October 12, 2008 3:45:32 PM CDT
(Newser) – Barack Obama today rejected surrogate Wesley Clark’s suggestion that being shot down in Vietnam didn’t qualify John McCain for the presidency, the LA Times reports. A rep said Obama “honors and respects” McCain’s service. In a speech in Independence, Mo., Obama said: “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.”
Referring to McCain but obliquely rebuking Clark, he said, “No one should ever devalue that service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters of both sides. We must always profess our profound gratitude for the service of our men and women in uniform, period.”
Source Los Angeles Times
5 hours, 6 minutes ago A day after igniting tensions in both campaigns, civil rights icon John Lewis sought to soften remarks that seemed to compare John McCain to segregationist George Wallace, Politico reports. “It was not my intention or desire to do so,” Lewis said last night. “My statement was a reminder to all Americans that toxic language can lead to destructive behavior.” More »
6 hours, 33 minutes ago The McCain campaign has crossed the line from negative campaigning to “inciting vigilantism” with racist tactics that should raise alarms about Barack Obama’s safety, writes Frank Rich in the New York Times. Particularly troubling is Sarah Palin’s repeated linking of Obama to “terrorists” and her refusal to quell the frenzy—and cries of “kill him!”—her rhetoric incites at rallies. More »
Oct 10, 08 4:10 AM CDT John McCain has attacked Barack Obama for his links to political radical Bill Ayers for the first time, Politico reports. McCain, who had previously left the assault to Sarah Palin, told a raucous Wisconsin rally that booed every mention of Obama's name that the issue went to the heart of whether his rival "is telling the truth to the American people or not." More »
Oct 9, 08 7:57 AM CDT David Frum plans to vote for John McCain, but with the economy in ruin, anyone who thinks the GOP can win “by banging on about William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright is...to put it mildly...severely under-estimating the electoral importance of pocketbook issues.” These desperate attacks “are sending a powerful, inadvertent message,” he writes in the National Review, “that we lack a positive agenda of our own.” More »
Oct 7, 08 2:20 PM CDT The presidential candidates will be walking into a lion’s den tonight, forced to face those most dangerous of creatures: undecided voters. The town-hall debate could be a “snooze-fest,” writes John Dickerson on Slate, but there’s also a chance “Ponytail Guy”—the town-haller who famously befuddled George H.W. Bush in 1992—will show up. If that happens, John McCain could be in trouble. More »
Barack Obama • John McCain • negative campaigning • Vietnam • Missouri • patriotism • Wesley Clark
