HuffPo, which has been publicizing Pastor John Hagee's bizarre and repeated statements about how Hitler was fulfilling God's plan by "hunting" the Jews and driving them back to Israel:
McCain said in a statement: "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."
Hagee also issued a statement saying he was tired of baseless attacks and he was removing himself from any active role in the 2008 campaign.
Color me skeptical about the ultimate veracity of both statements. Hagee can't extricate himself from politics any more than he can extricate himself from his own continually nutty (and offensive) prophecies -- they are both absolutely fundamental to his version of religion; he cannot function without them. And while it is a good thing that McCain is now "rejecting" his endorsement -- one he actively sought out, apparently entirely unaware of Hagee's long legacy of similar statements -- it is quite literally The Least He Could Do.
It's not like Hagee wasn't extraordinarily well known, before this election season, or somehow unvettable. I have Hagee's 2006 book, "Jerusalem Countdown", sitting on my table; it's chock full of insulting statements, dire prophecies and interpretations of Scripture so, shall we say, "unusual" that they bear far more resemblance to the ramblings of a UFO cult than to what many people would call Christianity.
So here are the next questions. Will far-far-right evangelicals, of the sort that want to collect Jews into Israel so as to bring about the Apocalypse, forgive McCain for dumping one of their most prominent preachers under the bus? Will McCain learn anything from this about associating with far-right figures that use religion not just as little more than excuse for their own prejudices and bigotries, but as justification for violence and war? Will the media report McCain's repudiation with even one tenth as much vigor as they obsessed over Obama's "preacher problem"?
I predict the answers to be yes, no, and you've got to be kidding.