McCain Calls Obama a Baseball Flip-Flopper
(CBS)
(BENSALEM, PA.) - Few things are trickier to navigate in presidential politics than World Series baseball, especially when the two teams are from swing states that both candidates need to win.
A year ago, Rudy Giuliani was ridiculed for trying to claim he was an "American League fan" when the former mayor of New York City rooted for the Boston Red Sox in the 2007 playoffs (Rudy, as you may recall, did not win the Republican nomination, nor did he win the New Hampshire primary).
This time around, the candidates are confronted by one team from Florida – the Tampa Bay Rays – and another from Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Phillies. "I heard, maybe you did too, that Sen. Obama was showing some love to the Rays down in Tampa Bay yesterday," McCain said at his rally here in the Philadelphia suburbs here today, which elicited a loud chorus of boos from the crowd.
"Now, I'm not dumb enough to get mixed up in a World Series between swing states, but I think I may have detected a little pattern with Sen. Obama. It's pretty simple really. When he's campaigning in Philadelphia, he roots for the Phillies, and when he's campaigning in Tampa Bay, he shows love to the Rays. It's kind of like the way he campaigns on tax cuts, but then votes for tax increases after he's elected."
Obama was endorsed by several members of the Rays yesterday, and while he said he was a Chicago White Sox fan said only "showing love" to the Rays, he also said he would root for the Phillies in the Series because his campaign manager David Plouffe is a die-hard Phillies fan.
"I guess these are the kinds of attacks you make when your campaign has conceded that if you talk about the economy, you'll lose," said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor. "Sen. Obama said he's rooting for the Phillies. Yesterday he said nice things about the members of the team who came out to support him, but that doesn't change the fact that Tampa Bay bounced his White Sox out of the playoffs."
McCain, for the record, is an Arizona Diamondbacks fan, and has yet to try and parlay that into being a "National League fan" to root for the Phillies. But he needs to win Pennsylvania, and there are still two weeks left before Election Day, so there's plenty of time left to start "showing some love" to the Phillies.
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You still don''t get re Joe the Plumber - it''s not about Joe - it''s about the question he ask Obama and Obama''s response: "Spread the Wealth" - I hope to God you have some now because the only change will be what you might have left in your pocket when Obama tries to rape the hard working people of this country..
Sarah Palin is a Governor - your guy is a Community Organizer that never has had a job that wasn''t funded by tax payers dollars or private foundations. If that''s real experience in your book I can see how you''ve been sucked in.. He speaks well and so did Hilter - Germany''s economy was in the tank and just like Americans - they dismissed everything about the guy
other than he was going to improve their quality of life - he sure did, reduced the population by at least 6,000,000 .Obama came out from nowhere just like Hilter - Obama was groomed by Chicago insiders and it''s as if those voting for him think he has all the answers. Sarah Palin''s husband is not running for President or Vice President - get a clue. You need to do some hard core research re your guy.
My choice is McCain and Palin and has been since Rev. Wright screamed God Dame America and Obama said he''s my mentor and just like an Uncle and after 20 years never heard sermons like that - if you believe that you need serious help..
I''ve been in Iraq for several months and what we see and hear from afar is: Lack of financial responsibility on the part of those that bought homes and cars they couldn''t afford and used credit cards as if it was play money and the democrats lack of oversight re Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac
is what has caused the melt down of the economy. Don''t you have a clue??
Still suffering from the major problem of the McCain Campaign -- no real issue worth discussing - only more of the same old personal attacks.
* McCain criticized Jerry Falwell as %u201Can agent of intolerance%u201D in ''02, but has since decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans %u201Cdeserved%u201D the 9/11 attacks. McCain has now hired Falwell%u2019s debate coach.
* McCain used to oppose Bush%u2019s tax cuts for the very wealthy but he reversed course in Feb.
* In ''00 McCain accused Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending %u201Cdirty money%u201D to help finance Bush%u2019s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.
* McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June, he abandoned his own legislation.
* McCain said Grover Norquist was a crook and a corrupt shill for dictators. Then McCain got serious about running for president and began to reconcile with Norquist.
* McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands.
* McCain gave up on his signature policy issue, campaign-finance reform, and won%u2019t back the same provision he sponsored just a couple of years ago.
* McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he%u2019s pro-ethanol.
* McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
* Now he%u2019s both for and against overturning Roe v. Wade.