Bill Cunningham and John McCain

I support John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, on a host of issues.

I greatly admire his service to our nation. He's an American hero.

I think he will be a relatively strong candidate and I think he has a real chance of winning in November.

That said, John McCain can also be a real doofus.

CINCINNATI, Ohio -- A conservative radio talk show host who helped introduce Senator John McCain before a rally here Tuesday used Senator Barack Obama’s middle name, Hussein, three times, while disparaging him, prompting Mr. McCain to apologize and repudiate the comments afterward.

Bill Cunningham, who hosts “The Big Show” with Bill Cunningham, a local program here that is also syndicated nationally, was part of a line of people lauding Mr. McCain and revving up the crowd before his appearance here before several hundred people at a theater here.

He lambasted the national media, drawing cheers from the audience, for being soft in their coverage of Mr. Obama compared to the Republican candidates, declaring they should “peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama.”

He went on to rail, “at one point, the media will quit taking sides in this thing and start covering Barack Hussein Obama.”

John McCain made no reference to Cunningham's remarks during his half hour speech. Afterward, during a news conference, McCain condemned Cunningham for his remarks.

Responding to questions from reporters, Mr. McCain said he did not hear what Mr. Cunningham said, saying that when he arrived, Mr. Portman was on stage.

“Whatever suggestion that was made that was any way disparaging to the integrity, character, honesty of either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton was wrong,” he said, “I condemn it, and if I have any responsibility, I will take the responsibility, and I apologize for it.”

He called Mr. Obama a “man of integrity” and said he was someone he had come to know “pretty well and I admire.”

He also said that it was not appropriate to invoke Mr. Obama’s middle name in the course of the campaign.

“I absolutely repudiate such comments,” he said. “It will never happen again.”

Good grief.

McCain says that it wasn't appropriate to use Obama's middle name.

I trust Obama will return the favor and make sure that no one at any of his rallies will say, "John Sidney McCain."

Sidney. It could be that McCain is sensitive about middle names.

Later on Tuesday, Cunningham responded to McCain's slap.

Sitting at a microphone in an office, Mr. Cunningham said:

Only Democrats, Air America, New York Times, talk-show hosts and newspaper reporters have freedom of speech. I have the right to speak my mind any way that I would like. If I consider Obama to be a hack Chicago politician from the Daley political machine, taking money from this Tony Rezko dude under threat of federal indictment, can’t I speak truth to power?

Mr. Cunningham said the media often say “nasty, negative things” about President Bush and Vice President Cheney, and that The Times had “smeared” John McCain on its front page.

Treat all the politicians the same. We’re not dealing with the messiah here. Obama cannot heal the sick and make the blind see. He’s a hack Democratic politician from Chicago, that’s all he is. Let’s treat him like every other hack Democratic or Republican politician.

Then he continued:

I’m angry at McCain. Why would John McCain repudiate me? I’ve been able to unite McCain and Obama against me. I might become a supporter of Ralph Nader.

McCain has a problem with Bill Cunningham just because he said Hussein.

That's an inappropriate reaction.

Watch video of Cunningham's remarks.

Cunningham wasn't as rough on Obama as McCain was on Mitt Romney.

I don't think McCain ever apologized to Romney, though I do remember him being nice when he accepted Romney's endorsement.

McCain's hypocrisy is troubling.

If McCain believes that Obama isn't eventually going to throw him under his Straight Talk Express bus, he's being incredibly naive.
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Watch John Sidney McCain throw Bill Cunningham under the bus.
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Recall the always respectful John Sidney McCain LAUGHED when a woman at a campaign event asked him, "How do we beat the bitch?"

How does McCain's reaction to that reference to Hillary Clinton's character fit with McCain's condemnation of Cunningham's remarks?

“Whatever suggestion that was made that was any way disparaging to the integrity, character, honesty of either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton was wrong,” he said, “I condemn it, and if I have any responsibility, I will take the responsibility, and I apologize for it.”

It doesn't.

Hypocrisy, thy name is John Sidney McCain.