McCain, Palin attack Obama at Wis. rally
PEWAUKEE, Wis. -- Starting a two-day blitz in Wisconsin, where they're running 5 to 10 percentage points behind, John McCain and Sarah Palin praised veterans, denounced abortion, slammed the media and blamed the country's economic mess on Barack Obama and the his fellow Democrats.
Palin gave a shout-out to Wisconsin hunters, praising an "eat local" campaign and adding, "I hope that includes wild game, too, for those of us who are hunters."
(AP)
Palin and McCain served up some political raw meat to a crowd of 4,200. But when some in the crowd invited McCain to talk about Obama's friend, former radical Weather Underground '60s activist Bill Ayers, McCain gave a much milder denouncement of him than the 90-second web ad his campaign released this morning.
The ad calls Obama "too risky for America" because of his ties to Ayers, whom the ad says planned the Weather Underground's bombings of the U.S. Capitol and Pentagon.
At the town hall meeting at a youth sports center here, McCain said, "We don't care about an old washed-up terrorist and his wife, who still, at least on Sept. 11, 2001, said he still wanted to bomb more. That's not the point here. The point is, Sen. Obama said, Ayers is "just a guy in the neighborhood."
The crowd booed.
"We know that's not true," McCain said. "We need to know the full extent of the relationship because we need to know whether Sen. Obama is telling the truth to the American people or not."
Ayers is married to fellow former Weather Underground fugitive Bernardine Dohrn. Federal charges against the two were dropped because of improper surveillance.
The couple hosted a campaign event for Obama in the mid-1990s, and Ayers contributed to Obama's campaign and served on a not-for-profit's board with Obama.
Some in the very partisan crowd even booed McCain at one point after he said, "I believe that climate change is real; I believe that greenhouse gasses are a threat to our planet."
The crowd cheered when Palin said "Drill, baby, drill" for oil.
Ron Weisblog, 64, a retired home remodeler, stood up to McCain and said, "May I please finish?" after McCain prematurely began to respond to Weisblog's statement that he was very mad that "socialists are taking over America."
An awkward silence followed Weisblog's rebuke of McCain until McCain uttered a Steve Martin-like "Excuuuuuse me!"
But for the most part, McCain and Palin's session here was a love-fest with the party faithful. One African-American supporter said no one had taken a bigger "ass-whoopin'" for supporting McCain. The crowd tossed McCain softballs about alleged vote fraud by the Obama-allied ACORN group in various states -- McCain said that should be investigated -- and a question about whether McCain would raise the issue of abortion in the last debate since it has not yet come up in the debates.
"I am proud of my pro-life record for many years," McCain said. "I believe life begins at conception."
The crowd cheered.
"Sen. Obama has a clear radical far-left pro-abortion record and you should examine it and his votes," McCain added.
In response to Obama's arguments that McCain is out of touch with the middle-class, McCain said the reverse was true and that is why McCain backs a plan -- opposed by some conservatives and Obama -- for the government to buy people's mortgages.
"Sen. Obama was happy to bail out Bear Stearns, AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, his pals there," McCain said. "The Democrats in Congress have refused to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and enact legislation to stop this crisis, but he's opposed to us helping the homeowners of America."
While McCain's plan would be costly, McCain said it would still be less so than Obama's.
"He wants to increase federal spending by $860 billion, and he says that he would have a net reduction of federal spending. Only Sen. Obama could sell that. It's remarkable."
Wisconsin was McCain and Palin's first stop in September after the Republican National Convention, and they even draw a bigger crowd than Obama on consecutive weeks in Green Bay.
But the last three polls of Wisconsin show Obama beating McCain here, 54 percent to 44 percent; 52 percent to 42 percent, and 51 percent to 46 percent. Obama and his wife have made a total of seven appearances here in the last few weeks. Some Illinois political organizations have workers up here talking up Obama at phone banks and door-to-door.
McCain hopes this visit will reverse his slide here. Wisconsin was Democrat John Kerry's narrowest win four years ago -- less than half a percent. Democrats in Madison and Milwaukee are offset by hunters up north -- where McCain and Palin head next -- and conservatives in Milwaukee's western suburbs and exurbs.
"We can and must and will win the state of Wisconsin on Nov. 4," McCain said.
"It will be a hard-fought contest right here in Wisconsin, maybe coming right down to the wire," Palin said. She urged the friendly crowd to pressure the media to ask tougher questions of Obama, saying, "I can't pick a fight with those who buy ink by the barrel-full."