During a recent McCain stop in Cincinnati, pre-show speaker Bill Cunningham, a nationally syndicated talkshow host, repeatedly pointed out that “Hussein” is Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s middle name. McCain later denounced Cunningham’s statements, saying that he wanted to keep the discourse focused on the issues.
“A comment disparaging of Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is totally inappropriate. I have never done that in any of my campaigns,” the Arizona senator told reporters after the rally.
“And I absolutely repudiate such comments and, again, I will take responsibility,” he said, describing the two Democrats as “honorable Americans.”
One would think that Cunningham would have learned his lesson. But no…
“He just threw me under the bus to the national media. I’ve had it with McCain,” he said. “I want Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States.”
It seems that Cunningham is less hurt by having been “thrown under the bus,” and more stung by the fact that he was taken to task for his childish and irrelevant comments, which too often go overlooked by candidates. McCain himself has had experience with such mistakes, such as his 1998 public comment about Chelsea Clinton, which he quickly found himself apologizing for.
It’s refreshing to see a candidate who, so far at least, has shown a commitment to keeping an issues-focused public debate, and not wandering off onto underhanded detours. Hopefully Bill “Clever Pig” Cunningham will eventually see the light, as well.
February 27th, 2008 at 9:45 am
Laughible. McCain civil? Yeah right. Except when he’s dropping the f-bomb on fellow Senators and staffers in the Congress or going nose-to-nose with Senators and calling them “fucking jerks.” There are many reasons to oppose a John McCain presidency among them being that he is an arrogant and uncivil public official.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Isn’t this the same McCain that started lies about Romney down in Florida? Yea, I think it is. Hopefully he won’t win the general election.