’t think that’s a foregone conclusion, and even if I did, I would stand on principle more than I would politics.”

Huckabee said he spoke with Hagee, expressed his “disappointment and surprise” and asked him to hold off on publicly backing McCain.

“I felt that it was totally out of character for what I knew he believed,” Huckabee said, “or at least I thought he did.”

Huckabee also criticized McCain for not accepting a debate among the remaining Republican presidential candidates, after suggesting his interest earlier in the week.

“I would debate anywhere, anytime, there’s no issue that I would be afraid to sit down in front of Sen. McCain and discuss, none,” Huckabee said. “And if you’re going to be president, you ought to be willing to sit down in front of any group.”

I agree with Huckabee that Hagee should not have endorsed McCain and is most likely playing politics. Guys like John Hagee and Rod Parsley are just as interested in, if not more so, in politics and power as they are operating on principals. Huckabee, even with his problems, is clearly the more conservative Republican candidate. It’s beyond my understanding how ‘christian leaders’ like Hagee and Parsley can, in good conscience, endore a liberal candidate like McCain.

To make things even more complicated; even though I agree with Huckabee on the issue at hand, I don’t think he is running his own campaign with principals alone. They call it politics for a reason. Huckabee wants votes and he is willing to compromise what should be his own biblical principals by legitimizing the Catholic Church. More on that in a future post.