People Will Vote For This Clown?

Rick Perry is a clown and a nut.  Can anybody give me an explanation why Israel is so important to Evangelican Christians without making a religious reference?  I would think that if the French treated the United States and our President like Benjamin Netanyahu's government does, these same people would be hyperventilating about how if it weren't for the United States, these guys (the French) would be speaking German.  Please point out to me all the times Israel has put the interests of the United States over their own interests.  All I can come up with is that they didn't jump in against Saddam Hussein when he fired Scud missiles at Israel.  Anything else?  It is called statecraft, and the United States ought to assert its own interests above the interests of Israel once in a while.