The heat in the kitchen was a bit too much for the Senior Senator from Arizona, John McCain. In a statement released this afternoon, McCain says that he can no longer accept John Hagee's endorsement:
"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," McCain said in a statement to CNN Thursday.
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With tiretracks on his back, John Hagee similiarly withdrew his endorsement of John McCain:
"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. 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," he said in a statement.
"I hope that the Senator McCain will accept this withdrawal so that he may focus on the issues that are most important to America and the world."
Not one to miss a good ole political knife twist, John McCain added:
His relationship with Hagee did not compare with Obama’s lengthy association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright. "I have said I do not believe Senator Obama shares Reverend Wright's extreme views. But let me also be clear, Reverend Hagee was not and is not my pastor or spiritual advisor, and I did not attend his church for twenty years. I have denounced statements he made immediately upon learning of them, as I do again today," said McCain.
And as a preemptive strike against his embrace of another loony pastor, McCain sought to get in front of the next story to explode in his face:
McCain has faced similar pressure to distance himself from Minister Rod Parsley over the minister’s statement that Islam was "an antichrist religion that intends through violence to conquer the world." A McCain aide downplayed the association, telling CNN Thursday that the senator had met Parsley only one time, over breakfast, and was not aware of the minister’s statements before accepting his endorsement.
John McCain :: Against agents of Intolerance before he was for them before he was against them.
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