Biden Calls "Veiled" McCain Attacks "Outrageous," Mocks Palin

(CBS)

From CBS News' Ryan Corsaro:

(TAMPA, FLA.) - Joe Biden let loose on the negative tone of John McCain's campaign this morning at a Florida rally, calling McCain himself "an angry man lurching from one position to another" and called McCain's strategy nothing but "a distraction."

Biden expressed disgust in the overtones of recent McCain and Palin political attacks and implied there might be deeper and disturbing connotations to statements by Sarah Palin that Barack Obama "pals around with terrorists" or the use of his middle name, Hussein, by a rally speaker.

"The one they have chosen is to appeal to fear with a veiled question: 'Who is the real Barack Obama?' Ladies and gentlemen, to have a vice presidential candidate raise the most outrageous inferences, the ones that John McCain's campaign is condoning is simply wrong," said Biden, who blamed McCain's Republican strategists - the ones that successfully deflated McCain's chances against George W. Bush in 2000 with sensational rumors and attacks.

"These same people, they're attacking Barack Obama in the ugliest of ways," said Biden. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is beyond disappointing, this is beyond disappointing. This is wrong."

A McCain spokesman, responding to Biden's statements, once again brought up what they call Obama's "radical associations."

"What Barack Obama and his running mate fundamentally lack is a record of making change or reform and in turn the credibility to call for it. John McCain challenged the president and advocated for the surge in Iraq that is succeeding today and has continued to fight against broken regulations, out of control government spending, and global climate change. During their combined 39 years in the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama nor his running mate have ever challenged their own party. Their 'run with the herd' mentality, radical associations, and partisan proposals have made them the most liberal ticket in political history," said Ben Porritt, a McCain-Palin spokesman.

Biden also took a couple of jabs at Palin in his speech, something that would have been unheard of running up to last week's debate.

"Last week I had a debate, at least I think it was a debate, with Governor Palin," said Biden to huge roar from the crowd of three thousand.

Palin had less than a handful of mentions in the 35-minute speech, but Biden has never before taken a mocking tone with her.

"You can't change our approach to global warming if you think, as my opponent says, you're not quite sure of the cause," said Biden, who insists it is a man-made problem.

Biden said the McCain-Palin ticket's negative advertising and a shift to attacking Obama's character "is an attempt to get you to stop paying attention to what's going on in this country."

"I guess when you vote with George W. Bush 90% of the time, your best option is to attack your opponent 100% of the time," said Biden.

"Look to paraphrase a good friend of mine, Sen. Bob Casey from my home town of Scranton, Pennsylvania. He says you can't call yourself a maverick when all you've ever been is a sidekick."

"Don't be distracted. Those attacks don't hurt Barack Obama or me. They hurt you," said Biden.

"Every single false charge or baseless accusation is an attempt to get you to stop paying attention to what's really going on in this country. Beyond the attacks, what's John McCain really offering?"

Interestingly, an analysis by the Wisconsin Advertising Project shows that during last week, 100% of McCain's TV ads were negative or contrast ads, while only a third of Obama's were. However, Obama spends three times as much on TV ads than McCain does.

Earlier, Biden was accidentally introduced as "The next vice president, Senator John McCain," by a former banker who had shifted his vote from McCain to Obama.

The event was the first in a day long bus tour of Florida, a trip that was cut short this week by the death of Biden's mother in law. He has not held an event in four days.

Biden campaigns later today in Fort Myers and Naples.

[nina281]

You now how mobs are, sooner or later they become out of control, irrational and out for blood. McCain and Palin fueled them, McCain allowed the dirty Rovian tacktics of Bush/Cheney to advise him on dirty misleading campaigning and now McCain''s lost control.

They will turn and if that''s not apparent that the are out for a "lynching" metaphorically of Obama personally, they have and will turn on McCain for not pulling the rope.

