"For a long time, my father has refrained from endorsing political candidates and he certainly did not intend for his comments to be an endorsement for Senator Hillary Clinton."

"My father, of course, was joking," the younger Graham said, when he hosted the Clintons onstage and told the crowd of 90,000, "They're a great couple. ... He should be an evangelist because he has all the gifts and he could leave his wife to run the country."

Although Billy Graham has called himself a Democrat, Franklin said that didn't mean he supported the former president, saying, "His political views, as well as mine, are quite different than the Clintons'."

The Clintons, however "remain good friends," he added.

The Rev. Graham felt compelled to issue the clarification after receiving more than 100 e-mails and calls of protest, the Observer said.

The Rev. Graham's words of praise for the former first couple prompted significant consternation among some of his most devoted followers.

National Clergy Council President Rev. Rob Schenck, for instance - who had traveled from Washington, D.C., to Queens, N.Y., just to hear his "role model" preach - walked out of the event after the Clintons were feted onstage.

"I was stunned and appalled," the Rev. Schenck told the Christian Wire Service.

"It was disturbing to watch Billy Graham, a man whom I’ve admired for years, being used by evil to mislead countless Christians," complained the Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, head of the Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny [BOND].

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