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I condemn remarks that are, in any way, viewed as anti-anything.
McCain rejects pastor's endorsement
By LIBBY QUAID – 19 minutes ago
UNION CITY, Calif. (AP) — Republican John McCain rejected the months-old endorsement of an influential Texas televangelist after an audio recording surfaced in which the preacher said God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land.
"Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well," the presidential candidate said in a statement issued Thursday.
Hagee quickly responded that he was withdrawing the endorsement.
McCain actively courted Hagee, who leads a megachurch with a congregation in the tens of thousands and has an even wider television audience. Former GOP presidential rivals also sought Hagee's backing.
The preacher has controversial views that were well-known before McCain accepted his endorsement at a news conference Feb. 27 in San Antonio shortly before the Texas presidential primary.
Hagee has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as "the great " and called it a "false cult system." He also has linked Hitler to the Catholic church, suggesting it helped shape his anti-Semitism. And Hagee said Hurricane Katrina was God's retribution for sexual sin.
Another evangelical supporter of McCain, Ohio megachurch pastor and author Rod Parsley, has sharply criticized Islam, calling the religion inherently violent.
McCain has faced a barrage of criticism over Hagee, with some comparing the situation to the controversy Democrat Barack Obama faced over the views of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
McCain has tried to distance himself from Hagee's views, saying he strongly condemned anti-Catholic rhetoric. Yet he never rejected the endorsement.
"I'm glad to have his endorsement," he said on ABC's "This Week" in April. "I condemn remarks that are, in any way, viewed as anti-anything."
The Arizona senator has said he sought Hagee's support because the pastor, like himself, is a strong supporter of Israel.
The formation of Israel was at the heart of the remarks that prompted McCain to reject Hagee's support. The comments came in a sermon Hagee gave in the late 1990s, an audio recording of which was posted last week on the liberal blog "Talk to Action."
In his sermon, Hagee said, "Then God sent a hunter. A hunter is someone with a gun, and he forces you. Hitler was a hunter. ... How did it happen? Because God allowed it to happen. Why did it happen? Because God said, 'My top priority for the Jewish people is to get them to come back to the land of Israel.'"
Hagee tried to repair the damage by apologizing to Catholics in a letter released just last week. Saying he had emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholic and Protestant relationships with Jews, Hagee wrote, "I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful."
On Thursday, Hagee issued a new statement saying he was weary of the controversy and was withdrawing his endorsement.
Hagee said critics are "grossly misrepresenting my position on issues most near and dear to my heart."
"I am tired of these baseless attacks and fear that they have become a distraction in what should be a national debate about important issues," Hagee said. "I have therefore decided to withdraw my endorsement of Senator McCain for president effective today, and to remove myself from any active role in the 2008 campaign."
The other pastor, Parsley, also has described Islam as an "anti-Christ religion" and the Muslim prophet Muhammad as "the mouthpiece of a conspiracy of spiritual evil," according to an ABC News report Thursday.
McCain said he rejects Parsley's views. He did not say whether he would reject the pastor's endorsement.
"I obviously did not know about these remarks before Reverend Parsley's endorsement, and I reject them in the strongest terms," McCain said in a statement. "They stand in direct contrast to both my beliefs and long desire to win the 'hearts and minds' of the vast majority of moderate Muslims who do not want their future controlled by a minority of violent extremists."
AP Religion Writer Eric Gorski in Denver contributed to this report.
Hosted by Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
yeah, this guy makes solid decisions
I condemn remarks that are, in any way, viewed as anti-anything.
mccain loves endorsements until he doesn't.
who decides what he wears?
who decides what he eats?
who is the guy that wipes his chin?
who is the guy that told him to rag on obama for not fighting in granada?
Joe Paggs was claiming today that McCain's rejection of Hagee's endorsement was swift, unlike the Obama-Wright endorsement....yet this story has been around for about a year...only now that it's coming back at McCain is it relevant...."I'm glad to have his endorsement," he said on ABC's "This Week" in April. "I condemn remarks that are, in any way, viewed as anti-anything."
"viewed as anti-anything."
"viewed as"
... very revealing qualifying weasel words.
As revealing as dubya saying to NAACP: "I value the black vote", not "I value black people".
I lked Jesse Ventura's response to all this on the Dan Abrams show yesterday. He said what the does it matter what a candidate's pastor has to say? He said he doesn't give a crap about Rev. Wright or Rev. Hagee's comments at all. And I agree. He said it shouldn't even be an issue and that the republicans are hypocrites for even trying to make it an issue.
I find it hard to support a guy that got ripped on the Ellen Degeneres Show.
What McCain is saying is that he was for Parsley's and Hagee's endorsement before he was against it.
Correction, he was it against before he was for it and now he is against it again.
Last edited by AZLouis; 05-23-2008 at 09:19 AM.
All I got to say: GDamn America. sign me, J. Wright
Deflection is cool. Justification of one's behavior is always the best way out.
All I got to say: GDamn America. sign me, J. Wright
IMHO, guys like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh who keep bringing this pastor crap up are clueless. What I am confident in is neither McCain or Barack shared the more extreme views that these "religious" leaders have.
It is a non-issue for intelligent voters.
you just -slapped the entire GOP,
From the Dan Abrams show:
ABRAMS: That was on top of the fact that Hagee called the Catholic Church the great and claimed that God sent hurricane Katrina as punishment for a New Orleans gay pride parade. Jesse, has he done enough quickly enough with Hagee in rejecting the endorsement today?
VENTURA: Well, first of all, I thought we separated church and state when it came to politics. Why do we continue to bring up who, what a minister says in a church, when there‘s supposed to be a separation between the two? I don‘t care where Barack Obama goes to church. I don‘t care where John McCain goes to church. I care how they govern and how they act when they are running my government and don‘t bring church into it.
But yet the media, this is great stuff, so again, here comes the church. How - not only that, how can a church person endorse a candidate? Shouldn‘t they lose their tax exempt status then if they are doing it officially as a minister?
Is that why the dimm-o-craps spend so much time
politicking in churchs? And no one ever questions the
church's tax exemption.
Oh, I forgot, never mind. It is dimm-o-craps, they are
exempt from everything.
You mean like McCain politicking for Hagee's endorsement? Don't you question his motives and lack of judgement?
Oh, I forgot,never mind. Repugnants are exempt from their own bull .
it's intellectually dishonest to say Wright to Obama is the same as Hagge or Parsley is to McCain. But whatever, according to Obama McCain doesn't care about VA benefits either.
john cares enough as long as it doesn't interfere with his fund raising.
did you come up with that all by yourself?
don't blame john, someone has to tell him what he wants.
Too bad the Senator put Hagee on his bus before he threw him under it.
Wake me up when McCain's longtime pastor, who baptized his children, and who McCain praises as his "mentor," says or does something that reveals that he hates America.
he didn't care about his own pastors endorsement.
he picked the crazy s.
a typical mccain decision.
just what we need. a guy that rolls the dice, or flips a coin to decide.
Wake me when that matters for either candidate.
All I got to say: GDamn America. sign me, J. Wright
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