[harbinger09]

his is funny-- Within the past 6 weeks--McCain made Republicans embrace a former mistress as potential first lady, illegitimate teen pregnancy, an Airhead for a VP and now they must embrace socialism and helping out the poor with a 300+ billion dollar mortgage bailout--before its over, the Republican party will seem more liberal than the Democrats and the Republicans have to swallow it--because he is all that they have.

Paying for a public bailout,ignoring subpoenas, then supporting airhead females for VP and championing pregger teens indeed--what were those conservative values again? Hypocrites.

[lakotadee]

Sarah Palin and John McCain have lost all moral authority and moral compass. They are close to inciting riots (and there are indeed laws against that) at their campaign rallies, where they clearly succeed in only one thing--character assassination and lying that leads their die-hard extremist fans to conclude that a respected U.S. Senator is a terrorist. Shouts are heard at these rallies that suggest lynch mobs and mob rule--"Kill him!" their crowd shouts, and "Terrorist!"

Shame on you, Sarah, shame on you, John. There is a special circle of hell reserved for those guilty of calumny and slander. Your candidacies have lost all credibility and relevance, and you have become dangerous terrorists yourselves.

[ofbyfor2]

Vote for John McCain!! He is the one who can come up with solutions to our economic problems.

Posted by PugHenry3 at 11:11 AM : Oct 09, 2008

Since even McCain himself has admitted that he doesn''t know much about economics and since he has (until only the past month or so) generally been champion of the deregulation ploices that got us into this mess, I''ll have to say ''Thanks, but no thanks.''

[ofbyfor2]

You at least know that John McCain has the computational and analytic skills to compute fuel loads, cargo weights, wind speeds, and trip distances to keep from running out of gas on missions.

Posted by PugHenry3 at 11:09 AM : Oct 09, 2008

Really? Is THAT why he crashed 5 planes?

[ofbyfor2]

heartlandjim said:"I''''''''m not going to give you any cute comments here; we simply need a major change. I''''''''m a Republican voting for Obama."

Yeah right . . . and I''''m the king of Siam.

Posted by rplat at 10:47 AM : Oct 09, 2008

Why do you refuse to you believe this poster? Do you find it soooo hard to believe that there are many Republicans who would rather vote for Obama?

If so, you''re due for a wake-up call.

Check out www.republicansforobama.org

Also:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1752381.ece

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06072007/entertainment/turning_their_barack_on_gop_entertainment_maureen_callahan.htm?page=0

http://www.suntimes.com/news/hunter/433292,CST-NWS-hunter19.article

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/zito/s_550427.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gopobama25feb25,0,1768618.story

[elo888]

Dr. Tantillo, who has a marketing blog - http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv - did a post a while back on the Obama/Biden brands and the McCain/Palin brands.
He argued that McCain''s choice of VP now makes him, rather than Obama, the candidate of Change:
"Brands are combined for two reasons:
1) To complement one another;
and/or
2) Because they are consistent with one another.
The best brand combinations are when both 1 and 2 are happening.
Seems to me like their common brand is being ''maverick'' in a vague way for uncertain reasons and being largely out of touch. But hey, I suppose at least they''re a good match!

Tantillo''s full post: http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2008/09/05/brand-winners-and-losers.aspx

[elo888]

Dr. Tantillo, who has a href="http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv" a marketing blog /a , did a post a while back on the Obama/Biden brands and the McCain/Palin brands.

He argued that McCain''s choice of VP now makes him, rather than Obama, the candidate of Change:

"Brands are combined for two reasons:
1) To complement one another;
and/or
2) Because they are consistent with one another.
The best brand combinations are when both 1 and 2 are happening.

Seems to me like their common brand is being ''maverick'' in a vague way for uncertain reasons and being largely out of touch. But hey, I suppose at least they''re a good match!

a href="http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2008/09/05/brand-winners-and-losers.aspx" Tantillo''s full post /a

[tannerbird]

Why did McCain hug the person that held him in nam. when the man was in Wahington.

[tannerbird]

He is not a maverick he is a sidekick to Bush.