Sen. Barack Obama's campaign distanced itself on Monday from recent comments made by a prominent campaign surrogate, General Tony McPeak, who compared former President Bill Clinton's campaigning tactics to McCarthyism.
Speaking on a conference call with reporters, campaign manager David Plouffe said that Obama would have not used "that exact term" when assessing the remarks recently made Clinton, which some have interpreted as questioning Obama's patriotism. But, he added, McPeak's sentiments were in the right place.
"You have to look at the history of it. There has been a history of [these] comments former President Clinton," said Plouffe. "Whether it is suggesting that John McCain and Hillary Clinton are the only to people to meet the commander in chief test... to his comment on Friday, this is sort of questioning people's patriotism or suggesting that there are two candidates who have a higher degree of it, there is no place for it. It is not the thing we should be doing in the Democratic primary or the general election."
On Friday, Bill Clinton argued that a general election between Sen. Hillary Clinton and John McCain would be a race between "two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country ... instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics."
The Clinton camp immediately dismissed any insinuation that there was a nasty undertone to the remarks. Howard Wolfson, a spokesman for the campaign, said the former president was not questioning Obama's patriotism but merely "lamenting that these kind of distractions 'always seems to intrude' on our politics."
But McPeak and others took umbrage.
"It sounds more like McCarthy," McPeak said. "I grew up, I was going to college when Joe McCarthy was accusing good Americans of being traitors, so I've had enough of it."
Asked whether accusations of McCarthyism fit the mold of the positive campaign Obama pledged to run, Plouffe argued that these were simply responses to a series of Clinton attacks.
"There seems to be a pattern when statements are made," he said, "the Clinton campaign suggest that that part statement should not be evaluated in the terms that are presented to them. There is a pattern here, that we think needs to be looked at carefully and rejected."
Late Update:
Yet another Obama surrogate gets a bit... emotional about the Clinton remarks. Gordon Fischer, who headed Obama's efforts in Iowa, invokes Monica and the blue dress in assailing the former president:
When Joe McCarthy questioned others' patriotism, McCarthy (1) actually believed, at least aparently (sic), the questions were genuine, and (2) he did so in order to build up, not tear down, his own party, the GOP. Bill Clinton cannot possibly seriously believe Obama is not a patriot, and cannot possibly be said to be helping -- instead he is hurting -- his own party. B. Clinton should never be forgiven. Period. This is a stain on his legacy, much worse, much deeper, than the one on Monica's blue dress.
Later Update:
Fischer has apologized, calling his remarks "tasteless and gratituous"