Biden says ad mocking McCain is 'terrible'

[WriteDown]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama's running mate says a campaign ad that mocked Republican presidential candidate John McCain as an out-of-touch, out-of-date computer illiterate was "terrible" and would not have been done had he known about it.

Obama, McCain's Democratic rival, launched the ad earlier this month, part of an aggressive push to slow McCain's rise in the polls after he chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate. It included unflattering footage of Sen. McCain at a hearing in the early '80s, wearing giant glasses and an out-of-style suit, interspersed with shots of a disco ball, a clunky phone, an outdated computer and a Rubik's Cube.

"He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail, still doesn't understand the economy, and favors $200 billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class," the ad says.

Asked about the negative tone of the campaign, and this ad in particular, during an interview broadcast Monday by the "CBS Evening News," Obama's running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, said he disapproved of it.

"I thought that was terrible, by the way," Biden said....

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/story//ap/20080923/ap_on_el_pr/biden_campaign_ad_6

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Just SHUT UP Joe!!!!!!!!!!! Geez.

[demnan]

1. Loose lips sink ships

n/t

[babylonsister]

2. Why is the truth annoying Biden? nt

[Captain Hilts]

4. Because the Clintons must have planted him in the campaign! BASTARDS!

It helps us to 'act nice'. Temperament - a good one - is the main commodity the Democratic ticket brings to this campaign. Even George F. Will noted it this morning.

[babylonsister]

6. For god's sake, is that humor coming off of you?

:rofl: Yea, he's a Clinton plant! :rofl:

[Captain Hilts]

7. If only Democrats were actually that organized. Wouldn't that be grand?

FDR: I wish NYState permitted dead people to vote!
ER: Franklin! That's against the law! Though I would so much like to vote for Mr. Obama...

[liberal N proud]

3. When McCain says the two don't get along, and they will

The Obama campaign needs to make a point of using this to prove to the nation that Obama allows those around him to have their own opinion and is open to their views.

[Captain Hilts]

5. BINGO!

Read George F. Will this morning about McCain's constant, needless 'us against them' attitude.

[FloridaGrl]

13. But the msm

will drown out team Obama's response and all the nation will hear is that the Dems have division in their party.

[JaneQPublic]

8. He's right. The ad was dumb.

Why make an issue over McSame's computer literacy when there are many more substantive issues they could be hammering him on? It was stooping to their level of frivilous Paris Hilton-type ads.

[jonestonesusa]

10. No matter what the ad says...

It's important for the vice president to be in the loop and reinforce a consistent message.

Plus, nothing in the ad was factually inaccurate - and not being able to use email and basic computer technology shows a lack of intellectual curiosity. There are many ads out by Obama now, and many of them take on health care, equal pay for equal work, and other issues of substance. But a president also needs to understand some of the state of technology in the country to be a national leader. Even entry-level jobs require computer literacy today.

I wanted Obama to pick Sebelius - it would have been a stronger ticket.

[Frosty1]

9. What a brilliant move

It shows Biden is not Obamas puppet plus it gets a lot of publicity that the original ad might not get. Free publicity
Good move
:thumbsup:

[bunkerbuster1]

18. While not "Brilliant," I'm fine with it.

We're not robots. We don't agree with every single thing our people do.

This is just an ad, after all.

[Enrique]

32. more likely deliberate than accidental, I agree

i don't see how Biden could say this mistakenly.

I wonder, has the McCain campaign taken the bait?

[FloridaGrl]

11. Even if you

feel that way Biden shut up! What's wrong with the Dems? We just know how to screw up a good thing. Biden we are actually ahead we don't need to feed the hungry dogs now.

[RaleighNCDUer]

26. Perhaps you're reading it wrong.

Biden (usually the smartest man in the room) says that rather innocuous ad is over the top. That immediately puts it in the "bad ad" category, where it will be compared with the really bad, really over the top ads by McCain, and in comparison makes their ads look so much worse.

[ExPatLeftist]

12. I can understand him feeling that way

But it doesn't help us one bit for him to say so publicly.

[dennis4868]

33. Biden is a politician...

and should know that now more than ever anything he says can and will be used against him in the court of public opinion....what an idiot....no matter if he is right or wrong it makes no sense to give the repubs something to use against Obama...Thanks Joe....I am sure this will be all over TV for the day....if you had shut your fucking blabber hole this would be a non-issue....

[stray cat]

14. The ad was beneath the Obama campaign - theres enough true negatives to use

[Raineyb]

44. You're implying that the negatives in that ad weren't true

And they certainly were.

Regards

[wowimthere]

15. Here is that point where the campaign should say the truth is the truth

and Biden should quiet himself about this. It was not a distortion. It was the truth. Joe... stay on message! Stop acting like Bill Clinton.

[DeepModem Mom]

16. I questioned it, too. Offensive to senior voters, who may not be computer whizzes themselves? nt

[1corona4u]

17. Hundreds, if not thousands of people bitched about it for days on this board...

If Joe didn't like it, it was probably because it wasn't issue related. More of a personal attack. Joe later retracted the comment though.

[zulchzulu]

19. Welll...let's all see the ad again to see what wrong with it...

:rofl:

[Stop Cornyn]

20. Blabbermouth strikes again!

[1corona4u]

22. Hey, you didn't have to post here...

[IndianaJones]

21. he's in the tank for McCain. nt.

[1corona4u]

23. OFFS...

Obama Ad
By Perry Bacon Jr.
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden issued a statement late Tuesday attempting to clarify his comments that an ad the Obama campaign ran earlier this month was "terrible."

Biden, in an interview that aired Tuesday on CBS Evening News, had criticized an ad the Obama campaign released earlier this month that highlighted McCain's inability to use a computer, saying, "I thought that was terrible by the way" and "if I'd have had anything to do with it, we never would have done it."

