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Sununu pushes his luck

<p>Romney campaign chairman John Sununu has been a little unhinged in his attacks on President Obama -- and sometimes, more than a little -- and in the

Romney campaign chairman John Sununu has been a little unhinged in his attacks on President Obama -- and sometimes, more than a little -- and in the wake of last night's debate, the Republican was in rare form with msnbc's Andrea Mitchell this afternoon.

Note Sununu's particular choice of words: he isn't just condemning the president in a rather classless way, he's using words like "lazy," "incompetent," and "disengaged." Asked if he wanted to take the words back, Sununu used the identical words again.

Sununu also said today, "When you're not that bright you can't get better prepared."

There was a point, not too terribly long ago, when Mitt Romney claimed to be outraged by sleazy, personal attacks, dragging the presidential campaign into the gutter. Given this, should we assume Romney will accept Sununu's resignation today?

Also, putting every other consideration aside, it's hard not to be offended by the casual and baseless smear of the president's intelligence. For years, Sununu and many of those who share his contempt for Obama have tried to make the opposite case: the president is too professorial and bookish, more comfortable at Harvard's faculty lounge than the "real world." Now we're apparently supposed to believe the opposite smear: that the scholarly, Ivy League, law professor president just isn't "bright" enough for the often-buffoonish Sununu's standards.

It's ugly and unnecessary, and given Sununu's routine difficulties with the basics of current events, rather ironic.