Barack Obama: Lay Off My Family

On the same day that former GOP presidential contender Mike Huckabee told his party that demonizing Barack Obama is a 'fatal mistake,' Obama told a reporter from CBN news that the GOP needs to lay off his family. Read part of the transcript below and watch the interview here.

Obama told CBN News that he is deeply disappointed that John McCain has not spoken out against political attacks leveled at his wife.

"I think families are off limits. I would never consider making Cindy McCain a campaign issue," he said. "And if I saw people doing that - I would speak out against it. And the fact that I haven't seen that from John McCain I think is a deep disappointment."

The McCain campaign sent CBN News a written response to Obama's comments.

"Senator McCain agrees with Senator Obama that spouses should not be an issue in this campaign, and he has stated that position frequently," Joe Pounder, McCain's spokesman, said. "Unfortunately, when the Democratic National Committee was attacking Mrs. McCain, Senator Obama was not strong enough to stand up and speak out."

"Obama's silence speaks volumes, and it's unfortunate that he would single out others for a standard he himself has failed to live up to," he said.

Comments

[gwhizz]

If Michelle's off limits, keep Michelle off the stump.

[blastocyst]

A highly evolved and well-reasoned opinion.

[hi5dud3n355]

indubitably

[fair1234]

Michelle can be on the stump I love hearing her speak but please stop taking her words out of context. Even Laura Bush knew what she was talking about despite the idiots on the GOP that decided to run a different direction with it. The under the surface racism in this country againts Michelle is so embarrassing and I am glad that the world is seeing America with the hand full of bigots that still live here. I am so ashamed!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!

[Matt7]

I's not that Michelle is "off limits."

It's just that a decent human being (a Black man, yet!), is not going to let you say just any and everything to, and about his wife.

"Homey" don't play that.

[Forsetti]

For all who think families are “fair game”,

Have you been so jaded by politics that the loss of civility, morals and ethics has just become commonplace and justifiable?

Have “by-any-me­ans-necess­ary” and “the ends justify the means” become your mantras?

For those who are so certain that your candidate, political philosophy, reasons and ideas are true, right and the only path then why do you spend so much time addressing, critiquing and criticizing “non-issues”? Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain, Chelsea Clinton, etc… are not the issues, are not the candidates, are not running for office, are not making policies, etc…

No amount of linguistic gymnastics, no twisted logic is going to somehow make it acceptable to attack a candidate’s family.

[sarasoon]

What a load of rubbish Joe Pounder! It was the Republicans and their supporters who first displayed appalling manners and attacked Michelle Obama. When it became clear that they were not going to stop, Obama supporters decided to serve the Republicans in kind. It never ceases to amaze how the Republican Party always seems to stand for the crude, smutty, underhand, dishonest, unsophisticated, cruel, cowardly, the un-evolved and the perverted. They seem totally incapable of spreading joy, light and enlightenment.

[blastocyst]

Wherry is when salamander's do the same things as pitapats its wrong but when deems are always right. Such credibly! Yeah, can't say anything about family members. Kinda like when the demos talked about Chucho's troglodyte.

[AllaboutME]

Of course Cinday McCain is proud of her country. Wha5t other country could you steal drugs from your own charity and not spend a day in jail. God Bless Cindy's America!

[Mercurial]

lol, kinda reminds one of hannity's warped america

[ceindependence]

Yeah, can't say anything about family members. Kinda like when the dems talked about Cheney's daughter. Why is when republicans do the same things as democrats its wrong but when dems are always right. Such credibitly!

[Trollstakeyourmeds]

You can talk about family members if you're an Obama supporter and you're deriding the Clintons..­.otherwise­, forget about it.

[vocalist]

Everyting going worng today would be those Clinton`s fault.
Oops my cofee is getting cold. Yup, those Clintons again !

[gwhizz]

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

[walk0nwalls]

ITS RELEVANT WHEN HIS POLICY ACTIVELY DISCRIMINATES AGAINST HIS DAUGHTER

[08politicaljunkie]

Thank you. You beat me to it.

