July 31, 2008 6:59 PM
- Text
Obama Campaign Says McCain Is Taking "Low Road"
From CBS News' Allison O'Keefe:
(CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA) - Barack Obama's campaign unveiled a website today in response to John McCain's latest TV ad, which calls Obama a "celebrity" - complete with pictures of Britney Spears an Paris Hilton - and suggests he's not ready to be president.
On a conference call today to announce the site, lowroadexpress.com, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the ad is an example of "frivolous and demeaning style of dialogue in this campaign." The website is aimed at housing Obama campaign posts showcasing news commentary and other examples of McCain purportedly taking the "low road."
While the call was designed as a discussion of the new website and McCain's now infamous "celebrity" ad, it quickly turned to the question of the day: is Obama using race as a campaign issue?
On the campaign trail in Missouri yesterday, Obama took a leap further than he has previously when discussing attacks against him.
"John McCain and the Republicans, they don't have any new ideas, that's why they're spending all their time talking about me," he said in Union, Mo., last night.
"They're going to try to say that I'm a risky guy, they're going to try to say, 'Well, you know, he's got a funny name and he doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills and the five dollar bills and, and they're going to send out nasty e-mails."
This morning, McCain campaign manager, Rick Davis, issued this response: "Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong."
And in response, Obama senior strategist Robert Gibbs released his own rebuttal: "Barack Obama in no way believes that the McCain campaign is using races as an issue, but he does believe they're using the same old low-road politics to distract voters from the real issues in this campaign."
The question of why Obama made the connection between McCain and negative comments about his name considering McCain has never referred to Obama by his full name, Barack Hussein Obama, in public (McCain supporters have referred to Obama that way, stressing his middle name, however).
Not referring directly to the questions of race or Obama's name, Plouffe said, "I think what we are seeing out of the McCain Campaign, republican party, certainly some of their allies, have been some fairly aggressive charges" adding that the McCain campaign makes a consistent effort to distract from the issues.
(CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA) - Barack Obama's campaign unveiled a website today in response to John McCain's latest TV ad, which calls Obama a "celebrity" - complete with pictures of Britney Spears an Paris Hilton - and suggests he's not ready to be president.
On a conference call today to announce the site, lowroadexpress.com, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the ad is an example of "frivolous and demeaning style of dialogue in this campaign." The website is aimed at housing Obama campaign posts showcasing news commentary and other examples of McCain purportedly taking the "low road."
While the call was designed as a discussion of the new website and McCain's now infamous "celebrity" ad, it quickly turned to the question of the day: is Obama using race as a campaign issue?
On the campaign trail in Missouri yesterday, Obama took a leap further than he has previously when discussing attacks against him.
"John McCain and the Republicans, they don't have any new ideas, that's why they're spending all their time talking about me," he said in Union, Mo., last night.
"They're going to try to say that I'm a risky guy, they're going to try to say, 'Well, you know, he's got a funny name and he doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills and the five dollar bills and, and they're going to send out nasty e-mails."
This morning, McCain campaign manager, Rick Davis, issued this response: "Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck. It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong."
And in response, Obama senior strategist Robert Gibbs released his own rebuttal: "Barack Obama in no way believes that the McCain campaign is using races as an issue, but he does believe they're using the same old low-road politics to distract voters from the real issues in this campaign."
The question of why Obama made the connection between McCain and negative comments about his name considering McCain has never referred to Obama by his full name, Barack Hussein Obama, in public (McCain supporters have referred to Obama that way, stressing his middle name, however).
Not referring directly to the questions of race or Obama's name, Plouffe said, "I think what we are seeing out of the McCain Campaign, republican party, certainly some of their allies, have been some fairly aggressive charges" adding that the McCain campaign makes a consistent effort to distract from the issues.
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