In response to Jay Rockefeller's disgraceful attack on McCain, and for which Rockefeller has since apologized, the McCain camp wants Obama himself to repudiate the comments:

"Why does Senator Obama refuse to personally condemn this type of despicable attack? Senator Obama has run for president on the basis that he represents a new kind of politics, yet every day there is another smear that Obama refuses to repudiate."

There's some truth to this. Obama has run as though he holds himself to a higher standard than any candidate in American history, so it is more than a little disturbing that he refused to repudiate the "warmonger" smear Ed Shultz offered at one of his rallies last week, or that he has repeatedly mischaracterized and, well, lied, about his own attacks on McCain vis-a-vis the '100 years of war.' It would be nice if for once he did the right thing and personally condemned Rockefeller's comments.

Still, I'm not sure what good it does for the McCain camp to demand an apology after each one of these episodes. Anybody who's paying attention knows the score, and surely it isn't lost on the public that it is, in fact, McCain who has held himself to a higher standard to this point--repudiating comments by Bill Cunningham and throwing Obama a lifeline in the midst of the Rev. Wright uproar. But it's pretty clear Obama has no intention of apologizing for anything or anyone, including Rev. Wright, or Tony McPeak, or Shultz, or Rockefeller.

So what's a tough guy like McCain to do? How about stop asking for an apology and start returning fire.