[klmebane]

thank you!! and talking about someone being gay or straight is not the same thing as calling them a terrorist sympathizer and traitor and whatever other mud got slung. there is no comparison. if someone is gay (or straight) they just are. but to manipulate the situation and pick and choose sound bites that show what you want them to, that isn't truth its distortion. sexuality is a truth. lies are just the opposite.

[klmebane]

which daughter are you talking about?? the lesbian or the warmonger?

[anndeegh]

That's your idea of an attack. Cheney's daughter is openly gay and everyone knew it. I don't know how stating that she deserves equal rights is an attack. Lynn Cheney made a fool of herself by claiming that Kerry was a bad man because he wanted her daughter to have the same rights as straight people.

[blastocyst]

Hank, I can't feel my roots. Hank!

[StillAmused]

Nothing new here... the hard-case Replicants will rail about anything but their own miserable, corporate-­engorging, warmongering, do-nothing ham-handedness.

Coming soon, the next articulated, issue-focused GOP slogan: "Yo' Mama!"

Nice job on the debt, Iraq and habeas, dullards.

[oh2beinNYC]

Lets see, you can't call him a liberal, you can't say his middle name, you can't associate him with his former lunatic pastor of 20 years, you can't associate him with Bill Ayers, you can't associate him with business partner Rezko, you can't bring up his inexperience, can't bring up his wife's college thesis paper, etc.... If Barrack Hussein Obama is this gifted Messiah who will transform the USA into a Eutopia, then lets look at what the southside of Chicago looks like today after BHO has worked his magic. That's right, can't bring that up either. Terrible canidate.

[DRPike]

He's a leader, not a messiah...­get over it

[ThunderclapNewman]

Translation: oh2beinNYC whines incessantly.

[blastocyst]

Grant me a 'Eurotopia' and I'm in.
French cigarettes, Magnifique!

[politicalgenius]

the problem with what you're saying is exactly the problem with the politics of today. what difference does it make that he went to Trinity? I could say that Catholics are child-molestor appeasers b/c of the priests but that's not fair or warranted and where a person worships has nothing to do with his/her work. everyone knows he's a liberal. people know about the associations - in the past - but they have absolutely nothing to do with politics and your premise, just like the GOP platform has nothing to do with politics. If they can keep people like you focused on his middle name or Jeremiah Wright, or any and everything NOT RELATED to politics then the GOP has a shot of stealing yet another election. It's not Muslims, Wright, Michelle's thesis, his middle name or any other extraneous information out there that we should be afraid of - not how many years his been in politics, what he eats, what kind of tea he drinks - but it's the ignorance of the GOP and people, who like you, buy into their confusion, fear and cynicism. And so, there are gonna be people like you, come November who will vote based on a middle name and not the issues, more than likely voting against your own interest - don't worry, I'm not calling you a racist, just Ignorant and it's your ignorance that scares me a hell of a lot more than a middle name or Jeremiah Wright.

Si

[queotic]

Excellent response.

[Mercurial]

Yay! *takes a bow*

[ginnypoo]

Except he got earmarks for Rezko, worked 4 yrs for Ayers and had meetings with Auchmi and Rezko with the governor. So it isn't just personal, his job was part of it since he got government money for them, even Phlager got money. It's not about his church, it's about a mindset that allows that kind of attitude to become normal to him. How do you think his mindset that accepts violence as viable will deal with problems that arise? How will his feelings about some of these countries in the news affect policy? His church has set ideas about who was right and wrong in certain things, that will affect him and what he does. it's his belief system that i question. His judgement that failed to think that if he wants to be President these are not who he should be friends with never worked properly. He failed to get that simple thing, radical fringe and domestic terrorists should be where he hangs out. Anyone with a brain could figure that out. It showed his more interested in getting ahead than how he looks doing it.

