McCain Camp Says Biden Is "Playing Politics" on Stem Cell Research
(ST. LOUIS, MO.) - John McCain's campaign expressed outrage over comments made by Joe Biden, who used disabled children as an example to criticize Republicans who do not support stem cell research.
McCain spokesman Ben Porritt took the attack as being directed at GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who has a child with Down syndrome.
"Barack Obama's running mate sunk to a new low today launching an offensive debate over who cares more about special needs children," wrote Porritt in a statement. "Playing politics with this issue is disturbing and indicative of a desperate campaign."
Biden made the comment at a town hall style meeting in Columbia, Mo., today, saying, "I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy, because there's joy to it as well, the joy and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect. Well guess what folks? If you care about it, why don't you support stem cell research?"
The line received a standing ovation from the crowd of several hundred.
The Obama campaign denied the statement was directed at Palin, saying Biden was pointing out that between the McCain-Palin ticket and Bush Administration there was "not a dime's worth of a difference" on stem cell research.
In a statement to reporters, Biden's press secretary, David Wade, wrote "Long story short: couldn't be farther from being a comment about Gov. Palin."