Senator John McCain forcefully rejected on May 22 the endorsement of Rev. John Hagee that he had previously accepted after the pastor was discovered to have made offensive comments about Adolf Hitler and Jews. Rev. Hagee, the founder of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio TX, had previously made disparaging remarks about the Catholic Church as well. "I just think that the statement is crazy and unacceptable," said Sen. McCain.
Senator McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, said "Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them". Speaking in California, the Arizona Republican said of Hagee's remarks "I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well."
Sen. McCain's comments came after The Huffington Post Web site reported on a sermon Hagee gave in which he he argued that God's will had its influence on Nazism.
Quoting from holy scriptures, Hagee said "'And they the hunters should hunt them,' that will be the Jews. 'From every mountain and from every hill and from out of the holes of the rocks.' If that doesn't describe what Hitler did in the Holocaust, you can't see that".
Hagee is the founder and national chairman of Christians United for Israel and recently toured the Holy Land. In his many writings he sees historical and contemporary events, especially in the Middle East, as unfolding biblical prophecy. Following McCain's announcement, Hagee withdrew his endorsement.
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