Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain called his opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, "missing in action" during the current economic crisis as McCain stumped for votes Monday in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and vice presidential running mate Alaska Gov. Sara
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"We don't have time for Senator Obama to get over his paralysis during this crisis," McCain, accompanied by GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, told an enthusiastic crowd of mostly Republican supporters in downtown Media before the Delaware County courthouse.
Monday's event was an energizing rally for the GOP, as many of the McCain supporters wore red shirts, skirts, jackets and hats; waved patriotic pompoms and handmade signs; and chanted "USA! USA!" to drown out a small group of sign-toting Obama supporters gathered among the throng of Republicans.
The main focus of the rally was the crisis on Wall Street as the Bush administration and Congress try to hammer out legislation that would allow the federal government to buy billions of dollars worth of troubled assets from embattled financial companies, then sell the assets for a profit.
McCain called for a commission to oversee the bailout, saying he was uncomfortable with giving U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson too much power. McCain also said executives of companies receiving bailouts should not benefit from golden parachutes subsidized by taxpayers.
He then slammed Obama for not putting forth a specific plan for dealing with the Wall Street meltdown. Obama has said he didn't want to play politics while Congress and the Bush administration work out the details of the bailout.
"Senator Obama just doesn't get it," McCain said.
Palin told the crowd her top three priorities if she became vice president were government reform, energy independence and advocating for children with special needs. Her newborn son has Down syndrome.
"Our opponent (Obama), he likes to point the finger of blame, but tell me, has he ever lifted a finger to help?" she asked the crowd.
Monday's speeches by McCain and Palin drew a swift reply from Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray, a member of the newly formed Pennsylvania Truth Squad, a group headed by Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell on behalf of Obama.
McCain and Palin "repeat the falsehoods again and again, and if they are confronted with the facts, they continue to repeat (the falsehoods)," Gray said Monday.
In one instance, McCain slammed Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joe Biden for telling media outlets, including the Intelligencer Journal, that — as McCain put it — "raising taxes is patriotic." The remark drew boos from the estimated 10,000 people gathered in Media.
But a closer look at Biden's comments in Media last week reveals that what he told the Intelligencer Journal was that it's irresponsible to cut taxes on the wealthy while continuing to spend $10 billion a month for the war in Iraq. Obama's proposal to raise taxes on families making more than $250,000 was asking them to share in the sacrifice of paying for the war, Biden said, adding, "It's time for everybody to be a little patriotic, man."
Palin — who, judging by the swelling cheers and raucous enthusiasm from the crowd, was once again the star — ripped Obama for doing nothing to reform the federal government, and she proposed putting the federal government's checkbook online for everyone to see.
Yet according to CNN, Obama and Republican Sen. Tom Coburn championed a bill in 2006 and 2007 that would make public all grants, contracts, loans and insurance payments made by the federal government.
Delaware County is a vital battleground in the race for Pennsylvania's 21 electoral votes, as evidenced by Biden's visit last week and McCain's on Monday. The county has a nearly even split in voter registration, with about 188,000 Republicans and 163,000 Democrats.
Prior to McCain's speech, Palin welcomed the stars of the reality show "American Chopper." The show's main star, Paul Teutul Sr., rode onstage with a large motorcycle he dedicated to U.S. POWs/MIAs.
E-mail: dpidgeon@lnpnews.com
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