Bill Cunningham…yet ANOTHER reason why I’m so glad I no longer live in Cincinnati, OH. What a complete and utter waste of human flesh.
If you haven’t heard, here’s the long and the short. John McCain was in Cinci yesterday for a rally. Before he came on stage, Bill Cunningham was up there getting people ‘fired up’. And, in typical far-right wing fashion, getting people fired up means being as denigrating, vile and unbelieveably stupid as you can possibly be towards whomever or whatever issue or person you are against. And in this case, Bill Cunningham’s target was Barack Obama.
Here are a few of the things Mr. Cunningham said:
“The time will come when the liberal-leaning media will “peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama”
“At some point, the media will quit taking sides in this thing and maybe start covering Barack Hussein Obama…”
“I have nothing but respect for my Muslim brothers and sisters. The ones who oppose that particular name, they’re the ones with the problem, not me. His name is Barack Hussein Obama.”
You can read more specifically about it here. You can also read a transcript of Cunningham’s reaction with two of my favorite right wingers ever, Hannity and Colmes, here.
Bill Cunningham is an embarrassment to the people of the city of Cincinnati. It’s even more embarrassing when things like that are blared all over the media. It makes the city look even worse than it already does. Half of the things coming out of his mouth are outright lies. It’s disgusting to hear him call Obama ‘Barack Mohammed Hussein Obama’. Mohammed isn’t even in his name…so what other reason other than to incite racism and hatred would he have for saying that?
From Media Matters:
“Cunningham also falsely claimed that Obama “was raised in madrassas in Indonesia” and accused Obama’s church, the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, of being “black separatist” and “black racist.” And when a caller said, “[I]n my opinion, not the opinion of this show, in my opinion, Obama is a sleeper cell because his parents are Muslim,” Cunningham responded, “Only one [parent].” While Cunningham did not respond to the caller’s “sleeper cell” charge, earlier in the broadcast, he had asserted that “it would be a shock” “if Barack Mohammed Hussein Obama can be elected the president of this country in these difficult terrorist times.” Later, Cunningham said: “I wonder if Barack Hussein Obama understands the danger inflicted upon the world by Muslim male extremists.”
You can read that entire very interesting article here, further illustrating how much of an idiot Bill Cunningham is.
Thankfully, John McCain has much more integrity than that. Immediately after, he issued an apology.
“Whatever suggestion that was made that was any way disparaging to the integrity, character, honesty of either Senator Obama or Senator Clinton was wrong,” he said, “I condemn it, and if I have any responsibility, I will take the responsibility, and I apologize for it.”
That’s what I’m talking about. Seriously…way to take responsibility. I thought that was pretty cool and in line with what McCain preaches, which is making sure that he and his campaign folks maintain a respectful discourse with everyone during this time.
