Obama campaign: Romney's tepid response shows lack of moral courage

Billionaire Joe Ricketts reportedly plans
to make Jeremiah Wright a 2012 issue Obama campaign manager Jim Messina's statement on this morning's report that Republican billionaire Joe Ricketts is plotting ways to inject Jeremiah Wright into the 2012 campaign:

This morning's story revealed the appalling lengths to which Republican operatives and SuperPacs apparently are willing to go to tear down the President and elect Mitt Romney.  The blueprint for a hate-filled, divisive campaign of character assassination speaks for itself.  It also reflects how far the party has drifted in four short years since John McCain rejected these very tactics.  Once again, Governor Romney has fallen short of the standard that John McCain set, reacting tepidly in a moment that required moral leadership in standing up to the very extreme wing of his own party.

Earlier this morning, Mitt Romney dodged questions about the report. His campaign subsequently released a word salad repudiating Ricketts.

8:54 AM PT: And Mitt Romney finally tries to shut down the backlash:

I repudiate the effort by that PAC to promote an ad strategy of the nature they've described.

But if it's of a slightly different nature?