Screw Ups and Saves

The McCain campaign blew it today by allowing talk radio host Bill Cunningham to do an opening speech at a McCain rally. From FoxNews.com:

Cunningham, a radio host at WLW-AM, had warmed up the crowd at Memorial Hall with comments about Obama and Hillary Clinton, likening Obama to a “hack, Chicago-style” politician and saying the Illinois senator would “saddle up next to Hezbollah,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il if elected president.
...
Cunningham had delivered remarks that painted a grim future for America if “Barack Hussein Obama” is elected president. He mentioned Obama’s middle name three times.

“Obama just came back from meeting Ahmadinejad; he’s got a meeting the next week with Kim Jong Il of North Korea. Then he’s going to saddle up next to Hezbollah; they’re going to have a little cookie-and-cream party. All’s going to be right with the world."
...
McCain later took the stage and apologized for the remarks... McCain said he didn’t know who decided to allow Cunningham to speak, but he said he was sure it was in coordination with his campaign.

Soon after, Cunningham, angered over McCain's apology over his remarks, reminded the media in multiple apparances what he has always thought of John McCain: referring to him as a liberal who will destroy conservatism for the next 20 years. He then also gave a nod to Ann Coulter and said he was going to join her in supporting Hillary over the liberal John McCain.

This guy was never a McCain supporter and should have never been used by the Campaign. Some are attacking McCain for distancing himself from his remarks as if these smear campaign tactics would do anything but make McCain look worse. McCain's apology was the only thing that kept this incident from being a total loss.

There are plenty of issues to attack Obama on without resorting to making crap up and trying to bolster smear campaigns. McCain needs to get his campaign better organized to prevent this nonsense. His apology wasn't the problem. It was the best thing to do in order to clean up Cunningham's manure-slinging mess.