The McCain campaign immediately attacked Obama, invoking Biden's words. "Barack Obama has brought the sleazy gutter politics of Chicago to our national stage, exposing his call for a 'new politics' as a lie and embarrassing even his own running mate with the low road campaign he's running," said McCain-Palin spokesman Brian Rogers in a statement.

But in the statement issued by the Obama campaign, Biden said he had never seen the ad and only read press reports of it.

"Having now reviewed the ad, it is even more clear to me that given the disgraceful tenor of Senator McCain's ads and their persistent falsehoods, his campaign is in no position to criticize," Biden said in the statement.

For Biden, whose candor and occasional verbal gaffes had worried some Democrats as he was been considered to run on the Democratic ticket, his initial criticism of the campaign ad was the first time he had formally reversed one of his comments, although he caught lots of attention for suggesting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton might be have been a stronger vice-presidential choice.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/22/b...




Bunch of fair-weather fans.:eyes:

[ErinBerin84]

25. gee, those McCain folks sure do love invoking Chicago, don't they?

[Obamarama]

24. I love ya Joe, but you need to learn to sometimes SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE!

[Stop Cornyn]

42. Ha!

[BeyondGeography]

27. I don't think Barack will give a shit about this

He only gets mad when the question is an unsanctioned, below-the-belt attack on the opposition.

Carry on.

[jillan]

28. You left out the rest of the article, including this statement from Biden:

"Having now reviewed the ad, it is even more clear to me that given the disgraceful tenor of Sen. McCain's ads and their persistent falsehoods, his campaign is in no position to criticize, especially when they continue to distort Barack's votes on an issue as personal as keeping kids safe from sexual predators," Biden said.

I'm NOT defending Biden here, but he has already responded.

[1corona4u]

31. Sigh...

Making a mountain out of a molehill, if you ask me. But I've come to expect that from this board lately. and I'll tell you what, I am so glad that the people on this board don't have anything to say about what goes on in the Obama campaign. What a cluster fuck that would be. Speaking specifically about the people on this board who *think* they all know how to do everything better.

[Overseas]

35. Glad Joe acknowledges his team's ads are fact based, so even if

they may seem like tough challenges occasionally, they're not completely false and utterly grotesque smears like the Republicans have done.

Many seniors understand technology is moving fast, and if you can't at least use computers, you are definitely way behind the curve.

[dennis4868]

38. Yes...

but that statement is like McCain later explaining what he meant when he said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong...it's not believable. Sorry.

[terrya]

29. I didn't quite get that ad myself.

I mean, my mom doesn't use a computer. She's not computer literate. She's 77 years old. Does that put her in the same category as John McCain?

[EnviroBat]

30. Oh for the love of shit.

Stop defending the asshole. The "nice guy" shit isn't going to work anymore. We need to expose this feeble moron for the walking disaster he is. I'm sick of the pulling punches tactics. Stop being a fucking apologist Joe. McCain needs to be flushed like the turd he is, and "disapproving" of ad's by your own campaign is damaging at best.

[npincus]

34. I thought the ad sucked, too BUT he should keep his mouth shut

and campaign FOR us.

[depakid]

36. Fortunately. the media is mostly ignoring him

[closeupready]

37. I don't think this matters.

Biden is playing good cop to Pollyanna's out there who think Obama is playing mean.

Silly non-issue.

[demokatgurrl]

39. I agree, it was terrible.

Criticize Mc Cain's policies, his lies, his crookedness, even his being out of touch with the average American. But age (and computer illiteracy can definitely be correlated with age, as a stereotype)- I say do not go there.

However, Biden should not have said that. It just provides a sound bite for a McCain ad.

"Even Obama's own running mate admits his ads are "terrible" ".

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

40. There is an article about that on AOL with a poll and the

results are dismal for the campaign.

Why do our politicians shoot themselves in the foot?

[ErinBerin84]

41. aol poll results are ALWAYS "dismal" for the campaign.

aol polls are a joke.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

43. They actually had a poll last week in regard to Palin and Troopergate

and the majority of those who voted in the poll were against her. I was very surprised.

I think my point with what Biden said is that whatever he says, doesn't stay in a vacuum. People will hear it one way or the other, and it hurts the campaign.

[ErinBerin84]

45. yeah, I agree that he shouldn't have let that slip out.

I understood your point...it's just that the aol polls always piss me off :) Oh well...unfortunate, but hardly an election killing issue.

[beachmom]

46. I'm spinning it this way: Biden ACTUALLY TALKS TO THE PRESS, and

found himself off message. A fairly minor gaffe in the scheme of things. Where is Sarah Palin? Why the hell won't she talk to the press? All this shows is that Biden risks making mistakes by talking to the press, but Palin won't.

[Mz Pip]

47. I thought the ad was dumb

but there are far worse ads on the McCain side that are more worthy of comment. I'd like to see Biden hammer McCain on the "Disrespectful" ad or the Raines ad or the killing babies ad. Those were far worse than anh mocking of McCain's inablility to deal with technology.

[Jennicut]

48. Is this really all we have to complain about?

Biden already said he was wrong after he saw the ad. I know there are some here who don't really like him because of some of his votes and are just waiting for him to say something so they can hate on him but Joe is Joe. He tells things like he sees them. Sometimes it gets him in trouble but other times he really gives it to the person who deserves it (like Guliani). Obama picked him for a reason, to have someone who will challenge him. Biden is also out reaching blue collar voters that Obama really needs. If you want controlled and scripted then Bayh or Kaine was your guy. ZZZZZZZZ. Sorry but both the guys have no fire or excitement. I thought the ad was okay. The ads since then have been way more on target.