Straight talk McCain and the B-word.

MIKE ALLEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR


UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do we beat the bitch?

JOHN MCCAIN, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: May I give the translation?The way that...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John, I thought she was talking about by ex- wife.

MCCAIN: Right. But that's an excellent question. I respect Senator Clinton. I respect anyone who gets the nomination of the democratic party.(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: All right, Mike, does that hurt McCain?

ALLEN: Oh, give me a break. Of course not. First of all, I think it's kind of funny. If you watch that tape, he was -- it clear to him who she was referring to. He could have said, whoever were you talking about, which might have been the deftest way to handle it.CHETRY: But he said, that's an excellent question.

ALLEN: But what Republican voter hasn't thought that? What voter in general hasn't thought that and what people like about McCain is his straight talk, his candor.

TPM:

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis has just blasted out an email to supporters demanding that CNN apologize to the Arizona Senator for smearing him.

From the email:

The CNN Network, affectionately known as the Clinton News Network, has stooped to an all-time low and is gratuitously attacking John McCain for not defending Hillary Clinton enough when a South Carolina voter used the 'B' word to describe her when John McCain stopped into a luncheon yesterday at the Trinity restaurant in Hilton Head, SC.

A voter used a word that I would not have used to describe Senator Hillary Clinton and asked the Senator how he was going to beat her. Senator McCain first responded by saying that he respected Senator Clinton, as he has said repeatedly throughout the campaign....

As an independent news agency, CNN owes John McCain an apology because of the outrageous behavior of their network host Rich Sanchez...Senator McCain is a fighter and he is not going to back down to CNN.