McCain disavows comments about Obama

[EveningStar]

Liz Sidoti
AP
February 26, 2008

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.

Hussein is Obama's middle name, but talk show host Bill Cunningham used it three times as he addressed the crowd before the likely Republican nominee's appearance...
More (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080226/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_talk_radio_host_4)

[MaxLoad]

Yeah... McCain is trying to 'make nice' and not step on anyone's toes in this election. If you remember, he had a real tough time trying to 'chat' with Romney through clenched teeth.
I feel that if and when the mudslinging begins, McCain will show us his true 'temper', and I mean that as to his character and his anger management issues.

That Cunningham guy is a real piece of work though. I've heard him on the radio driving thru Cincy and he gets, 'intense', is a good way to put it, I guess. I'm not surprised McCain has distanced himself from that dude.

Although, I do agree that 'Hussein' should be in play. McCain just wants to prevent the other side from bringing up any of his baggage. I'm not sure it's going to work to McCains favor though.
It's going to get nasty!

[Viperfox]

When a conservative talk show host (Bill Cunningham) comes out to speak on behalf of John McCain at a scheduled rally in Ohio, the first thing the scarecrow who would love to have a brain does, is, apologize to the crowd for his mean-spirited and “disparaging remarks” about his beloved socialist rivals, Prince Obama and Queen Hillary.

WARNING: telling the truth about other presidential contenders may be hazardous to your political “career.”

Imagine such rough and tough fighting words as “hack” and stating that someone needs to take the “bark” off of Obama and expose him for the hollow suit that he really is. What is the world of civil discourse and swapping juicy accolades with the ideological enemy coming to?

The first thing that comes to my mind is a scene from the flick Back to the Future when George McFly, while wagging his nervous finger and struggling to force the words out from his trembling lips says, “Take your hands off her Biff!”

Such strength and courage! Such resolve and conviction!!

If anything, the feeble Senator from Arizona should have gotten down on his knees and thanked Mr. Cunningham for having the wit he lacked, and perhaps even offering him a leading role on McCain’s official Dead Wood Society of Convoluted Advisors Special Forces team. And this is who battle-hardened “conservative” stalwarts and other checked pants tally-ho Republicans want as their altar Boy?

You might as well have Rodney King as the GOP nominee folks. <>

[Suzie]

The media let McCain have it last fall for giggling when a woman called Hillary a bitch. Perhaps he is learning the media isn't going to cut a break for anyone who even claims to be a conservative.

[Viperfox]

Frankly... I wouldn't give a damn what the media mongrels think, say or propagandize about; nor would I take my marching orders by them. They are not our masters, or referees, or translators. They have assumed roles that have little or nothing to do with reporting the news, and as far as I'm concerned, they would find themselves in much better company with the fun-loving Chinese.

We need a leader who stomps right over them and worries about picking up the pieces or sorting them out later. Playing kissy-up to the media is a sucker's game!

[EveningStar]

Referring to Obama by his middle name makes our side look petty and immature. It also gives sympathy to Obama. In short, it does our side no good at all.

[Dowple]

Referring to Obama by his middle name makes our side look petty and immature. It also gives sympathy to Obama. In short, it does our side no good at all.


McCain is not on "our side". At least, he's certainly not on my side.

[BackFromIraq]

LOL...I like Bill Cinningham, he is a great American. He was just informing everyone about Barack Hussein Obama, The media made it sound bad. McCain made more of it than he should have. I heard what Bill Cunningham said and it wasn't anything like they made it out to be. I guess this is just what happens when you take on the media and their boy Barack Hussien Obama...Jon Stewart said "Barack rhyms with Iraq, Hussien as in Saddam and Obama rhyms with Osama," which is worse but since he is liberal they don't say anything in MSM.

[Suzie]

You know this has got HUGE airplay because of him doing this. They are STILL talking about on Fox news as I type. If McCain had ignored it very few people would have heard it. Probably only the people in that room. I have counted since this segment on the news started and they have repeated Barrack Hussein Obama 15 times. People are hearing it more now than they would have if McCain had said nothing. One reporter just now mentioned this guy has referred to him on his show as Barrack Mohamed Hussein Obama. This is bringing up the muslim factor over and over and over. This might be the best thing he could have done.

