McCain repudiates Rev. Hagee, rejects endorsement

Presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), who has taken constant fire since receiving the endorsement of controversial pastor John Hagee, renounced the reverend’s past comments Thursday and rejected his endorsement.

McCain said Thursday he finds Hagee’s “remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them.”

{mosads}The episode is similar to one that hounded Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama’s (Ill.) campaign before Obama denounced his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, after weeks of criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike.

Taking a page from Obama’s comments on Wright, McCain said: “I did not know of them before Rev. Hagee’s endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well.”

In doing so, McCain also mentioned the Wright controversy, drawing a contrast between his relationship with Hagee and Obama's relationship with Wright.

“I have said I do not believe Sen. Obama shares Rev. Wright's extreme views,” McCain said in a statement. “But let me also be clear, Rev. Hagee was not and is not my pastor or spiritual adviser, and I did not attend his church for 20 years. I have denounced statements he made immediately upon learning of them, as I do again today.”

While Wright drew fire for controversial comments about whites and the U.S. role in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Hagee has been widely criticized for his inflammatory comments on Catholicism and homosexuality, among other things.