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Biden Rips "Rovian" Republicans for "Personally Vicious" Tactics

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November 01, 2008 3:50 PM

ABC News Matthew Jaffe reports: Democrats have not carried Indiana since the Lyndon B. Johnson landslide of 1964, but just 72 hours before Election Day, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., rallied voters in the Hoosier State, blasting the Republicans' use of "Rovian", "personally vicious" campaign tactics.

"Over the last few weeks, John McCain's campaign has gone way over the top, way over the top,” the Democratic vice-presidential nominee said Saturday morning in Evansville. "They are trying to take the low road to the highest office in the land."

For the past month, the Delaware lawmaker has consistently noted his frustration and dismay with his "good friend" McCain's campaign, citing robo-calls linking Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., to former 60s radical Bill Ayres.

"It's not only George Bush's economic policies that John McCain has bought hook, line, and sinker," Biden said. "He's also bought Karl Rove's brand of political tactics. And it is disappointing. I never thought I'd see this from a McCain campaign."

Biden frequently states that McCain is now employing the same type of "scurrilous" attacks used against him in his failed 2000 bid for the GOP presidential nomination.

"I hope John ends this campaign with his strength," Biden had told reporters Friday at a Lima, Ohio, eatery, citing that McCain's latest ad was "positive".

But just the next morning in Evansville, with Election Day looming on Tuesday, Biden's optimism was long gone as he blasted the GOP's tactics, warning that "it will probably get even worse in the last three days".

"Ladies and gentlemen, they're calling Barack Obama every name in the book," railed Biden. "They are going out in a way that I don't, I don't recall it being more personally vicious."

The six-term senator said Friday he hopes his friendship with his Capitol Hill colleague McCain was still "intact", but with this long, hard-fought, hotly-contested election fight wearing down, it is clear that the campaign trail clashes has taken its toll on the two rival lawmakers' relationship.

"I've known John a long time," Biden said to the crowd gathered in a downtown intersection of this southwestern Indiana city. "It is genuinely - I mean this sincerely - it is genuinely disappointing, genuinely disappointing, that we continue to play this game.”

"We've had enough of this stuff," he bellowed. "Enough!"

Following his Evansville event, the Democratic veep candidate crossed over to neighboring Ohio, where he will hold two rallies this evening before flying south to Florida, site of three Sunshine State speeches Sunday.

On Monday, Biden will have a morning event in Lee's Summit, Missouri, near Kansas City, seeking to rally Show-Me State supporters on the eve of Election Day.

November 1, 2008 in Biden, Joe | Permalink | User Comments (94)

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I just saw this comment elsewhere:
The LA Times seems to think it’s not in the public interest what went on at the Jew bashing party Barack Obama attended at his friend Rashid Khalidi’s house.
I was thinking…if the LA Times doesn’t want Americans to know, maybe Professor Khalidi will let us know.
He does not take calls from journalists…only private citizens…
Call 212.666.5463
Amazing little thing that Google search…
I spoke with him today…check out my blog to find out more…
http://scattershooting.wordpress.com

Posted by: americanpatriot | Nov 1, 2008 3:51:32 PM

Hey americanpatriot,

Why not hold McCain's feet to the fire and demand to know why he funded Khalidi's work to the tune of half a million dollars?

Obama showed up at a party for the guy; McCain PAID a half-million dollars for the guy to do his work.

Doesn't that make McCain more responsible for the work Khalidi has done?

Moreover, do you actually KNOW anything about the work Khalidi has done?

No?

Didn't think so.

Posted by: R | Nov 1, 2008 4:03:09 PM

FYI:

State declares Obama birth certificate genuine

HONOLULU (AP) — State officials say there's no doubt Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.

Health Department Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said Friday she and the registrar of vital statistics, Alvin Onaka, have personally verified that the health department holds Obama's original birth certificate.

Fukino says that no state official, including Republican Gov. Linda Lingle, ever instructed that Obama's certificate be handled differently.

She says state law bars release of a certified birth certificate to anyone who does not have a tangible interest.

Earlier Friday, a southwest Ohio magistrate rejected a challenge to Obama's citizenship. Judges in Seattle and Philadelphia recently dismissed similar suits.

Posted by: Ed from MA | Nov 1, 2008 4:08:38 PM

Dear americanpatriot (and I use that term very loosely),

You have obviously made up your mind already on this issue. Your tone is so obvious. Why don't you report that McCain is taking money from convicted felons? I know why - it is the name Barak Obama (doesnt sound american).

I wonder what McCain feels about Al-Queda backing him for president? Yes, it is on their website - do a google search for it. They obviously believe that McCain will continue in the same vein as Bush - so they will keep getting volunteers for suicide missions.