[ThomasMore]

Bill Cunningham is a known quantity -- his radio show is certainly well-known in Cincinnati, and he has made many national radio and TV appearances.

What he was likely to say was expected.

Furthermore, Cunningham said he was told to warm the crowd up and give them "red meat."

It sounds to me like Cunningham gave exactly the kind of performance the McCain campaign expected.

Then McCain used it to suck up, as usual, to the press and the Democrats.

IMHO, McCain set Cunningham up to be a foil -- McCain has no love for conservative principles, and he distrusts the conservative movement. He sees conservatives as an obstacle in the path to power in the country club, Rockefeller/Bob Michel mode. That is, don't stand for anything except holding office. To him, we conservatives are the loud, obnoxious brother at the party who bait the (Democrat) neighbors.

http://www.investors.com/editorial/cartoons/IMAGES/CARTOONS/toon01021108.gif

[Longhorn_Platinum]

EveningStar:
Referring to Obama by his middle name makes our side look petty and immature. It also gives sympathy to Obama. In short, it does our side no good at all.

:sulk: Baloney. It makes...

:fart2: ...Baaarrraaaccckkk...

:sulk: ...Hussein O[s]ama look petty for being offended because somebody called him by his legal name. It also leaves the impression that he's got something to hide.

[ThomasMore]

Referring to Obama by his middle name makes our side look petty and immature. It also gives sympathy to Obama. In short, it does our side no good at all.

I think it is appropriate for the public to know that Barack Obama's middle name is Hussein, as it is appropriate for the public to know his background and the background of any presidential candidate.

To dwell or hammer upon the name, over and over, and to impute something that isn't there, is petty and depending how it is done, may be intellectually dishonest.

We ought to be looking at each candidate straight on for what he or she is, and for what he or she is not. And we ought to be representing to others what they are and are not, and nothing else.

OTOH, the appropriate response for BHO is to make light of it, not to play the victim card.

[Longhorn_Platinum]

ThomasMore:
OTOH, the appropriate response for BHO is to make light of it, not to play the victim card.

:unsmile: Too late for that, his side has already taken the bait.

[MaxLoad]

IMHO, McCain set Cunningham up to be a foil -- McCain has no love for conservative principles, and he distrusts the conservative movement. He sees conservatives as an obstacle in the path to power in the country club, Rockefeller/Bob Michel mode. That is, don't stand for anything except holding office. To him, we conservatives are the loud, obnoxious brother at the party who bait the (Democrat) neighbors.
I think you may be on to something there my friend! Maybe we were ALL duped!

[DoctorDoom]

What we see in the candidacy of Barack HUSSEIN Obama is one of the dangers of rampant political correctness. He will be shielded from criticism because he is a minority, and being unkind will be decried as racism.

This is the same principle as the Bitch Queen being treating gingerly because she's female, and one doesn't hit the girl (shades of the 9/11 widows).

Screw correctness. Go for the jugular. All the RATs should see from our side is teeth.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v349/DocDoom777/Critters/RottweilerEnh.jpg

[DeclinetoState]

McCain disavows comments about Obama, given that said comments are probably true.

:(

[Gato es Verde]

If Obama and his wife chaffe at this, they are gonna be in for a long summer. Republicans have pretty much let the Democrats do their own thing for the last few months but when the Dems have a presumptive nominee the gloves SHOULD come off.

I hope they do in fact - I hope Obama exposes McCain for the liberal that he is.

[Bluemoon_Rising]

Referring to Obama by his middle name makes our side look petty and immature. It also gives sympathy to Obama. In short, it does our side no good at all.

Agree. McCain should go for the jugular alright, but that ain't the jugular. It's just so much bleating.

[Suzie]

Agree. McCain should go for the jugular alright, but that ain't the jugular. It's just so much bleating.

I think this played exactly the way he wanted it to. You invite a guy known for saying things like this so you can "make a statement" about how it's not proper, and what the guy said gets played on every media outlet so they can show what he is commenting on. It has actually put a huge focus and spotlight on the fact that his name is Barrack Hussein Obama and McCain did it without getting his own hands dirty. My guess is that it was the strategy all along.

[DeclinetoState]

I think you may be giving McCain too much credit, Suzie. OTOH, I can't help but wonder—especially if you're right—if the Clintons are kicking themselves, thinking, "Why didn't we do that?"

