McCain Says Criticizing Obama For Using "Race Card" Is Fair Game
(CBS)
(RACINE, WISC.) – John McCain said he agreed with his campaign manager Rick Davis who accused Barack Obama of bringing the issue of race into the presidential campaign, saying it was a fair criticism of the Obama campaign.
“It is. I'm sorry to say that it is. It's legitimate,” McCain told CNN today. “And there's no place in this campaign for that. There's no place for it and we shouldn't be doing it.”
Davis released his statement this morning in response to Obama’s comments yesterday in Missouri.
"Barack Obama has played the race card, and he played it from the bottom of the deck,” Davis said. “It's divisive, negative, shameful and wrong."
Obama said yesterday that McCain is trying to make voters “scared” of him. “He's not patriotic enough. He's got a funny name. You know, he doesn't look like all those other presidents on those dollar bills, you know. He's risky,” Obama said. “That's essentially the argument they're making."
Obama senior strategist Robert Gibbs said McCain’s statements were distracting.
“Barack Obama in no way believes that the McCain campaign is using race 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,” Gibbs said.