If we want to be treated as a World Leading nation, not spoilt little kids pouting in the corner having a hissy-fit, we need to deal with these people openly and straight on. This is the only way this will be ended. Take away the reason they are fighting - take away their fight.

Posted by: botrytis | Nov 1, 2008 4:10:13 PM

John McCain, there was an opportunity for you to really redeem yourself and the legacy of the GOP, you could have spent these last few days campaigning on issues and policies. Instead you have decided to attack a man who has dedicated his entire adult life to public service. You joined the military because it was expected of you, you finished bottom of your class because you did not care about your education and your family name promised you a fast track. Sir, you do not love America, the idea of America is so far beyond your understanding you don't even see how your campaign has sought to destroy America. Senator McCain, I urge you to read the Constitution, not to see how much much it can be stretched before it breaks but for the glorious document that it is. There is a reason why it is this document the President swears to protect and defend because this document IS America. America is supposed to be a land of tolerance and freedomm sir, you represent neither American value, you are part of the " If you aren't with us you are against us" crowd, where patriotism is defined by submission to the status quo. I denounce and reject you Senator McCain and Govenor Palin and the GOP and anyone else who questions my patriotism because I refuse to cowtow to their point of view, I'm a Proud American, and we don't cowtow to petty wannabe despots.

Posted by: Louis | Nov 1, 2008 4:11:03 PM

Here we have the McCain campaign's execrable Michael Goldfarb slinging around accusations of anti-semitism--a favorite pastime, as we've seen this year, among Jewish neoconservatives. ...Khalidi is...a respected academic, the sort of person who is involved in foundation work that John McCain, for one, was willing to support financially. I'd say that if we have a bigot here, it's Mr. Goldfarb.

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2008/10/ethics-and-the-rashid-khalidi-tape.html

Posted by: benji | Nov 1, 2008 4:12:23 PM

John McCain SOLD HIS SOUL to Karl Rove, thinking it would win him this election.

But as deals with the devil always end up, McCain gets NO VOTES AND NO HONOR.

McCAIN HAS LOST BOTH THIS ELECTION AND HIS HONOR.

Posted by: Ed from MA | Nov 1, 2008 4:17:33 PM

I demand to have a list of everyone in Obama's 7th grade class! Why won't he release the list?

And why is he hiding his college roommate's sister's boyfriend's name? Hmmmm?

How can we vote for this guy? And why isn't the MSM reporting this?

Posted by: americanpatriot = americanidiot | Nov 1, 2008 4:19:55 PM

Trying to reason with most Pub supporters is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500.

Posted by: If it smells like a McCain... | Nov 1, 2008 4:23:44 PM

Joe Biden is right on...McCains campaign has used deplorable tactics. They are even resorting to Rev. Wright again. I guess McCain does not care that he is further dividing the country. "Country First"..my butt!! His only concern is winning! How sad that a man who was viewed as honourable & a true reformer would stoop to the level of personal attacks. Obama has never used persoanl attacks...only attacked on policies as it should be! McCain will go down losing his honour.But,that was his choice to make.

Posted by: Dee | Nov 1, 2008 4:28:34 PM

McCain, it will all be over in a little while, and you can take your nap in your recliner chair.


McCain, best days are behind him and the "Rocker is Waiting on you.

Posted by: Lookup | Nov 1, 2008 4:31:06 PM

McCain Campaign Strategy Meeting

Can’t win on domestic policy
Can’t win on international policy
Can’t win on tax policy
Can’t win on medical care policy
Can’t win on financial policy
Can’t win on education policy
Can’t win on credibility (thanks Sarah!)
Can’t win on judgment
Can’t win on personality
Can’t win with old war stories
Can’t win with a sarcastic pageant princess
Can’t win getting mavericky
Can’t even win with our non-tax paying plumber
We tried stealing the “change” line
We tried stealing the “middle class” line
We tried calling him a “socialist”
We tried calling him a “terrorist”
We tried using the Reverend

But we’re still LOSING!

“Uh, John, lets try calling him anti-Semitic. That’s what Americans want. More negativity!. And besides, I won’t have to know what I’m talking about if we just make accusations!”

“Sarah, I would rather sell my integrity and self respect than lose an election.”

Posted by: Truth Hurts the GOP | Nov 1, 2008 4:31:23 PM

Hey scattershot. Will you and the other nut jobs on the radical extreme fringe of the right just accept the obvious. Come November 5 whatever you want call Senator Obama the rest of humanity will call him Mr. President. Your lies and smears and filfth won't change a thing

Posted by: farmhouse | Nov 1, 2008 4:32:18 PM

Biden has little room to talk ... the Obama camp was going to go after McCain's age until they realized that Biden is not that much younger than McCain!!!

Posted by: Francisco Cardenas | Nov 1, 2008 4:35:28 PM

How will these people be able to look each other in the eye and work together after this election is over?

Posted by: eiolg | Nov 1, 2008 4:35:33 PM

I heard that the guy who stayed for a night a the three-doors-down neighbor from Obama's house once went to school with someone whose brother-in-law's uncle once worked for a guy who knew the sister of someone who had an OUTSTANDING LIBRARY BOOK!!!

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!

Posted by: Ed from MA | Nov 1, 2008 4:42:39 PM

2007

Interviewer: How do you convince people to change their lifestyles, to live differently, or to turn the question on its ear, are voters ahead of the politicians on this stuff? Do they get it, and maybe the politicians don’t?

Obama: Well, I think, uh, I think voters do understand it. I think it is important for us to send some price signals to change behavior.

Is that the function of government — to fix prices as a punitive measure to change consumer behavior? It will be in an Obama administration. He and a few elites will decide which consumer behaviors are bad, and penalize it with price signals. That usually means taxes or tariffs that drive the cost upwards. I’d guess that Obama IS NOT celebrating the fact that a gallon of gasoline will likely fall below $2 per gallon sometime this week.

When have we seen government send “price signals to change behavior” before? Oh, yes — in the LENDING markets. When government wanted more loans given to RISKY borrowers for political purposes, they sent “price signals” to lenders by having Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy up tons of subprime paper, and then mandated their conversion to SECURITIES to send “price signals” to investors. How did those “price signals” work out for taxpayers, consumers, and investors? Pretty devastating.

We’ve already had enough “price signals” from government to last a lifetime. We need government to get out of the “price signals” business and get back to normal regulation. Barack Obama revealed himself in this interview as the kind of politician who wants to manipulate markets for his own political ends, and is clueless about how disastrous those actions will prove.

Posted by: Obama Wants Government to Punish "Bad" Consumers with Higher Gas Prices | Nov 1, 2008 4:48:35 PM

Andrew Malcolm, LA Times

---That would be a cheesy hardball — and quite possibly counterproductive — CHICAGO kind of thing for a frontrunner to do, especially one on a national unity ticket. A candidate’s organization would have to reflect an enormous ego and over-confidence to pull something like that.

Next thing you know such a campaign might urge supporters to clog a radio station’s phone lines or e-mail boxes just because it gave air-time to an Obama critic. Of course, they did that, too.

And it’s certainly not the kind of hands-across-the-aisle, bipartisan change we need and/or can believe in a national capital that could use a large dose of both.---

Malcolm sees what the Tanning Bed Media has largely missed in the general election. Barack Obama has no interest in bipartisanship or reaching across the aisle. He wants power, and Obama hits back ruthlessly to those who challenge his bid for it. The reporters who got their seats cancelled on O Force One got off easy; Stanley Kurtz, David Freddoso, and Jerome Corsi all had the presidential campaign target them for open character assassination.

Posted by: Obama Punishes Media Who Do Not Worship Him | Nov 1, 2008 4:52:53 PM

Obama could have talked endlessly about the Keating 5, he didn't.

He could have talked about McCain's connections and friendship with Gordon Liddy. He didn't.

He could have talked about McCain's board membership to a group that contains Nazi sympathizers and ties to terrorists. He didn't.

He could have talked about McCain's cheating on his disabled wife to hook up with an airhead heiress. He didn't.

He could have talked about McCain's donation of large money sums to Kahlidi, he didn't.

He could have talked about McCain's poor service record, including the crashing of three jets, and graduation at the bottom of his class, or the automobile accident that was covered up. He didn't.

He could have talked about the anti-American propoganda tapes McCain made while a prisoner in Vietnam, he didn't.

He could have talked about McCain eating birthday cake while the people in New Orleans died, but he didn't.

There is oh, so much more, including radical preachers etc. but Obama did not go there. McCain has never, ever stopped for a moment to NOT go there, he just went. Such a shame. Sorry McCain, a true uniter doesn't behave in such a manner, and we need a uniter.

Posted by: Stan | Nov 1, 2008 4:55:15 PM

My fellow country men and my dear Repugs.

Sorry to say this.

IT'S OVER.

IF I were Republican I won't even bother to vote, because it is pointless.

E_DAY - 3: ELECTORAL COLLEGE EV POLLS

Obama 353
McCain 185

Miracles are not possible at this stage.

Posted by: Steve_NJ | Nov 1, 2008 4:55:15 PM

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