:evilgrin:

[Suzie]

I think you may be giving McCain too much credit, Suzie. OTOH, I can't help but wonder—especially if you're right—if the Clintons are kicking themselves, thinking, "Why didn't we do that?"

:evilgrin:

It probably wasn't McCain that thought of it, my guess is that he just played the role they gave him. It was probably whoever his Carl Rove is.

[Wyatt_Junker]

America is in collective Stockholm Syndrome.

If the media doesn't find the irony of deposing Saddam Hussein in one president's term only to elect a new president with his very surname in the next term - IF THE MEDIA doesn't think that's a STORY - we've got a problem.

Because number one, that's batshit CRAZY! And number two, that's like Patty Hearst giving bjays to her captors cause she's got a CRUSH on 'em.

If that isn't a story. Tell me what is. I'd like to know.

[Bluemoon_Rising]

:sulk: Baloney. It makes...

:fart2: ...Baaarrraaaccckkk...

:sulk: ...Hussein O[s]ama look petty for being offended because somebody called him by his legal name. It also leaves the impression that he's got something to hide.

Nonsense. Stressing Obama's middle name serves no purpose at all. Indeed, it makes it harder to expose what does need exposing: his background, his connections to communist radicals, racists and revolutionaries. These things are a function of his hidden character, largely unknown to the general public. And these formative connections need to be linked to his stated policy goals with the latter being defined in that context. The mainstream media isn't going to do it. Hilary's not going to do it. She's a fascist, a Marxist (what's the difference?) too.

Moreover, we've already seen that these sorts of attacks -- these slaps at nothing, irrelevancies -- against Obama do not work! Hillary has tried, and where has it gotten her? And she can't go after his formative connections because she has the same sort of connections, the same sort of influences, as well as an embarrassing paper trail, which she dare not talk about either.

The McCain people did not bring Cunningham in to set him up, embarrass conservatives or undermine conservativism. Some of you are suffering from the same sort of paranoia that typically plagues leftist tin hats. They ill advisedly brought in a popular local conservative radio personality to rally conservative support in Ohio. They simply chose the wrong one. That’s all that happened here. That was the McCain camp's first mistake. It’s second mistake was to stupidly make a big deal out of it -- inadvertently alienating conservatives -- instead of simply and quietly letting it die.

Evening Star has the right of it on this one. Cunningham is what Evening Star wrongfully thinks Coulter is, a counterproductive loose cannon. Cunningham comes off badly, always has in person. He's great on the radio, howbeit, like Savage, a rabble-rousing sort. You don't want him officially speaking for your campaign.

I am a conservative, and I wouldn’t let Cunningham get anywhere near my campaign were I running. I wouldn’t officially use Coulter either. I'd simply welcome her hard-hitting support on the side as she went after my opponent. I'd thank her for it privately, and she'd agree with that approach and understand the why of it. Cunningham is a blurter. Well-run campaigns entail a bit more finesse.

I suspect that most of you who are mad at McCain for the wrong reasons in this matter have never seen Cunningham’s manner in personal appearances. It's not what he believes that's the problem. Coulter delivers her criticisms with devastating precision and control as attack dogs go. Cunningham comes off as a screeching, incoherent nut.

Look, if the likes of Combs routinely get the best of you on TV, you need to stick to radio.

Now, someone like Hannity would have done a good job for McCain at that rally.

McCain needs to go after Obama’s policies; it’s up to conservative pundits, operating independently of the McCain campaign, to go after his background and the true nature of his beliefs, and while they‘re doing it, not cloud the matter with hysterical irrelevancies. As it is, especially as a result of the “Clintonization” of political discourse in this country, it will be difficult enough to go after his background with the mainstream media covering his flanks.

Some of you are allowing your distaste for McCain to cloud your political judgment.

[Bluemoon_Rising]

I think this played exactly the way he wanted it to. You invite a guy known for saying things like this so you can "make a statement" about how it's not proper, and what the guy said gets played on every media outlet so they can show what he is commenting on. It has actually put a huge focus and spotlight on the fact that his name is Barrack Hussein Obama and McCain did it without getting his own hands dirty. My guess is that it was the strategy all along.


Disagree. This was a mistake, a blunder. If they'd known that Cunningham was going to make a big deal out of Obama's middle name at a rally with McCain's name on it. . . . Nah. I don't buy it. And I don't think it's the sort of thing that's effective anyway. It might work to McCain's advantage among undecided independents later. But I doubt it.

