John McCain has taken great pains to gain conservative support for his candidacy, most prominently with his talk at the CPAC convention.
And McCain’s surrogates have written love letters to wingnut radio hosts.
Well, today McCain got his gift from conservative talk radio. And surprise, surprise, it was a package filled with hate and stupidity.
His speech in Cincinnati today had a wingnut warm-up, which McCain criticized:
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 Democrat 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.
"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 roared.
Ah, Republican wit at its best! How poor Barack Obama will ever match such rhetorical brilliance I just don’t know. But at least McCain had the sense to denounce the remarks:
"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."
[snip]
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."
OK, but what about McCain's actual supporters, those dignified conservatives who came to McCain's speech? How did they respond to the radio wingnut’s rant?
Cunningham’s warm-up act delighted the 500 or so cheering Cincinnati Republicans gathered in the 100-year-old theater, but it infuriated McCain.
But don’t worry Senator McCain, those were just fringe right-wing fanatics who came to howl at the moon; your respectable Republican Party backers won’t embarrass you like that.
Whoops:
It might have been shocking to McCain, who has made a point of saying he will run a civil campaign against whichever Democrat wins that party’s nomination. But to the Republicans in attendance – many of them long-time party leaders and elected officials – it was old hat.
Cunningham has been asked by the Hamilton County Republican Party to warm up crowds at countless political fundraisers and rallies.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, who spoke at the rally, said Cunningham’s comments were not surprising. "Bill does this kind of thing a lot at Republican events, and we’re used to hearing it.’’
How quaint.
Well, I guess no one did say that courting the conservative vote was going to be pretty. But McCain can at least rest assured that his reaching out to the frothers has secured a base of loyal allies.
The radio talk show host went on to say McCain is not a conservative. "Why is he attacking me and not Obama or Hillary? He ought to attack Democrats and quit attacking conservatives like me."
Cunningham said he has no plans to meet McCain again. "I've had it up to here with John McCain. He's off the list. I'm joining Ann Coulter in supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton."
Whoops.
Now I know what the Republicans real problem is: Republicans.