Monday, October 20, 2008
STUMP SPEAKING
McCain Getting Mileage From 'Joe the Plumber'
WESTERVILLE, Ohio -- Barack Obama may have Colin Powell in his corner, but John McCain still has Joe the Plumber.
As he barnstormed the Buckeye State on Sunday, McCain hailed Joe Wurzelbacher, the 34-year-old tradesman from Holland, Ohio, who has become famous since McCain repeatedly pointed to him in the debate last Wednesday as an example of someone he says would be harmed by Obama's tax policies.
Wurzelbacher is not a licensed plumber or small-business owner, and there's considerable evidence that his taxes would not go up under Obama. Nonetheless, at a rally in this small Ohio town near Columbus, McCain credited Wurzelbacher for helping highlight Obama's intention to "spread the wealth around," as the senator from Illinois told Wurzelbacher he would do in a conversation last week.
"The real winner this week was one of Ohio's own: Joe the Plumber," McCain proclaimed as he greeted a boisterous crowd of several thousand people packing the gymnasium of Otterbein College here. "He's the only person who could get a real answer out of Senator Obama. . . . Congratulations, Joe, you did what nobody else has been able to do. That's an impressive achievement."
Wurzelbacher is providing fuel for McCain's campaign as he crisscrosses Ohio, a crucial swing state that went for George Bush in 2004 and where polls suggest McCain and Obama are neck and neck.
Obama's comments suggested that he believes in "redistributing the wealth" rather than policies that "grow the economy," McCain told the crowd in Westerville. McCain also assessed the state of the race, saying, "We have 16 days to go, we're six points down" and "Senator Obama is measuring the drapes" at the White House.
"They forgot to let you decide," he said. "I love being the underdog, my friends. We've got 'em just where we want 'em."
-- Michael Abramowitz
OUTREACH TO JEWS
Rabbi Pushes McCain to 'Hammer' Obama on Wright
WESTERVILLE, Ohio -- John McCain ducked a direct invitation Sunday morning to criticize Barack Obama over Obama's relationship with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.
"The issue of Pastor Wright has been pretty well known" by Americans, McCain told Jewish participants in a telephone conference call this morning, when asked by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin why he won't "hammer" Obama hard for this association. Riskin, from Brooklyn, is a leading rabbi in Efrat, Israel, where he resides.
McCain told the listeners that his campaign is more interested in highlighting Obama's relationship with onetime Chicago radical William Ayers, saying the issue is whether the Illinois Democrat has given a "complete account" of his relationship with someone McCain described as an unrepentant terrorist.
The comment reflected McCain's general uneasiness about trying to go after Obama about Wright, despite a desire by many in his campaign that he make more of an issue of Wright's incendiary statements, which were a source of controversy during the Democratic primary.
On "Fox News Sunday," McCain also vigorously defended the "robo-calls" his campaign has been making about Ayers and said they were quite different from calls attacking him during the 2000 GOP primary in South Carolina. Some Republicans, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, have called for the campaign to stop the calls, but McCain told host Chris Wallace he would not do so.
"These are legitimate and truthful," McCain said.
During the call with Jewish leaders, McCain and his friend, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), also tried to reassure Jewish voters about running mate Sarah Palin, whose association with the Wasilla Bible Church has worried some Jews. Lieberman said that Palin holds some views on social issues that he does not agree with -- but that she is "respectful" of different views.
McCain cited Palin's background as a mayor and a governor in Alaska when asked directly whether she is qualified to be president: "How in the world would someone think she is not qualified when she has this wealth of experience and background at a relatively early age?"
-- Michael Abramowitz
'A LINE THAT WE DON'T CROSS'
At Huge Rallies, Obama Condemns GOP Tactics
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- Barack Obama returned to his rhetorical roots Sunday, reprising core campaign themes of hope, change and unity, while condemning John McCain's attacks as "outrageous."
Speaking before a mostly African American crowd, Obama noted that former secretary of state Colin Powell had cited campaign tone as a factor in his decision to cross party lines and endorse him.
"Colin Powell reminded us of what's at stake in this election -- for America and for the world," Obama told the crowd. "He reminded us that at a defining moment like this, we don't have the luxury of relying on the same political games and the same political tactics that are used every election to divide us from one another and make us afraid of one another."
Obama also is returning to rally mode in the campaign's final days -- and drawing huge numbers in doing so. In St. Louis on Sunday afternoon, 100,000 people turned out. A few hours later in Kansas City, Mo., Obama drew at least 75,000. In Fayetteville, he filled the local coliseum.
McCain, Obama said, is "out of ideas, out of touch and running out of time." And the attacks are only going to grow more harsh, he warned the crowd. "You will get more of these robo-calls, making these outrageous accusations, and more fliers in the mail, and you will hear more outrageous attacks calculated to mislead, inflame and divide. The other side will continue to make a big election about small things."
Arguing is fine, Obama said, but "we've got to have a line that we don't cross."
Citing a comment by a top McCain aide Sunday that Northern Virginia wasn't the "real Virginia," Obama asserted: "There are no real or fake parts of this country. We are not separated by the pro-America and anti-America parts of this country. We all love this country, no matter where we live or where we come from."
And then he returned to themes laid out in the speech that first made him a national figure -- at the 2004 Democratic National Convention: "The men and women from Fayetteville and all across America who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a red America or a blue America -- they have served the United States of America."
-- Shailagh Murray
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