In the New York Times Magazine this weekend, controversial Pastor John Hagee tells Deborah Solomon that, “it’s true that [John] McCain’s campaign sought my endorsement.” In the interview, “Hagee refused to discuss his statement that Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for a gay rights parade in New Orleans, calling it ‘so far off-base.’” “Our church is not hard against the gay people,” claimed Hagee. (HT: TPM)

In February, when controversial Pastor John Hagee endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), he called the senator “a man of principle” who “does not stand boldly on both sides of any issue.” But since then, McCain has sought to have it both ways by both distancing himself from Hagee’s divisive record while maintaining the Pastor’s political support.

Yesterday, McCain played the game again on Bill Bennett’s radio show, where he said, “I repudiate any comments that are anti-Semitic or anti-Catholic, racist, any other.” But then added, in Hagee’s defense, that the pastor “said that his words were taken out of context“:

I will say that he said that his words were taken out of context, he defends his position. I hope that maybe you’d give him a chance to respond. He says he has never been anti-Catholic, but I repudiate the words that create that impression.

As ThinkProgress noted yesterday, context does not change the indefensible nature of Hagee’s most divisive comments, such as his belief that “Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans” for hosting a gay pride parade. McCain has said that he “repudiates” Hagee’s words “that are anti-Semitic or anti-Catholic, racist, any other,” but he has never specifically criticized Hagee’s blatantly anti-gay rhetoric.

This should come as no great surprise. Though McCain sought gay support in his 2000 run for president, he has also had no qualms about allying himself with anti-gay activists. In the fall of 2006, McCain appeared in two commercials supporting a draconian ban on same-sex marriage in Arizona:

In 2000, McCain promised that he “would condemn openly” “agents of intolerance” like Hagee. Will McCain stand up now as “a man of principle” and specifically repudiate Hagee’s anti-gay comments?

On Bill Bennett’s radio show this morning, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said he repudiates “any comments” by hard-line conservative Pastor John Hagee “that are anti-semetic or anti-Catholic, racist, any other.” “I repudiate the words that create that impression,” said McCain.

But unlike his previous, half-hearted attempts to distance himself from Hagee, McCain also spoke up in the controversial pastor’s defense, saying that Hagee “said that his words were taken out of context”:

I will say that he said that his words were taken out of context, he defends his position. I hope that maybe you’d give him a chance to respond. He says he has never been anti-Catholic, but I repudiate the words that create that impression.

McCain then said he could look past Hagee’s bigoted comments because “when we were doing the No Surrender tour, he came and spoke on behalf of not surrendering in Iraq.”

Listen here:

Even if Hagee does support McCain’s vision of 100 years in Iraq, that does nothing to change the context of his past toxic comments. What context would absolve his belief that “Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans” for hosting a gay pride parade?:

All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are — were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing

When McCain ran for president in 2000, he chastized then-Governor Bush for “seeking the support of Southern fundamentalists who have expressed anti-Catholic views,” saying that he “would condemn openly” such “agents of intolerance.” Now he says such intolerance is just “taken out of context.”

UPDATE: TPM has more of the “context” of Hagee’s intolerant comments here.

Transcript Read more

In a conference call today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), a Catholic herself, condemned Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for accepting the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee, who has called the Catholic Church “The Great Whore,” an “apostate church,” the “anti-Christ,” and a “false cult system.’” The Huffington Post reports:

“That behavior is outside the circle of civilized debate in our democracy,” Pelosi said during a Thursday conference call. “I certainly think John McCain should reject his endorsement and I’m sure it won’t be long before he does.”

Yesterday, hard-line conservative Pastor John Hagee, founder of Christians United for Israel, endorsed John McCain. Hagee said that McCain “is a man of principle, [who] does not stand boldly on both sides of any issue.” McCain, who had been courting the endorsement for over a year, said that he was “very honored by Pastor John Hagee’s endorsement.”

Demonstrating how wildly out of the American religious and political mainstream Hagee’s views are, McCain’s acceptance of Hagee’s endorsement was condemned today by conservative William Donohue, president of the Catholic League. Calling Hagee a “bigot,” Donahue said the right-wing pastor has waged “an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church” by “calling it ‘The Great Whore,’ an ‘apostate church,’ the ‘anti-Christ,’ and a ‘false cult system.’”

Hagee holds many other radical beliefs. In a 2006 address to CUFI, Hagee declared:

The United States must join Israel in a pre-emptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God’s plan for both Israel and the West… a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation with Iran, which will lead to the Rapture, Tribulation, and Second Coming of Christ.

Speaking to the 2007 AIPAC conference, Hagee compared supporters of a two-state solution in the Middle East to Nazis. Hagee also echoed right-wing Israeli politician Binyamin Netanyahu, telling the audience that “Iran is Germany and Ahmadinejad is the new Hitler.”

Paging Tim Russert: Someone should ask John McCain if, unlike Hagee, he supports a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, and whether he believes that a military strike against Iran would “fulfill God’s plan for…a biblically prophesied end-time confrontation” as Hagee does.

UPDATE: Faith in Public Life has more.

UPDATE II: Hagee’s tv show, “John Hagee Today,” is also broadcast on Cornerstone Television. In 1999, McCain wrote to the FCC on behalf of campaign contributor Lowell “Bud” Paxson, urging a deal that would have made $17.5 million for Cornerstone.

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