I'm talking 2008, not 2012. And maybe I've mentally sanitized it in retrospect, but I truly don't remember the Obama campaign crossing any ugliness lines re McCain...at least not relative to what we've got today. It stands out to me as an extremely civil thing. Obama in his personal mannerism...the presence of his person in front of the cameras...without fail respectful and dignified. Clinton, in contrast, was quick to smirk, quick to sarcasm, quick to dickishness. Frankly, thinking back on that it always seemed like more of a contest between Obama and Clinton...we pretty much assumed McCain was going down...especially after Palin. And McCain to his credit was also pretty respectable in his campaign. I had a lot of good things to say about McCain after it was over, and...I still sort of do. The really nasty one was Clinton. Her campaign was trying to present Obama as "the other" all along. Remember the madrasa thing? The Farrakhan thing? It was all attempts at guilt by association.
This time around...its just wildly ugly. Embarrassing, frankly.
You are right though, that Kasich is the least odious on the GOP side. By far.