McCain "glad" to have radical preacher's support

McCain concedes Hagee's support was a mistake, but he's keeping the endorsement anyway.

Published April 21, 2008 6:03PM (EDT)

Texas televangelist John Hagee has called the Roman Catholic Church "the Great Whore," the "apostate church," the "anti-Christ" and "a false cult system" that inspired Adolf Hitler to initiate the Holocaust. He also endorsed John McCain's presidential campaign after the Republican senator sought out his support.

The subject came up briefly on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos" Sunday.

There was this ...

Stephanopoulos: So was it a mistake to solicit and accept [Hagee's] endorsement?

McCain: Oh, probably, sure.

... followed a few seconds later by this.

Stephanopoulos: So you no longer want his endorsement?

McCain: I'm glad to have his endorsement.

Classic McCain. He thinks it was a mistake to accept Hagee's endorsement, but now that he has it, he's not giving it up.

Interestingly enough, the discussion on the program came shortly after McCain blasted Barack Obama for knowing Bill Ayers. Watching the interview, I got the sense that McCain missed the irony.


By Steve Benen

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