Notable Quotables - 10/20/2008
Published: 10/20/2008 1:00 AM ET
| Evil GOP Is Endangering Obama |
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- ABC's Terry Moran profiling Biden on Nightline, Oct. 13.
"What about the tone of the campaign? Joe Biden said it's ugly. In the
primary, you also brought up Obama's association with Bill Ayers, Reverend
Wright. Where's the line, and have the Republicans crossed it?...Some of this,
there's concerns about actually inciting violence." |
| McCain's "Disgraceful" Campaign |
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"If he [Obama] loses the election because of that [his ties to Weather
Underground bomber Bill Ayers], it's disgraceful. If the Republicans make that
the issue at the end, it's a disgrace....They should not be trying to beat Obama
based on the company he kept." - Newsweek's Evan Thomas, Oct. 10 Inside Washington. "It's hard
to tell which one's sinking faster, the stock market, or the tone of this
campaign....The McCain campaign spent Monday blasting Barack Obama as a mystery
man.... Using a new ad to pile on adjectives, 'dangerous,' 'dishonorable,'
'liberal,' and 'risky.'...Trying to link Obama with controversial characters
like the once radical anti-war advocate William Ayers and fiery pastor Jeremiah
Wright." "In the past couple of days, the Republicans have been laying it on thick.
Chumming the waters....It's a full-bore attack on Obama's character, suggesting
he's yellow, disloyal and doesn't belong....John McCain insisted he wasn't going
to run a campaign like this, and that's left some of his supporters to wonder
why he's doing it now."
"I think the McCain campaign would be perfectly happy to see turnout lower
than it would otherwise be and this may be one way to do it....There's a theory
that says 'make the campaign ugly and people won't turn out to vote.'" |
| Palin: "Attack Dog" Like Agnew |
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"A campaign that's turned down and dirty: Down in the polls, the McCain campaign
has found a new attack dog....Yesterday she [Sarah Palin] took after Barack
Obama in a style reminiscent of Spiro Agnew when he was Richard Nixon's running
mate." - CBS's Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation, October 5. Co-host Ann Curry: "Sarah Palin is now saying that the gloves are off.
She's linked Obama to domestic terrorism. She's, she's been bringing up Reverend
Wright's name.... Explain what's happening here, Joe." |
| It's Racist to Link Obama & Ayers |
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"Her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John
McCain himself may come to regret....Palin's words avoid repulsing voters with
overt racism. But is there another subtext for creating the false image of a
black presidential nominee 'palling around' with terrorists while assuring a
predominantly white audience that he doesn't see their America?" - Associated Press writer Douglass K. Daniel in an October 5 dispatch. Ayers is white. |
| Which Way Is It, CNN? |
 "Our
verdict here is false. There's no indication that Ayers and Obama are
palling around, or that they have had an ongoing relationship in the past
three years. And also, there's nothing to suggest that Ayers is now involved
in terrorist activities."- "Truth Squad" reporter Josh Levs on CNN's Sunday Morning, October 5. vs. "The relationship between Obama and Ayers went much deeper, ran much
longer, and was much more political than Obama said....For seven years, Bill
Ayers and Obama, among many others, worked on funding for education
projects, including some experiments supported by Ayers....For Obama, the
chairmanship of the $100 million Annenberg board helped vault him from South
Side Chicago lawyer to political player." |
| How Dare McCain Attack You?... |
 "John
McCain has unloaded on you in the last 72, 96 hours, as has Sarah Palin. McCain
saying, essentially, 'We don't know who Barack Obama is, where he came from. I'm
an open book. He's not.' Were you surprised that he didn't bring it up last
night at the debate?...Sarah Palin has come at you because of the Bill Ayers
connection. Are you going to have to address that again?"- Charles Gibson's questions to Barack Obama during an interview shown on ABC's World News, October 8. |
| ...How Dare You Attack Obama? |
 "[Why]
have you focused so in what you've had to say on Senator Obama's character?
Talked about the fact that we don't know him, that he's come out of nowhere,
that he's not an open book....You don't think he's been thoroughly vetted,
having gone through all the primaries he did, all the campaigning, running for
President as long as you have - two years?...You're comfortable that this should
be a focus in the last days of the campaign?"- Gibson to John McCain the next night. |
| Headline: Palin Not Embarrassing |
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"Everyone was waiting to see how the political newcomer would do tonight and
perhaps the headline is Governor Sarah Palin did not embarrass herself or her
running mate as some Republicans might have feared and some Democrats might have
hoped." - CBS's Katie Couric during live coverage following the vice presidential debate on October 2. |
| Disparaging Palin's "Brain Power" |
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"Is this [vice presidential debate] about her brain power?... Do you think
cute will beat brains?...Do you think she'd do better on the questions on
Jeopardy or the interview they do during a half-time?...My suspicion is
that she has the same lack of intellectual curiosity that the President of
the United States has right now and that is scary!" - MSNBC's Chris Matthews during the 7pm EDT Hardball on October 2, a couple of hours before the debate. "Can we now admit the obvious?
Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president. She is a feisty,
charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has
never spent a day thinking about any important national or international
issue, and this is a hell of a time to start....For John McCain to have
chosen this person to be his running mate is fundamentally irresponsible." |
| Sarah Palin = Huey Long |
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"Here's what's disturbing: Either she didn't know, because actually the
legislative role [of the Vice President] is just about zero as Biden says, or
scarier she has a little bit of Huey Long in her. The kind of - you could see
her being a demagogue, saying 'I got to do this, the rules are in the way, to
heck with the rules, let's do it.'" - Newsweek's Evan Thomas reacting to Palin suggesting at the debate that a vice president has a legislative role, on Inside Washington, October 3. |
| George Goes "Two for Two" |
 "Obama
is two for two....He definitely won tonight. I think, again, he showed over the
course of this debate, over the course of the two debates, he is answering the
number one question Americans have about him: Does he have the experience it
takes to serve effectively as President? Over the course now of three hours of
debates, he is answering that question minute by minute."- ABC's George Stephanopoulos grading the presidential debate on Nightline, October 7. |
| "Debonair" vs. "Menacing" |
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"Barack Obama is gifted in his birth by a wonderful smile. He has a wonderful
way of disengaging or disarming attacks on him, even when they're ferocious.
John McCain, when he smiles, has a somewhat menacing quality.... Barack Obama
comes off as debonair, even under attack." - MSNBC's Chris Matthews during live coverage following the October 7 presidential debate. |
| He's "The One" - Not "That One" |
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CNN's Jeffrey Toobin: "He [McCain] is just not doing very well in these
debates. I don't mean to belabor this point, but that moment when he said 'that
one' and referred to Obama that way, I think that's going to be memorable and I
don't think that's going to be a happy memory." Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux: "It's like 'that woman,' you know, that we've heard 'that woman,' I mean a lot of people are saying that was the kind of language that was very condescending, very patronizing...." - Live coverage following the presidential debate Oct. 7. |
