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McCain: Obama has voting record like socialist

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor July 18, 2008 06:36 PM

The latest skirmish in the presidential race is, of all things, whether John McCain called Barack Obama a socialist -- a label apparently equal to being tagged as a communist in times gone by.

The blow-up started when McCain was asked Thursday in Kansas City whether he believed Obama was an extremist. "His voting record … is more to the left than the announced socialist in the United States Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont," McCain replied, according to the Kansas City Star.

Asked whether he believes that Obama is a socialist, McCain answered, "I don’t know. All I know is his voting record, and that’s what people usually judge their elected representatives by."

Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor responded, “This attack is straight out of the Bush-Rove playbook, and is exactly what the American people are tired of. Instead of making false, divisive attacks, Senator Obama is working to bring our country together to meet the challenges we face as a nation.”

This afternoon, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds hit back, “The truth is National Journal, a non-partisan publication, ranked Barack Obama as the most liberal Senator in the U.S. Senate. John McCain simply said that he didn’t know whether or not Barack Obama is a socialist, and noted that national rankings have rated him as more liberal than the only self-proclaimed socialist in the Senate. It's up to Barack Obama to explain his extreme record.”

McCain is hanging his hat on the National Journal vote ratings, which found that Obama was the most liberal US senator last year as he campaigned for the Democratic nomination, after ranking 16th and 10th most liberal in his first two years in the Senate.

6 comments so far...
  1. Bailing out Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae etc. is more of an example of Socialism, not for the masses, but for the rich, elite, corporations, that the so called compassionate conservites represent

    Posted by Rocky July 18, 08 07:18 PM
  1. Oh, for the love of God, now he is a "socialist". Wow, we are painting out quite a monster here, aren't we? And the mainstream press is more than happy to play along as they "report" the "news". So much for McCain running a "respectable campaign".

    Posted by tdub July 18, 08 07:19 PM
  1. Oh, for the love of God, now he is a "socialist". Wow, we are painting out quite a monster here, aren't we? And the mainstream press is more than happy to play along as they "report" the "news". So much for McCain running a "respectable campaign".

    Posted by tdub July 18, 08 07:20 PM
  1. To call Obama the most liberal Senator is giving him too much credit. The truth is that Obama is clueless. Watch the you-tube video "Obama Documentary" and you can see that he just doesn't know what he is talking about. His voting record simply reflects that reality.

    Posted by mk July 20, 08 09:19 PM
  1. The simple fact remains that the election of either candidate in this presidential race would be a giant leap in the wrong direction. The only question we need to ask ourselves is which one will do the least damage. The answer is frustratingly unclear but, I've got to give the competence edge to McCain at this point.

    Posted by Robert August 2, 08 09:33 AM
  1. Obama can only cause a great divison between conservatives and liberal that could cause this country to divide like no other time since the Civil War

    Posted by Marty September 18, 08 02:28 PM
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About political intelligence Field reports from Boston Globe reporters and editors covering the 2008 presidential campaign and the national maneuvering of Bay State politicians.

Send your comments to masspolitics@globe.com

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