McCain supporter asks about Hillary: "How do we beat the bitch?" McCain campaign capitalizes on "the bitch" question

Here is another posting on two connecting stories. I'm going to start with the first story, going through Salon's War Room, titled Clinton, McCain and the B-word:

At a campaign event in South Carolina Monday, a female supporter asked John McCain: "How do we beat the bitch?"

If the Arizona senator objected to that particular characterization of Sen. Hillary Clinton, he didn't exactly say so.

Instead, as the room erupted in laughter, McCain said he'd try to offer a "translation." Somebody in the audience shouted out, "I thought she was talking about my ex-wife." There was more laughter all around, and then McCain said: "That's an excellent question."

McCain cited a recent Rasmussen poll showing him with a statistically insignificant two-point lead over Clinton, then finally got around to saying, "I respect Sen. Clinton, and I respect anyone who gets the nomination of the Democrat Party."

And here is the YouTube video of this exchange:



I think what I am so amazed is the vicious hatred that this McCain supporter has against Hillary Clinton--even to the point of calling her a "bitch" before television cameras. And what is more, the entire McCain staff laughs at the question--even McCain laughs at it. What is worst, McCain even agrees that it is "an excellent question." McCain doesn't ask that the woman refrain from such language in a public appearance, being filmed by news cameras.

But there is more to this story. Now the McCain campaign would love to capitalize on this entire "bitch" question. This is off The Huffington Post:

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain says he respects Hillary Rodham Clinton and that he said as much when a woman used the word "bitch" to describe her.

"How do we beat the bitch?" the woman asked Monday at a McCain event in South Carolina.

Watch the video here.

....On Tuesday, CNN's Rick Sanchez raised the question of whether McCain should have admonished the woman, and McCain's campaign criticized that criticism on Wednesday.

"Most people who have seen it are looking at it as a real mistake on his part in terms of the way he handled it," Sanchez said on the cable network's "Out in the Open."

McCain's South Carolina campaign manager, Buzz Jacobs, said in a statement Wednesday: "It not only reflects poorly on him, but on CNN. If Mr. Sanchez had even the faintest perspective on the race for the White House, he would know that Senator McCain has expressed his utmost respect for Senator Clinton numerous times on the campaign trail, as he did at Monday's event in Hilton Head."

Hours later, the McCain campaign was using the controversy to raise money for his candidacy.

Campaign manager Rick Davis e-mailed supporters, saying, "We are asking you to help us fight Rick Sanchez and CNN and stand with John McCain. Please make your most generous contribution from $25 up to the maximum limit of $2,300 to the only candidate who can defeat Hillary Clinton."

So McCain claims he respects Hillary Clinton, and yet he won't admonish the lady who asked the question, made a joking response to the question, and now is attempting to raise campaign money as a result of this incident. You have to marvel at the blatant hypocrisy of McCain here.