Earlier today, John McCain denounced a conservative radio host warming up a crowd at a rally for the Senator in Cincinnati. Bill Cunningham repeatedly referred to “Barack Hussein Obama” as he introduced McCain. McCain, evincing what Yuval Levin has described as his peculiar form of “honor politics,” has no patience for such cheap shots. After all, there are plenty of reasons to be dissatisfied with Barack Obama as president–his foreign policy views, for instance–but the fact that his father happened to be a Muslim is most certainly not one of them.

“I did not know about these remarks, but I take responsibility for them. I repudiate them,” he said. “My entire campaign I have treated Senator Obama and Senator (Hillary Rodham) Clinton with respect. I will continue to do that throughout this campaign.”

McCain called both Democrats “honorable Americans” and said, “I want to dissociate myself with any disparaging remarks that may have been said about them.”

Asked whether the use of Obama’s middle name—the same as former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein — is proper, McCain said: “No, it is not. Any comment that is disparaging of either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is totally inappropriate.”

The invocation of Obama’s middle name has for some time now been a rhetorical arrow in the quivers of some of the more fevered commentators on the right. Kudos to John McCain for denouncing such a cynical tactic. He’s a real profile in courage compared to Hillary Clinton, who, far from denouncing such dirty tricks, has made ample use of them.