The McCain apology

Last night I saw several blogs (who will remain nameless and linkless) who criticized John McCain for apologizing to the press about some disparaging remarks about his tentative rival in the upcoming election (Miami Herald link);

‘Now we have a hack, Chicago-style Daley politician who is picturing himself as change. When he gets done with you, all you’re going to have in your pocket is change,” Cunningham said as the audience laughed.

The time will come, Cunningham added, when the liberal-leaning media will ”peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama” and tell the truth about his relationship with indicted fundraiser Antoin ”Tony” Rezko and how Obama got ”sweetheart deals” in Chicago.

McCain wasn’t on stage or, he says, in the building when Cunningham made the comments, but he quickly distanced himself from the radio talk show host after finishing his speech. McCain spoke to a couple hundred people at Memorial Hall in downtown Cincinnati.

”I apologize for it,” McCain told reporters, addressing the issue before they had a chance to ask the Arizona senator about Cunningham’s comments.

”I did not know about these remarks, but I take responsibility for them. I repudiate them,” he said. “My entire campaign I have treated Sen. Obama and Sen. [Hillary] 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.”

I tend to agree with McCain. As a presidential candidate he should avoid that kind of childish banter. I’ll admit that I’m quick to call names – but I’m not running for President. George W. Bush in the face of childish namecalling and outright lies brushed them off, his father and Ronald Reagan did the same. Even Bill Clinton checked his natural inclination to return in kind insults on most occasions until he was out of office.

But, I disagree with McCain on Obama’s middle name usage;

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 Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama is totally inappropriate.”

McCain said he didn’t know who decided to allow 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.”

It’s Obama’s middle name – if he doesn’t like it, he should change it. We all know John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard Milhouse Nixon, James Earl Carter, Ronald Wilson Reagon, George Herbert Walker Bush, William Jefferson Clinton.

If Obama doesn’t want to be known as Barak Hussein Obama, he’d better do something about it now. Just like his supposed sensitivity about his ears – that’s just childish. Being ashamed of his name and his appearance is something he should have outgrown in his teen years like the rest of us.

Category: John McCain/Sarah Palin, Politics