Palin Prods McCain to Get In Obama's Face
'Barack Obama Has Even Called John McCain Out On This'
October 15, 2008— -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is once again prodding John McCain to be more aggressive with Barack Obama, telling ABC's affiliate in New Hampshire that Barack Obama has "called John McCain out."
"Barack Obama even has called John McCain out on this saying, 'Hey, if you've got something to say, say it to my face in a debate,'" said Palin.
"So we'll see tonight if John McCain does that," Palin added in her interview with ABC affiliate WMUR.
Watch it: HERE
Palin's WMUR interview was not the first time that she has prodded McCain to be more aggressive. During an interview earlier this month with New York Times columnist Bill Kristol, Palin urged McCain to raise Obama's connection to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
"To tell you the truth, Bill," Palin told Kristol in an interview published on Oct. 5, "I don't know why that association isn't discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country, and to have sat in the pews for 20 years and listened to that -- with, I don't know, a sense of condoning it, I guess, because he didn't get up and leave -- to me, that does say something about character."
"But, you know," she added, "I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up."
Palin's "say it to my face" remark to WMUR stems from Obama's suggestion to ABC's Charles Gibson last week that McCain was reluctant to raise Obama's association with Bill Ayers, the '60's radical turned professor of education.
"Well, I am surprised that, you know, we've been seeing some pretty over-the-top attacks coming out of the McCain campaign over the last several days that he wasn't willing to say it to my face," Obama told ABC's Gibson.
Watch Obama discuss Bill Ayers with ABC's Charles Gibson here:
Obama, who served on an education reform panel with Ayers, has, at times, played down his contacts with the former leader of the Weather Underground. But Obama has never expressed sympathy for the radical views of Ayers and Obama has referred to the domestic bombing campaign led by Ayers as "detestable."
McCain has ruled out personally using Wright, the controversial former pastor repudiated by Obama, against the Democratic presidential nominee.
But McCain suggested during a Tuesday interview with a St. Louis radio station that Obama was wrong to think that he does not have the "guts" to raise Ayers.
"I was astonished to hear him say that he was surprised for me to have the guts to do that," McCain told KMOX Radio on Tuesday. "Because the fact is that the question did not come up in that fashion so--you know--I think he's probably ensured that it will come up this time."
Listen to McCain's KMOX radio interview here:
The Kicker: "There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area." --Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) of western Pennsylvania to the Associated Press
On the campaign front. . .
JOHN McCAIN
-- 10:00 am ET: Holds rally in Downingtown, PA.
SARAH PALIN
-- 8:00 am ET: Holds rally in Bangor, ME.
-- 12:00 pm ET: Holds rally in Elon, NC.
BARACK OBAMA
-- 10:00 am ET: Holds community gathering in Londonderry, NH.
JOE BIDEN
-- No Public Events.
MICHELLE OBAMA
-- 12 pm ET: Holds rally soldiers in Pittsburgh, PA.
At the White House. . .
PRESIDENT BUSH
-- No Public Events.
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