Intellectual Property Law

Republican presidential hopeful, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., speaks at a news conference with Rev. John Hagee, a televangelist from Cornerstone Church, in San Antonio, Texas, in this Feb. 27, 2008 file photo.
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File

The liberal activist group MoveOn.org on Thursday planned to use the internet and media coverage to cement the idea in voters' minds that Arizona Republican senator John McCain is associated with the bizarre and extreme views of an evangelical pastor named John Hagee.

The group on Thursday sent out an e-mail petition to its 3.2 million members. It asks them to sign on to demand that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee  drop Hagee's support.

During  an interview with National Public Radio's Fresh Air program in 2006, Hagee said that Hurricane Katrina was the result of God's judgment against New Orleans for hosting a gay pride parade.

MoveOn.org planned to deliver the petition to McCain as he was touring through New Orleans on Thursday.

In its e-mail to members, MoveOn.org wrote: "John McCain is  relying for political support on a man who preaches bigotry and exclusion, who  spreads the kind of hate that allowed Katrina to become a man-made tragedy. While the media is focused on his New Orleans visit, we need to call him on it."

For his part, during Thursday's tour McCain slammed president Bush for his administration's response to the disaster.

Aboard his campaign bus, McCain also called Hagee's comment about Katrina and New Orleans "nonsense."