Biden: Ad Attacking McCain Was “Terrible”
Senator Joe Biden, Senator Barack Obama’s running mate, told Katie Couric of “CBS Evening News” Monday that the ad released by the Obama campaign in which Senator John McCain is ridiculed as old, old-fashioned out-of-touch and unable to send e-mails, was “terrible.”
“I thought that was terrible, by the way,” Biden said when asked about the ad.
“I didn’t know we did it and if I had anything to do with it, we’d have never done it,” he added.
The comments were a wonderful break with the tone of the debate in the last few weeks. Until now, Obama staffers and advisers publicly supported the ad.
The ad was, of course, “terrible.” It was an ad that belonged in the old politics, not in the new politics Obama says he supports. Realizing that a line was crossed – even for old politics the ad was “terrible” – Biden did the decent thing; he condemned it.
It did not take long before the campaign went on damage control, however. Biden’s remarks were seen as a potential problem for the campaign. The campaign immediately released an ‘explanation.’ Biden did not watch the ad himself, he said in a statement, he responded to what he had heard about it in the media.
“Having now reviewed the ad, it is even more clear to me that given the disgraceful tenor of Sen. McCain’s ads and their persistent falsehoods, his campaign is in no position to criticize, especially when they continue to distort Barack’s votes on an issue as personal as keeping kids safe from sexual predators,” Biden said in the statement.
Although partisan Democrats will undoubtedly be angry with Biden for his initial comment, and supportive of his ‘explanation,’ Biden’s initial honesty should be celebrated. Those who care about the tone of the debate will undoubtedly agree with Biden’s initial statement on the ad. The ads have become increasingly negative in recent weeks, both campaigns have crossed the line on one occasion or another. If Biden would have stuck to his initial statement, perhaps the McCain campaign would have reached out and the tone of the debate would have changed.
A lost opportunity then.
And just this morning, Biden told a voter that he strongly opposes clean coal (he didn’t seem to even know what it was- he kept referring to China building dirty coal plants, and how we won’t build any of them here) even though Obama’s platform supports investment in clean coal technology.