[okayigive]

Let's see. I really don't think you want to go there, but since you did. In 1995, McCain sent birthday regards, and regrets for not attending, to Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonano, the head of the New York Bonano crime family ; Keating Five-McCain intervened on behalf of Charles Keating after Keating gave McCain at least $112,00 in contributions. In the mid-1980s, McCain made at least 9 trips on Keating's airplanes, and 3 of those were to Keating's luxurious retreat in the Bahamas. McCain's wife and father-in-law also were the largest investors (at $350,000) in a Keating shopping center; the Phoenix New Times called it a "sweetheart deal" ;
His adultery broke up his first marriage. His second wife Cindy, the daughter of a wealthy Budweiser beer distributor, was addicted to prescription narcotics and even stole hard drugs from a medical charity that she ran. Oh I think I'm running out of space, but you get the picture.

[Actionmac]

Many redumblicans attacking the female, with the truth coming out about them trolling public restrooms and the like... could it be v a gina envy because the wish they had the real thing.

or just cowards...

[Mercurial]

They just wish they could occasionally get one

[HopeObama08]

The problem is not that the Repubs attack Michelle. The problem is that they are attacking her unfairly. And so does the MSM.They are just stupid parrots who disregard the fact that she used "really" in an emphatic way. But what is there to defend Cindy stealing recipes and making them her own as if she really cooks or bakes, or that she wanted to American people away from knowing about her money. She should learn a few things from Laura Bush, who in contrast has class and dignity despite her stupid husband.

[ginnypoo]

Gee, I guess what goes around comes around....­Obama shouldn't have attacked hillary so badly, then maybe he would have earned some respect, McCain said he wanted respectful campaigns, then John saw how Obama treated Hillary, Obama and Michelle are fair game now....sho­uld played nice from the start, using racist cards was dirtiest i've seen in many years. Obama deserves no less than total trashing. I'll enjoy watching him get what he deserves.

[Heru1]

Sour grapes. I wish I sould see your face on inauguration day. Priceless!

[klmebane]

obama ignored hillary (and bill's) attacks for awhile. but eventually, you gotta stand up for yourself. please, tell me how obama attacked hillary so badly?? obama didn't pull the race card, bill did. and so did hillary's campaign. obama simply responded.

[Turnip]

I've heard dickchinney has already started sending in applications to third-world countries looking to hire petty dictators.

So far, none of them are that desperate.

[Turnip]

Why the surprise?

It's the Republican way to attack women, children, the elderly, the poor, the minority, the infirm....­....

[okayigive]

Well "my friends" we know that this is all the reps have and they will continue to use it as their moral compass of patriotism or whatever. Sometimes you have to take a negative and turn it into a positive. Instead of all the hoopla over MO comment and fist bump etc., some creative minds could create ads that show why other Americans have not been proud of America-torture, illegal war, treatment of Katrina victims, people using racial inuendo, lost of constitutional rights, lost of jobs, stolen elections, people living in tent cities while the rich get richer etc. I could imagine an ad showing Cindy boarding her jet saying I've always been proud to be American while someone is counting pennies at a gas station while fueling up; or Cindy sitting in a plush restaurant or her one of her homes dining while stating I'm proud to be American while someone is standing in line at a soup kitchen or a family has a meager meal. Use of fist pump greeting as being hygenically a safer form of greeting, less germs being passed from one person to another. Also if we started speaking more in our general conversations of why we are not proud of America eventually these attacks will become a non-issue.

[riverhouse]

Supporters will cover their backs so Barack Obama need not worry. Yesterday Mrs. McCain again criticized Mrs. Obama for not being proud of her country. That frees us to question Mrs. McCain's family values, her theft of another woman's husband her forging of prescriptions, and theft of narcotics from a charity to feed her addiction. It's beyond me why the GOP and McCain campaign would want to put the wives in the mud but if they do it's Mrs. McCain who will sink.

[MaxBob]

Poor, poor Barack. Playing adult games with a childish menatality, tsk, tsk.......­.But, we can always HOPE for CHANGE....­.....