McCain Can't Distance Himself from Offensive Attacks on Obama at Pro-McCain Rally

Posted by Paddy , Cliff Schecter's Blog at 8:28 AM on February 27, 2008.

UPDATE: Bill Cunningham went on Fox News (shocker!) following his controversial comments, defended his statements and whined about McCain disavowing his comments.

Post in whole from our friend OhDave, Barb at Kos has some of Cunningham's greatest hits.

Don't Cry for Bill Cunningham, Victim Extraordinaire

Bill Cunningham was asked today by the McCain camp to introduce McCain at a rally in Cincinnati's Over the Rhine district. His comments made national news when he repeatedly used Obama's middle name "Hussein" and said Obama in 2009 will have "just got back from a meeting with Ahmedinajad, has a meeting next week with Kim Jong Il, and then he's gonna saddle up next to Hezbollah." (my transcribing)

McCain pretended to be shocked, and apologized. But if John McCain bothered to do any research he would know that Cunningham engages in these kinds of personal attacks on a regular basis as a way to generate controversy that will create headlines for himself and WLW. On CNN McCain is being roundly lauded for apologizing and "taking responsibility." John King of CNN reported that McCain's staff had no idea that he would be headlining the event. In fact, the Enquirer reported it as follows:

Cunningham, a conservative Republican who also hosts a Sunday night syndicated radio show, said he was asked Monday "by a McCain operative" to introduce the Republican front-runner at Memorial Hall.

Of course, now McCain wants credit for repudiating the comments that his own campaign knew were coming. Meanwhile, Cunningham is feeling used, and now says that he repudiates McCain, and won't support him in the election. But McCain obviously staged this event very carefully. He waited until Cunningham was gone to enter the hall, and claimed not to have heard the remarks. Now the offensive remarks from Cunningham are making the regular news cycle, all while McCain is shown distancing himself from it. It's all very clever, and it's exactly how the GOP will use surrogates like Cunningham to attack Obama in the coming months while keeping their hands clean.

Much more below the fold-

This is par for the course for Cunningham. He assails the character of Democrats (or other celebrities) and generates controversy, then cries on the air at how unfairly he's being treated, just as he's now crying that McCain had the nerve to repudiate his character assassination of Obama. But Cunningham is a classic shock jock--in fact he helped invent the genre--using the most outrageous language he can, as loudly as he can, seeking to create interest through innuendo and insult. He calls himself "The Great American" and wallows in shallow patriotism and sanctimonious self congratulation all while serving as the shrillest note of the GOP's mighty whirlizter.

I was listening to Cunningham's show in 2004 when he made remarks about John Kerry and the raping of little girls in Vietnam. I called the station but was placed on hold, and finally hung up when it was clear the producer had no intention of taking my call. Last summer Cunningham accused the Reds' Adam Dunn, a power hitting outfielder with poor defensive skills, of being drunk in the outfield after a misplayed ball cost the Reds a game. When the 6' 6" Dunn challenged Cunningham, he relented and became contrite, but the station played up the controversy for days, replaying over and over again the controversial statements that had caused the hard feelings. Likewise, now, WLW will replay Cunningham's remarks again and again until the primary and after, giving the "honorable" John McCain valuable free air time attacking his November opponent while pretending to be above the fray himself.

Cunningham roundly attacks the mainstream media for failing to report on Obama the way they've reported on Bush, but the irony is that WLW in Cincinnati is the mainstream media. It is one of the largest radio stations in the country, certainly one of the top 4 or 5 in the entire midwest, and easily the largest in Ohio in terms of audience, reach, and influence. WLW puts out hours and hours of unabashed right-wing cheerleading day after day, indulging in the most vicious political attacks like the one Cunningham engaged in today, and railing about taxes, Democrats, homosexuals, war protesters and so on. It's red-meat Republicanism in its most extreme form, 365 days a year.

And McCain didn't know what was coming? Puh-leaze.

Here's how it was reported on CNN:

A supporter of John McCain, speaking at an official campaign event in Ohio attended by the Arizona senator, called Barack Obama a "hack, Chicago-style Daly politician," and told the crowd "all is going to be right with the world when the great prophet from Chicago takes the stand, and the world leaders who want to kill us will simply be singing Kumbaya around the table of Barack Obama."

"At some point in the near future the media, the stooges from the New York Times, CBS (The Clinton Broadcasting System), NBC (The Nobody But Clinton Network), The All Bill Clinton Channel (ABC), and the Clinton News Network at some point is going to peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama," said controversial conservative commentator Bill Cunningham, an Ohio native.

Paddy is a regular contributor to Cliff Schecter.com.