After his campaign rally in Cincinnati today, Republican presidential candidate John McCain apologized for remarks by conservative WLW talk show host Bill Cunningham that McCain said he thought were offensive to Democratic candidate Barack Obama.
"I take responsibility and I repudiate what he said," McCain told reporters after the rally at Memorial Hall in Over-the-Rhine.
Cunningham came out on stage to whip up the crowd as he often does at Republican campaign events in Cincinnati.
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He repeatedly referred to Obama using his middle name -- Hussein -- and said that Obama was a product of the "Chicago-Daley mob.'' McCain was not on stage when these remarks were made but was told of them later.
"I will not tolerate anything in this campaign that denigrates either Sen. Obama or Sen. (Hillary) Clinton,'' McCain said.
Cunningham said later that he stood by his comments at the rally. He told his listeners: ‘”I’ve had it with McCain. I’m going to throw my support to Hillary Rodham Clinton.”
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.
He spoke to the crowd and left, without meeting or speaking to the candidate, because he had to do his WLW-AM talk show at 12:30 p.m.
Cunningham said his remarks about Obama was “the same stuff” that he says “to you listeners” on radio, including referring to Obama by his middle name, Hussein.
On Jan. 10, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann named him one of the “worst persons in the world” for calling Obama “Hussein” on his national radio show.
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,'' he said.