This is the sort of thing you do nearer to the general election, and you don't do it so openly. You use in-house operatives willing to fall on the sword. Besides it's these sort of attacks that have backfired on Clinton again and again when it comes to this Manchurian.

The best way to go after Obama is to leave the policy disputes to McCain himself. Conservative pundits and McCain’s operatives need to go after the unsavory characters in his background, hammer at them incessantly, encouraging doubts and questions. You get at his character by not attacking him personally as Clinton has done, but by going after his personal connections and influences. That’s fair game and potentially more effective.

[Suzie]

Maybe so. I am just guessing really. It sure did get the media attention though. And for people who the muslim factor is a negative to fear I have to think this happening has helped McCain. Even if he doesn't claim it as a tactic against Obama people know McCain isn't a muslim name so he's more appealing by far.

[Kathy30]

When it is inappropriate for somone to say something, you get someone else to make the statement. Then you can repeat the statement while disavowing it.

Cunningham uses HUSSEIN. McCain says I disavow the use of HUSSEIN. In fact, he is now free to say it over and over.

[MaxLoad]

That's right. We're all just guessing. That is, unless someone here has insider information about the candidates campaign strategy?
It's pretty simple isn't it? Speculation is good. Opinion is good. When we stop discussing it - that's bad.

[Bluemoon_Rising]

Maybe so. I am just guessing really. It sure did get the media attention though. And for people who the muslim factor is a negative to fear I have to think this happening has helped McCain. Even if he doesn't claim it as a tactic against Obama people know McCain isn't a muslim name so he's more appealing by far.

It certainly didn't hurt McCain, and may help him. I just don't think it was planned.

[Bluemoon_Rising]

When it is inappropriate for somone to say something, you get someone else to make the statement. Then you can repeat the statement while disavowing it.

Cunningham uses HUSSEIN. McCain says I disavow the use of HUSSEIN. In fact, he is now free to say it over and over.

Yes. On that point, you've got it dead to right. However, the McCain camp didn't plan this. It fell into its lap. That's my belief. Right now McCain wants to bring conservatives into the fold, not risk alienating them. This may just be a mistake that turns out to be a lucky break.

[Wyatt_Junker]

I look at it the other way.

The fact that heightened caution is exercised to censure whoever uses Obama's middle name, is odd.

Either the man has a name or he doesn't.

And its damn strange that after eradicating one Hussein from power we are going to vote another Hussein into power. What are the odds?

Obama DOES sound like Osama. Hussein doesn't sound like Hussein. IT IS Hussein.

That's... wierd.

Can't we all just acknowledge that that's strange? And here's the point, the fact that we can't is stranger still.

It means nothing. A name's a name. But, c'mon, it is bizarre.

It would be like one of Sharon Tate's sisters dating someone named Charlie Hanson. Not Charles Manson, mind you, but close enough. Wierd.

It would be like Elie Wiesel naming his firstborn child Adolf.

Even if it is coincidence, its still a story.

And no one should chide anyone for a story as plainly bizarre as that. Facts are facts. And Barrack has a first name and a middle name that sound like two of America's very recent, highest arch enemies.

That's a story, becaues that's nuts.

[MaxLoad]

Something just occured to me - I'm so glad I found you guys! I've been looking for somewhere to discuss these current event issues intelligently and this forum is the first place I've discovered that isn't over-regimented with esoteric, meaningless phyco-babble.

I've just been here a short time but I've already been invigorated. The many different, lucid points of view have served to help me know that I am not alone out here. Thanks folks!

[maxparrish]

I heard the rant, and unfortunitly the media has mischaracterized it (like that is news). Cunningham touched on Obama's crime world connectons (true), his Daley machine connections (true), his denial, his name, and his hyper liberal politics.

No doubt the speaker was kinda crude and stupid BUT McCain is also a moron for, once more, worrying more about his honor and PR THAN his conservative supporters. If McCain had ANY class he would have politely thanked the speaker, demurred on a few points, and saved his harsh attack for a private meeting.

McCain lives in La=La land; he likes to think of himself as a historical character and a patrician Senator...so he bristles when anyone slams his 'august' institution and its members (his 'band of brothers').

So we get another public finger wagging from McCain, what else is new.