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First Read is an analysis of the day's political news, from the NBC News political unit. First Read is updated throughout the day, so check back often.

Chuck Todd, NBC Political Director

Mark Murray, NBC Deputy Political Director

Domenico Montanaro, NBC News Political Reporter



Radio host goes after... McCain

Posted: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 5:49 PM by Domenico Montanaro

From NBC's Ben Weltman
No hurt feelings? Well, actually conservative radio host Bill Cunningham has got some. After ranting and raving during his introduction for McCain in Cincinnati, "Willie" booked it out of there to host his three hour radio show. As previously noted by First Read McCain apologized for Cunningham's comments and took full responsibility for allowing him to appear at his event.

During the second hour of his show, "Willie" became Wild Bill when he attacked McCain for apologizing.
 
"He just threw me under the bus for the national media. I have had it," Cunningham blasted. "With McCain and -- I'm going to endorse Hillary Clinton. I want Hillary Clinton to become the next president of the United States. I am going to throw my support behind Hillary Clinton."

Overall breakdown: Cunningham attacked Obama. McCain apologized for the attack.  Cunningham endorsed Clinton instead of McCain. And Huckabee, who one would figure would receive Cunningham's endorsement after today, was left out.

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I'm no left-winger, but this is really silly of Mr. Cunningham to be upset with McCain for not supporting his characterization of the Democrats as something other than opponents (read: NOT ENEMIES) in the election.  Mr. Obama deservers respect even if you don't agree with him.  I would suspect Mr. Cunningham would demand the same.
Ah yes, right wing radio hate mongers behaving badly. I don't feel sorry for him. He deserves to be locked in a closet with Anne Coulter for an hour or two.....
Another raving/raging right-wing lunatic like Limbaugh, Hannity, and Savage. Again, McCain's judgement is in question for even allowing such a polarizing figure to participate in the event in the first place.  Cunningham only communicated out loud what McCain wanted to convey but didn't have the cojones to do so himself.
LOL poor Huck, no one ever remembers him
What a nut-job crybaby.  I don't know how anybody with half a brain can stay with the GOP with idiots like this running loose.

Class move by McCain, though.  Should be a good, decent (non-Rovian) election for a change.
I am so very much enjoying watching the demise of the close-minded right wing media. :)  I'm a Democrat, but I give HUUUUUUUUUGE kudos to Sen. McCain on the way he handled this today.  Its times like these where I am truly proud to be an American.
Right-wing Hutu hate radio in this country are a bunch of whiny bitches.  They're not just scumbags, they're petulant scumbags.
He's going to endores Clinton?  Well, I guess he found someone who won't object to his disgusting tactics.
14:59, Bill Cunningham.  14:59!

He threw you under the bus?  Dude, seems to me you did a pretty good job of stepping off the curb yourself.

You, Rush, Hannity, Anne Coulter...you wonder why far-right blowholes like yourselves have a bad reputation?

*ding*

Sorry, Bill.  15 minutes are up!
Huckabee is a truly blesses man. No one can truly want the endorsement of a nut job like cunnigham.

If Hillary were a woman of class, she would come out now and say she rejects the endorsement.
To Willy - Middle America loves you!  We don't buy into the political correctness of the left and we never will.  Thank you for fighting for our freedom of speech.  
Quote: "Ah yes, right wing radio hate mongers behaving badly. I don't feel sorry for him. He deserves to be locked in a closet with Anne Coulter for an hour or two....."

I thought we are against torture. That's at least on par with waterboarding!
...And republicans are actually listening to racists idiots like Cunningham and have the nerve to say Obama supporters are being duped by empty rhetoric.Anybody dumb enough to believe anything these rightwing radio hosts have to say deserve what they get--100yrs in Iraq.They will all be supporting McCain again in a few weeks.
Cunningham did the dirty work for McCain!
I'm an Obama supporter, but I am impressed with John McCain for being the decent man he is.  His apology does not surprise me.  John McCain will try to run a clean campaign against Obama and will not accept personal attacks against his opponent.  I can't say the same about the 527's or the Rush Limbaugh's of the world.  Arguing about the political issues?  All gloves are off.

That said, Obama 08!
Bill Cunningham ... huh?  Who's that?  
Billy: Dunno. Louis Farrakhan has endorsed Sen. Obama. Heres a sampling of his ''tolerance''

Remarks. Louis Farrakhan,NOI Leader Feb.11,2006:''The wicked Jews,the false Jews,that are promoting homosexuality and lesbianism,Zionists,that are manipulating president Bush,the American government in the war in Iraq''.
Someone needs to up his med dosage.
Typical Republican argument.  Slam someone all day long and then get mad when someone doesn't sing your praises.  The shock jock on the radio are complete morons.  That being said, Hillary has been acting quite a bit like them with her multiple personalities...

http://infogiant.wordpress.com/2008/02/25/would-the-real-hillary-please-stand-up/
It's funny, in reality it's a good move for McCain to denounce Cunningham's comments.  This election will inevitably have it's 'swift boating' tactics and mudslinging but if the candidates themselves participate in this activity the American people will not like it.  

If these fools have a brain cell in their body they'll let the candidates stick with the issues, and let the rest of the underlings (right and left wing radio, Swift Boat Veteran's for Truth, etc) do the dirty work.

And what can you say about right wing radio?  It is what it is unfortunately.


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