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Biden Sharpens Tone: What Happened To McCain?
ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. — The once independent-minded John McCain has adopted the serve-the-rich policies of President Bush and the divisive tactics of ex-Bush strategist Karl Rove, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Monday during a campaign stop in Michigan.
Biden blamed the Bush administration for inaction in the face of sharp cuts in automotive jobs and said McCain, like Bush, was out of touch with the economic suffering of ordinary Americans.
Speaking to hundreds of people in a sweltering high school gym in the Detroit suburb of St. Clair Shores, Biden decried what he said was "a culture in Washington where the very few wealthy and powerful have a seat at the table and the rest of us are on the menu."
Biden said McCain's economic programs are virtual copies of those of the past eight years under Bush and said they serve the rich while ignoring ordinary Americans.
"If you're ready for four more years of George Bush, John McCain is your man," said Biden, who pointed out that George H.W. Bush was the 41st president and his son is the 43rd. McCain "could easily become known as Bush 44."
"John McCain stands with George Bush firmly in the corner of the wealthy and well-connected," Biden said. "He stands with the oil company CEOs who swore to me, under penalty of perjury, that they didn't need tax breaks to explore for oil."
Republican spokesman Chris Taylor said Obama and Biden would damage the economy with higher taxes.
"Michiganders have seen what Democrat-led taxes can do to a local economy," he said.
Biden also criticized the negative tone of McCain's campaign.
"The campaign a person runs says everything about the way they'll govern," Biden said at South Lake High School. "John McCain has decided to bet the house on the politics perfected by Karl Rove."
Biden was referring to a series of attack ads from the McCain campaign as well as misstatements that the Republican presidential candidate and running mate Sarah Palin have continued to repeat after they were debunked. Barack Obama's campaign particularly bristled at an ad suggesting the Democratic nominee favored teaching kindergartners about sex before reading, based on a bill he supported that would teach age-appropriate sex education to those kids and help them ward off sexual predators.
McCain "is now launching a low blow a day," Biden said.
Despite his reputation for bare-knuckle politics, Rove said Sunday that both sides are being too negative and McCain has gone "one step too far" in showing ads that are not true.
Biden said he came to McCain's defense in 2000 when the Republican came under attack from Bush operatives and supporters who spread "scurrilous" rumors about him in the primary campaign. "And now, some of the very same people and the tactics he once deplored, his campaign now employs."
McCain spokeswoman Sarah Lenti disputed Biden's comments. She said Obama and Biden are the most partisan presidential ticket in modern history.
Later Monday, Biden toured a Mazda-Ford joint auto assembly plant in Flat Rock, where he shook hands with blue-collar workers and managers and told them the auto industry is crucial to America's economic future.
"The management, the rank-and-file workers _ this is what built the middle class in America. We let these jobs go, well, shame on us. Shame on us," he said.
He also stopped to rev the engine of a bright red Ford Shelby convertible to a round of applause from watching workers.
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DAVID N. GOODMAN | September 15, 2008 05:42 PM EST |
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