In debate, McCain attacks on Ayers, ACORN Nick Juliano and David Edwards

Published: Wednesday October 15, 2008





Print This Email This Within the first half hour of Wednesday night's debate, John McCain followed through on his promise to bring up all the nasty things his campaign had been saying about Barack Obama in advertisements and on the campaign stump for the last two weeks.



McCain prefaced his attack by playing the victim card, accusing Obama of not repudiating statements over the weekend from Georgia Rep. John Lewis comparing the rabid fervor prevalent at McCain-Palin rallies with the atmosphere at rallies for the segregationist candidate George Wallace during the civil rights movement. The GOP candidate went on to charge that Obama needed to fully answer the spurious charges that have been lodged regarding William Ayers and ACORN, the group facing voter fraud charges related to its campaign to register low-income voters.



McCain also whined that Obama has "spent more" on negative advertising than any presidential candidate in history. This is true, but only because Obama has raised more money -- and hence bought more ads overall -- than any previous candidate. As a percentage of overall spending, nearly all of McCain's advertising dollars are funding negative ads, while Obama's ads are split between positive and negative spots.



Obama pointed out the perception that McCain's campaign has been negative, but said, "The American people are less interested in our hurt feelings during the campaign than addressing the issues."



Regarding Lewis's comments, Obama pointed out that his campaign disputed the comparison on the same day it was made, and he noted that neither McCain nor his running mate Sarah Palin had been as willing to condemn their own supporters who had shouted "kill him" or "terrorist" at the mention of Obama's name.







"When people suggest I pal around with terrorists, then we're not talking about issues," Obama said.



McCain insisted he was "proud" of the crowds who attended his rallies, and dismissed the threatening taunts as the product of just a few "fringe" people who said "inappropriate" things.



He noted that some Obama supporters had been less than respectful, as well, signaling out "some T-shirts that are very unacceptable." The apparent T-shirts in question, perhaps ironically, refer to Palin using a crude phrase McCain has been accused of launching at his own wife.



Moving on to Ayers, McCain cited Hillary Clinton to argue that voters need to know "the full extent" of Obama's decade-old encounters with the former '60s radical. The Democratic candidate responded that the two had simply served on the same board of an education charity that happened to have been founded by a former Republican ambassador.



"Mr. Ayers has become the centerpiece of Sen. McCain's campaign these last two weeks," Obama charged. "Mr. Ayers is not involved in my campaign, he's never been involved in this campaign, he will not advise me in the White House."



To start the evening, moderator Bob Schiefer asked the two candidates to contrast their economic plans to kick off the night. GOP candidate McCain started by blaming "Fannie and Freddie Mae" for causing the housing crisis by issuing subprime loans. He went on to tout his plan to spend $300 billion for the federal government to buy troubled mortgages.



Obama said he agreed with the need to help middle class homeowners and said he preferred a proposal included in the $700 billion economic bailout proposal to allow homeowners to renegotiate their mortgages, rather than purchasing them at potentially inflated values.



"The way Sen. McCain has designed his plan, it could be a giveaway to banks," Obama charged.



McCain pivoted to an argument on taxes, accusing Obama's proposal to raise taxes on people earning more than $250,000 per year of harming small businesses.



Obama said McCain's plan would give too many tax breaks to huge companies, such as large oil companies.



The two quibbled over the definition of small businesses, with McCain arguing that half of small business revenue came from small businesses earning more than $250,000. Obama countered that 98 percent of small businesses earn less than that amount.



The discussion centered around "Joe the plumber," a small business owner who worried his taxes would rise.



The next question moved on to spending programs with the moderator accusing both candidates of "ignoring reality" with proposals to increase government outlays during an economic crisis.



Obama presented himself as a "supporter of pay as you go," which would require spending cuts to make up for new programs.



McCain said he would institute an across the board spending freeze -- "that's a hatchet and then I would get out a scalpel" -- before proposing that he could cut "billions of dollars in defense spending," presumably by cutting waste.



The self-made maverick argued for a line-item veto before vowing to "certainly" veto every bill that contained pork-barrel spending or earmarks. The argument carries less weight in the wake of McCain's vote in favor of the Wall Street bailout, which itself was weighed down with $150 billion in earmarks to ensure passage in the House.



The two candidates went on to squabble over Obama's attempts to depict a McCain presidency as a continuation of the past eight years.



"Senator Obama, I am not President Bush, if you wanted to run against President Bush, you should've run four years ago," McCain said.



McCain went on to repeat the disputed accusation that Obama would raise taxes on people making $42,000 per year. Obama noted that "even Fox News" had disputed the accuracy of that accusation.



McCain critical of Obama associations









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