Romney: McCain Campaign Was Presidential, If Not Dignified

ThinkProgress has this great catch.

During an interview with NBC’s Meredith Vieira on “Today” this morning, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, appearing on behalf of Sen. John McCain, didn’t exactly offer a ringing endorsement of the McCain campaign.

But when Vieira asked him — three times — whether he thought McCain was running a “dignified” campaign, Romney refused to agree:

VIEIRA: So, let me ask you, would you characterize John McCain’s campaign as dignified and honest?

ROMNEY: Well, what I’d characterize the entire campaign as is extraordinarily negative on the part of Barack Obama. […]

VIEIRA: So you think his campaign was dignified?

ROMNEY: Well, I think it’s going to come down to this, and I think that is, who is going to be able to keep America safe and who is it that’s going to add jobs. […]

VIEIRA: Governor, not to beat a dead horse here, but once again, do you believe that the campaign was dignified?

ROMNEY: Was it dignified? It was presidential.

So according to Romney, presidential and dignified are not necessarily synonymous.

Note to future campaign reporters: Please be sure to ask Romney to clarify his view on this in 2012.

Here’s the video: