This quote from an interview with John McCain's campaign manager regarding Reverend Wright and his "God Damn America" remarks in his 2003 sermon:

From MSNBC's Morning Joe:

Charlie Black: What Sen. McCain has said repeatedly, is that these candidates cannot be held accountable for all the views of people who endorse them, or people who befriend them. And fortunately, I heard you report earlier that Sen. Obama has repudiated these very unusual views. But what John McCain believes is that Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton should be held accountable for their public policy views. The things we've described before. Big government vs. small government...

Joe Scarborough: So this isn't an issue for John McCain.

Charlie Black: I don't think Sen. McCain wants to get in the middle of a discussion about Sen. Obama's former pastor, or his faith. He believes that people who endorse you, people who befriend you, are entitled to their own views, but you are not personally held accountable. That when someone endorses you or befriends you, they are embracing your views - the candidate's views - not the other way around.

Now, this has been said on a few other, more visible blogs out there, so I won't say a lot on this other than I agree. This sounds very reasonable and is a very safe stance for the McCain camp to take on the matter.

Considering the recent discussion here about McCain's (shady?) dealings with the religious extreme, they're probably hedging their bets that a stronger take on this would come back and bite them in the ass.

It's a little off-putting, probably because it's smart...something I don't think we're used to seeing from Republicans.