McCain Camp: Palin Is to Stevens as Obama Is to Claw Hammer Killer « The Washington Independent
In a thoroughly well-reasoned post, McCain campaign blogger Michael Goldfarb equates indicted-porkmeister Sen. Ted Stevens’ (R-Alaska) endorsement of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with murderer Dale Leo Bishop’s endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama. Bishop was executed in July for bludgeoning his friend to death with a claw hammer in 1998.
Goldfarb was responding to criticism from Obama adviser Robert Gibbs, over Palin’s support for the so-called “Bridge to Nowhere” as a gubernatorial candidate — before later killing the project as governor.
From The McCain Report blog:
“„Gov. Palin pulled the plug on the “bridge to nowhere,” no one disputes this. What is less well known is that Barack Obama voted in support of the “bridge to nowhere.”
This is technically true. Obama did vote for the $286 billion transportation bill in 2005 that contained the controversial earmark, and McCain voted against it. Still, reading this vote as an explicit endorsement of that particular project is a bit of a stretch.
“„As far as the charge that Gov. Palin received the endorsement of Sen. Stevens. It’s stunning that Gibbs would make an issue out of this, given that Sen. Obama’s political career was launched at the home of unrepentant terrorist William Ayers. Nor has Sen. Obama distanced himself from the endorsement of indicted Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. And then there’s Rep. William Jefferson, who endorsed Obama while facing 16-counts of corruption in federal court — though perhaps Sen. Obama would have distanced himself from that endorsement if he hadn’t been busy with the conviction of Tony Rezko on the very same day.
“„And who could ever forget Dale Leo Bishop. Bishop bludgeoned his friend to death with a claw hammer, and, moments before he was executed for the crime, endorsed Sen. Obama for president. Don’t throw stones if your candidate has been endorsed by a claw hammer murderer, Mr. Gibbs.
Again, all this is technically true. Yes, Obama knows Ayers. Yes, he has longstanding connections to Rezko. However, it is worth noting Obama has never been accused of wrongdoing. But Goldfarb ignores the fact that Palin and Stevens have a much closer working relationship than Obama has with any of the people he mentions.
That relationship pokes holes in the McCain campaign’s central argument for putting her on the ticket. As mayor, Palin hired a well-connected lobbyist to get Stevens to send some federal money to her town, and he did. With Palin as governor, last year Alaska received more money per capita in earmarks than any other.
Palin continues to portray herself as an enemy of earmarks — she did so as recently as last night. But just this year she put in a nearly $200-million request to Uncle Ted for earmarks for her state.
It’s obviously ridiculous to morally equate Stevens’ endorsement with that of a murderer. Still, it just goes to show how willing the McCain campaign is to throw the kitchen sink at its opponents when confronted by legitimate criticism.
