Hotline After Dark -- So Happy Together
In their first joint interview, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spoke with ABC's McFadden in FL.
McFadden: "What can Hillary Clinton do for you in Florida that you can't do for yourself here?"
Obama: "Hillary, I think, is as effective a spokesperson for the Democratic ideals, which is that everybody gets a fair shot. That's what she's been fighting for. You know, there are some passionate supporters of hers that may still be trying to figure out who to vote for. You know, she's got some great crossover appeal, so for her to take the time to come down, she's been consistent in campaigning down here in Florida for us. I think it's part of the reason why we're doing a little better now than we were just a month ago."
McFadden: "Are we in the real America, the pro-America part of America here in Florida?"
Obama: "I haven't been to a spot yet that's not pro-America. ... Everybody's a patriot, and that's one of the things that I hope we get back to in our politics, if I'm elected president."
After the jump, more from the interview and reaction to Biden's crisis comments.
(KATHERINE LEHR)
McFadden: "The last time you two appeared on the stage together campaigning was a different time. ... How does it feel today? Still a little awkward or have we gotten over the awkward period?"
Clinton: "No, we've had a great campaign."
Obama: "She's been doing great. And I was just telling her, I can't thank her enough. And in places like Florida where she's got so much popularity, she can be a more effective messenger for us than just about anywhere."
Clinton: "We're going to win. I mean, we are going to win. This campaign has so much momentum for all the right reasons. ... What Barack is offering is the kind of change that is needed. It's not just a campaign slogan. It is absolutely at the root of everything he stands for. The more I campaign across the country, I'm seeing people really make up their minds that they're voting for themselves by voting for Senator Obama" ("Nightline," 10/20).
JOE SIX-MONTH
There was also reaction to Joe Biden saying Obama will be tested by an int'l crisis within six months.
MSNBC analyst/ex-"West Wing" EP Lawrence O'Donnell: "This is a perfect example of why fundraisers are normally closed to the press and anyone with a recording device. Fundraisers are where candidates say the loosest things. ... Biden would really like to have those words back. That was a very unwisely phrased thing. The way [John] McCain jumped on it was a perfect It was perfectly teed up for him to do it. ... I doubt it will get much traction. But really, they have to seal the doors on those fundraisers for the rest of the run here" ("Race for the WH," 10/20).
New York Daily News' Goodwin: "What's really amazing is that the Democrats seem to tell the truth mostly to fundraisers. ... If Biden believes it, why doesn't he say it on the stump? That's a very important point he's making. Why doesn't he say it to the public? Why just to contributors to the cause? That I find that mostly offensive" ("Lou Dobbs Tonight," CNN, 10/20).
Rudy Giuliani: "It seems to me that what Joe Biden is saying is that there are people throughout this world who believe that Barack Obama may not be ready to be president, as Joe Biden said himself a few months ago. And the reality is that when we elected Ronald Reagan, we didn't have anybody test Ronald Reagan's mettle because the world was convinced that he was ready to handle it. ... Joe Biden is allowed to say the most extraordinary things and not questioned about it. ... This is a very big thought that he has, and I think he should explain what he's talking about" ("On the Record," FNC, 10/20).
Pat Buchanan: "I don't think it is that big a deal, however, because I don't think a lot of folks take Joe's statements seriously" ("Race for the WH," MSNBC, 10/20).
Hugh Hewitt: "I want to thank Senator Biden for focusing again on the most important issue, which was we have a looming confrontation with Iran and we have a great opportunity to select a commander in chief. And I think that's going to help McCain in the closing sprint" ("LKL," CNN, 10/20).
Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer: "This is an amazing gift he has handed the McCain campaign. ... He used the word 'generated.' He is saying if you elect a president as young and untested as Obama, this will precipitate a crisis intentionally by some actor in the world. ... You expect there might be a tightening of the race for one reason -- people at the last second may have qualms about electing an unknown newcomer untested. And here is the argument made in the name by Joe Biden. ... It's a closing argument against Obama. ... If McCain has any chance, he is going to have to exploit this" ("Special Report," FNC, 10/20).
A different perspective for readers.
My husband and I were born to poverty on a rural Oklahoma farm, literally on a farm. Born ignorant and penniless, we have worked our fingers to the bone for decades to arrive at a position in life of comfortable wealth. We worked our way out of poverty to wealth, worked really hard.
Last fiscal year we paid a fifty-three percent tax rate, a combined personal income tax, capital gains tax and other taxes. More than half of our income is taken away by taxes, not including typical retail taxes. We estimate under an Obama administration, our tax liability will move up ten percent, to about a sixty-three percent tax rate. Under a McCain administration, our total tax rate will be significantly reduced.
