CINCINNATI — Republican John McCain quickly denounced the comments of a radio talk show host who while warming up a campaign crowd referred repeatedly to Barack Hussein Obama and called the Democratic presidential candidate a "hack, Chicago-style" politician.*snip*"I did not know about these remarks, but I take responsibility for them. I repudiate them," he said. "My entire campaign I have treated Senator Obama and Senator (Hillary Rodham) Clinton with respect. I will continue to do that throughout this campaign."
McCain called both Democrats "honorable Americans" and said, "I want to dissociate myself with any disparaging remarks that may have been said about them."
Asked whether the use of Obama's middle name — the same as former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein — is proper, McCain said: "No, it is not. Any comment that is disparaging of either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is totally inappropriate."
McCain said he didn't know who allowed Cunningham to speak but said he was sure it was in coordination with his campaign. He said he didn't hear the comments and has never met Cunningham, but "I will certainly make sure that nothing like that happens again."
Later, on his radio show, Cunningham expressed disappointment with McCain's apology and said he would endorse Clinton as a result.
"Did John McCain repudiate me? When he didn't hear the remarks at all? He didn't hear them. He just threw me under the bus to the national media," Cunningham said on local radio station WLW. "I've had it with McCain. I'm going to endorse Hillary Clinton. I'm going to throw my support behind Hillary Clinton."
Cunningham also disputed McCain's assertion that the two had never met.
*snip*Aside from using Obama's middle name, Cunningham also mocked the Illinois senator's foreign policy statements about his willingness to meet with the leaders of rogue nations. He said he envisions a future in which "the great prophet from Chicago takes the stand and the world leaders who want to kill us will simply be singing Kumbaya together around the table with Barack Obama."
Wow, what a lesson in Media Bias 101. Talk-show guy calls out Democratic presidential candidate for what he is, and what does the reporter use as the main thrust of her story? The talk-show host's use of the candidate's middle name. I will say that I think Mr. Obama's middle name really shouldn't be of any consequence, though. There are plenty of other reasons not to vote for him, many other things to call him out on, not the least of which is the fact that he never met a gun control scheme he didn't like. (Speaking of that, see more about the latest anti-gun asshattery from the junior senator from Illinois here, here and here.) I guess it just goes to show that skilled writers can skew anything the way they want it to go. And I am a writer myself, but still I have to marvel at that.
As for Cunningham and his astonishment at McCain's actions after his comments, all I can say is, what the hell did the guy expect? You pick up a snake and you should fully expect to get bitten. And by the same token, if you throw your support behind a craven panderer like McCain, you should expect to be thrown under the bus when McCain sees such an action as politically expedient. If I was someone whose endorsement he had been seeking, that would have been one more reason he would not have gotten it, Party apparatchiks like The Anchoress be damned.
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