Union City, CA — After taking heat for nearly three months for receiving the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee, John McCain took the final step Thursday and completely rejected the support from the controversial evangelical leader.

Reacting to comments unearthed this week in which the pastor said Adolf Hitler was fulfilling God’s will by carrying out the Holocaust because it hastened the creation of Israel and the return of Jews to their homeland, McCain was forced to completely break his ties.

“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,” McCain said in a written statement issued by his press office–also getting in a slight dig on Obama and his relationship with his controversial pastor. “I have said I do not believe Senator Obama shares Reverend Wright’s extreme views. But let me also be clear, Reverend Hagee was not and is not my pastor or spiritual advisor, and I did not attend his church for twenty years. I have denounced statements he made immediately upon learning of them, as I do again today. “

The split appears to be mutual, as Hagee released his own statment this afternoon “withdrawing” his endorsement, noting that he fears that his comments have “become a distraction in what should be a national debate about important issues.”

“Ever since I endorsed John McCain for president, people seeking to attack Senator McCain have combed my records for statements they can use for political gain. They have had no qualms about grossly misrepresenting my position on issues most near and dear to my heart if it serves their political ambitions,” Hagee said in a recent paper statement. “I am tired of these baseless attacks and fear that they have become a distraction in what should be a national debate about important issues. I have therefore decided to withdraw my endorsement of Senator McCain for President effective today, and to remove myself from any active role in the 2008 campaign. I hope that the Senator McCain will accept this withdrawal so that he may focus on the issues that are most important to America and the world.”

Hagee’s Hitler comments are only the latest in a litany of controversial statements brought to light in recent months since McCain first received the endorsement from the controversial pastor. Hagee has also blamed Hurricane Katrina on the sins of New Orleans residents and called the Catholic Church the “great whore.”

McCain has repeatedly condemned specific incendiary Hagee remarks during the last three months but defended his endorsement, often praising the pastor’s support for Israel, and consistently stated that accepting his endorsement did not mean he also approved of the pastor’s views. When he was recently confronted with Hagee’s Katrina remarks, he called them “nonsense” nine times, but still said he was not ready to repudiate his endorsement

“It’s nonsense. I don’t have anything more to say about that. Of course–I apologize for that. It’s nonsense. I reject that categorically and I would point out there’s a lot of people who have endorsed me. They support my views. That does not mean that I support (their views),” McCain told reporters April 24 during a trip to New Orleans. “Would I consider repudiating his endorsement? I certainly condemn those parts of his remarks. I continue to appreciate his support for the state of Israel and for many of the good things that he and his church has done. But I repudiate as strongly as possible those remarks and those of the Catholic church as well.”

McCain campaign advisers have admitted that they failed to adequately vet Hagee before accepting his endorsement prior to the Texas primary–which was viewed at the time as an important pickup for the GOP candidate as he sought to bring aboard support from the Christian right.

New Orleans, LA — During a trip to the still-ravaged and mostly abandoned Lower Ninth Ward Thursday, Sen. McCain repeatedly hammered President Bush for the government’s failure in the lead up and aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

It was an important moment for the presumptive GOP nominee to distance himself from the unpopular president Democrats are hoping to attach him to in the fall.

ASHEVILLE, NC — Hillary Clinton isn’t all that impressed with John McCain’s trip to New Orleans — saying McCain may be right to blame the Bush administration for it’s Katrina response, but he’s wrong to leave tearing down the city’s flood-ravaged ninth ward on the table.

McCain told reporters aboard his Straight Talk Express bus that there should be “a conversation about what to do about it, rebuild it, tear it down, you know whatever it is.” Clinton told a crowd in North Carolina that razing the ninth ward is not an option.

“Senator McCain was down in New Orleans, where he said that President Bush had failed the country during Katrina and after. I agree,” she said. “The difference between Senator McCain and myself is that I have a long record of fighting to rebuild the Gulf and to help the citizens who live along the Gulf who were left to their own devices by their government.”

“In fact, Senator McCain said he might want to tear down the ninth ward instead of rebuilding it, but I went to the ninth ward after Katrina and met with people there and saw the destruction and I saw the resilience in their eyes, and they deserve our help to rebuild and regain their lives and their homes.

New Orleans, LA — “In all candor, if I had been President of the United States, I would have ordered the plane landed at the nearest air force base and I’d been over here,” McCain told reporters aboard his bus today.

New Orleans, LA — Rev. John Hagee’s view that Hurricane Katrina was punishment for the sins of New Orleans residents is “nonsense,” McCain said at least nine times aboard his bus today.

The DNC has been calling on McCain to specifically condemn those remarks for weeks even though the GOP presumptive nominee has previously rebuked other controversial Hagee remarks.

“It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense. I don’t have anything additional to say. It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, I don’t have anything more to say….it’s nonsense. I reject that categorically.”

Hagee endorsed McCain in late February.

*****UPDATED with full exchange from bus. Notice that at the end of his response, McCain gets a shot in on Obama and Wright telling reporters, “I didn’t attend Pastor Hagee’s church for 20 years.”

Q: What is your reaction (to Hagee Katrina comments)?

McCain: It’s nonsense.

Q: Would you withdraw accepting his endorsement?

McCain: It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense. It’s nonsense. I don’t have anything additional to say about that. It’s nonsense.

Q: Do you regret accepting his endorsement?

A: It’s nonsense. I don’t have anything more to say about that. Of course–I apologize for that. It’s nonsense. I reject that categorically and I would point out there’s a lot of people who have endorsed me. They support my views. That does not mean that I support–would I consider repudiating his endorsement? I certainly condemn those parts of his remarks. I continue to appreciate his support for the state of Israel and for many of the good things that he and his church has done. But I repudiate as strongly as possible those remarks and those of the Catholic church as well.

Q: You and your Democratic opponents spend a certain amount of time commenting on surrogates and endorsers, on what they said. Do you think that is in any way interfering with how you’re trying to conduct your campaign?

A: …I didn’t attend Pastor Hagee’s church for 20 years. There’s a great deal of difference in my view between someone who endorses you and other circumstances.