High taxes, this annoys us. However, what really angers us is our family, including our daughter, will be carrying the weight of a majority of Americans upon our backs. Bad enough as is, but Obama will make this worse by taking away our hard earned money then giving our money to those who pay no taxes, to those who do not contribute as much to America, to those who do not work as hard as our family.
Obama will render our family a welfare agency, in fact. This is his plan.
Our family response, should Obama be elected, will be to cash out much of our stock market investments, cash out our real estate investments, cash out almost all our investment holdings. We will do this to lower and hopefully eliminate our tax exposure. Millions of other families, I am sure, will do the same. We will withdraw our family money from America.
Obama will prompt many to take actions which will lead to economic disaster for America.
Our family is extremely angry about this prospect of carrying the weight of Americans upon our backs which includes, most likely, you readers.
Our family was born to poverty. We worked our way out of poverty, on our own with no help from any nor our government. None of us have ever collected unemployment benefits, never have received food stamps nor received welfare. We have pride. We work hard. We carry our own weight as all people should.
Where is your pride? Why should our family have to carry your weight upon our backs?
Okpulot Taha
Choctaw Nation
I finally understand the wisdom of the Joe
Biden pick, like Dick cheney and George Bush,
you didn't honestly expect Barack Obama to
do any real work, now did you? If you did,
then you're voting for the wrong Slacker.
While the half brother of millionaire Barack
Obama lives in abject poverty in a mud hut in
Kenya, Obama leaves his campaign to visit his
sick grandmother in Hawaii. She must have money.
According to Colin Powell, it's ok to have a
rookie president, but we got to have
experience at vice president? Joe Biden doesn't
like Sarah Palin, Colin Powell doesn't like
Sarah Palin and Barack Obama doesn't like Sarah
Palin, which is all the more reason, to like Sarah
Palin. Sarah Palin ain't exactly the first woman
in authority Powell, Biden and Obama have had issues
with, is she? Barack Obama didn't want a woman for
his own vice president, and he doesn't like McCain's
woman vice president, either. You throw in the
mysoginy of Ice Tea, Eminem, P Diddy and Colin Powell
with Barack Obama's own problems with women, and you
begin to see a pattern running through the OBama camp.
I'm beginning to see why Powell won the battle, but
lost the war.
I finally understand the wisdom of the Joe
Biden pick, like Dick cheney and George Bush,
you didn't honestly expect Barack Obama to
do any real work, now did you? If you did,
then you're voting for the wrong Slacker.
While the half brother of millionaire Barack
Obama lives in abject poverty in a mud hut in
Kenya, Obama leaves his campaign to visit his
sick grandmother in Hawaii. She must have money.
According to Colin Powell, it's ok to have a
rookie president, but we got to have
experience at vice president? Joe Biden doesn't
like Sarah Palin, Colin Powell doesn't like
Sarah Palin and Barack Obama doesn't like Sarah
Palin, which is all the more reason, to like Sarah
Palin. Sarah Palin ain't exactly the first woman
in authority Powell, Biden and Obama have had issues
with, is she? Barack Obama didn't want a woman for
his own vice president, and he doesn't like McCain's
woman vice president, either. You throw in the
mysoginy of Ice Tea, Eminem, P Diddy and Colin Powell
with Barack Obama's own problems with women, and you
begin to see a pattern running through the OBama camp.
I'm beginning to see why Powell won the battle, but
lost the war.
I finally understand the wisdom of the Joe
Biden pick, like Dick cheney and George Bush,
you didn't honestly expect Barack Obama to
do any real work, now did you? If you did,
then you're voting for the wrong Slacker.
While the half brother of millionaire Barack
Obama lives in abject poverty in a mud hut in
Kenya, Obama leaves his campaign to visit his
sick grandmother in Hawaii. She must have money.
According to Colin Powell, it's ok to have a
rookie president, but we got to have
experience at vice president? Joe Biden doesn't
like Sarah Palin, Colin Powell doesn't like
Sarah Palin and Barack Obama doesn't like Sarah
Palin, which is all the more reason, to like Sarah
Palin. Sarah Palin ain't exactly the first woman
in authority Powell, Biden and Obama have had issues
with, is she? Barack Obama didn't want a woman for
his own vice president, and he doesn't like McCain's
woman vice president, either. You throw in the
mysoginy of Ice Tea, Eminem, P Diddy and Colin Powell
with Barack Obama's own problems with women, and you
begin to see a pattern running through the OBama camp.
I'm beginning to see why Powell won the battle, but
lost the war.