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: