Barack Obama's chief Pennsylvania surrogate, Sen. Bob Casey (D), is hitting back at John McCain's campaign for what he sees as smear tactics.
Casey, in an interview Wednesday on MSNBC, said that the suggestions that Obama was referring to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) when he talked about "lipstick on a pig" are distractions. Obama made the remark Tuesday while talking about McCain and Palin's case for change, which he sees as thin.
"But I'll tell you," Casey said, "if the campaign McCain, the people running that campaign, the same crowd that ran President Bush's campaigns, if they want to have a discussion about who's smearing whom -- I mean, these people have a Ph.D. in smear artistry. They've been doing it for a generation. It's not working this year, and they're pretty frustrated, so they're going to continue to try to smear Sen. Obama."
Casey, who backed Obama before the Democratic primary in Pennysylvania, said that most people in his state are focused on the economy. He noted that about 600,000 Americans have lost their jobs this year, and he blamed the losses on Republican policies.
Former Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R.I.) thinks that John McCain was irresponsible with his pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) as his running mate, calling her a "cocky wacko" that is "dangerous for the future."
"She is dangerous for the future of the country having such limited experience and sharing that aggressive, belligerent approach to the world," Chafee, who is co-chairman of "Republicans for Obama" said during an interview.
Chafee said Palin is "not in our long term best interests," adding that "it's a dangerous planet."
During a speech Tuesday to the New America Foundation, Chafee called Palin a "cocky whacko" and attack her foreign policy and defense credentials. (The comment comes a little over 53 minutes into the video linked to.)
The former Rhode Island Republican endorsed Obama in February. Chafee, who is still a registered Republican, lost his reelection bid in 2006 to Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse.
Here is the video of Chafee's interview with the Washington Note. The former senator's comments on Palin come toward the end.
An Iraq war veteran accuses Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) of disregarding success achieved by U.S. soldiers in a new web ad from Vets for Freedom, a veterans group that opposes withdrawal from Iraq and supports the so-called troop "surge."
"Senator Biden, I fought side by side with men who didn't return from Iraq. They laid down their lives for this country and for their mission. Don't tell me their service and sacrifice wasn't relevant," says Garrett Makovicka, a Marine Corps. infantryman in his mid twenties from College Station, Texas. Makovicka served in Iraq and is a member of the group.
Biden said on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday that "whether or not the surge worked is almost irrelevant now," and that the real issue is Iraq policy from this point forward.
The group may run the new ad on TV, it says, as part of its $7 million campaign pressuring senators to vote for a resolution, introduced by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), that recognizes the success of the surge.
Supporters of Barack Obama received a text message this afternoon encouraging them to register to vote.
"Obama News: Get info on how to vote at VoteforChange.com. You can get registered, apply to vote absentee or find your polling location. Fwd msg to 5 friends!" the message said.
Voter registration looks to be a key issue for Obama this fall as his campaign works to turn out young voters and college students, some of whom are voting for the first time, a vast majority of whom support him over John McCain.
The VoteforChange site, set up and run by the Obama campaign, boasts that visitors can register to vote, and either request absentee ballots or find their polling places, in about three minutes. The site uses a "share" function that lets visitors e-mail a link to friends or post it on their Facebook and MySpace pages.
Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin (D) said Wednesday that the Senate this month will not take up his long-awaited resolution to prompt the U.S. government to apologize for slavery.
Harkin said the Senate's legislative schedule is too cramped to consider the resolution, although he emphasized it will be introduced later, probably in early 2009. The House already passed a resolution on July 29, but the Senate only has two and a half weeks of scheduled sessions before a target adjournment date of Sept. 26. The chamber is not likely to reconvene until after the election
Barack Obama had some job advice for freshman high school students at during a stop in Norfolk, Va., Wednesday.
"I'm not sure I'd advise everybody to run for president," Obama said, the Associated Press reports. "I've been sleeping out of hotel rooms for two years now and I miss my kids."
Obama, speaking at a freshman leadership seminar at Granby High School, urged students to work hard, find what excites them and set high expectations of themselves. He told them he was a "goof-off" when he was young. He also said that he was drawn to the idea of becoming an architect after he found out he wouldn't become a pro basketball player.
Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) compared Barack Obama to Jesus Christ during a speech Wednesday on the House floor, and implicitly compared Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) Sarah Palin to Pontius Pilate.
"The parties have differences, but if you want change, you want the Democratic Party," Cohen said. "Obama was a community organizer, like Jesus, who our minister prayed about. Pontius Pilate was a governor."
The National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) fired back at Cohen Wednesday afternoon, sending a memo condemning the Tennessee Democrat's remarks.
The attacks on Governor Palin have been called "completely false"..."misleading".
And, they've just begun.
The Journal reports Obama "air-dropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers" into Alaska to dig dirt on Governor Palin.
As Obama drops in the polls, he'll try to destroy her.
Obama's "politics of hope"? Empty words.
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