Biden Demands McCain Stop Robocalls
(GREELEY, COLO.) - Joe Biden demanded today that John McCain cease running automated "robocalls" to voters' homes that attack Barack Obama's character.
"I say to my friend John McCain, if he's really serious when he said this morning on one of the shows that this election is all about the economy, then I say, John, stop…your…ads," Biden shouted. "Bring down those robocalls! If it's about the economy, argue about the economy. Not about Barack Obama's character. Not about these scurrilous ads. John, stop…these…calls!"
Biden was referring to McCain's interview with Harry Smith this morning on CBS's "The Early Show", where McCain defended recorded phone calls to voters that say "I'm calling for John McCain and the RNC because you need to know that Barack Obama has worked with domestic terrorist Bill Ayers."
McCain told Smith this morning, "That robocall is exactly accurate. And by the way, Sen. Obama's campaign is running robocalls as we speak…you know, to think that somehow we are saying something not true in those calls is absolutely false. He was friends with a terrorist and his wife, he was. And we need to know the full relationship."
Later, when Smith asked McCain if Republicans wanted to avoid discussing the economy, McCain replied. "Listen to me, I'm the candidate. And this -- this campaign is about the economy."
Biden said McCain's ads raised "unfair questions" about Obama's character and said "a lot of Democrats are angry" because of it.
"Folks, if, God willing, we win this, when we win, we have to reach out. We have to isolate those extremes. We have to reach out to Democrats and Republicans and independents," said Biden.
Meanwhile, the McCain campaign continues to go after Biden for comments he made over the weekend at a fundraiser, when Biden said that in Obama's first six months of the presidency he would face a crisis like President John F. Kennedy did.
"Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of [Obama]. And he's gonna have to make some really tough -- I don't know what the decision's gonna be, but I promise you it will occur," Biden said in Seattle.
The McCain campaign picked up on the Biden line and said they planned to "drive it hard."
This morning by e-mail, McCain spokesperson Ben Porritt said, "It is clear by his failure to address the controversy stirred by his recent comments that Joe Biden stands by those remarks: Barack Obama's election guarantees an international crisis. As we face two wars overseas and a global economic crisis, Americans are looking for a leader who does not need on-the-job training, and that leader is John McCain."