Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.
September 11, 2008

Obama Takes More Aggressive Tone Toward McCain
----------------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=1E23B78:A6F02AD83191E1608B627FA377B6346DE55ED32ED25AB8F6&
 
Democratic presidential candidate tells Virginia crowd Senator John Mc
Cain would basically continue policies of President Bush 
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama took a more aggressive
tone Wednesday in responding to attacks from his Republican opponent,
Senator John Mc Cain. The increasingly negative tone to the campaign for
the White House comes amid polls showing Mc Cain surging since last
week's Republican convention. More now from VOA National correspondent
Jim Malone in Washington. Barack Obama in Norfolk, Virginia, 10 Sep 2008
On Tuesday, Senator Obama told a crowd in Virginia that John Mc Cain
would basically continue the policies of President Bush. Obama
questioned Mc Cain's claim to be an agent of change, adding "you can put
lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig."The Mc Cain campaign pounced on
Obama's comment as offensive and disgraceful, and said it targeted Mc
Cain's vice presidential running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Senator Obama denied that charge Wednesday in Norfolk, Virginia, and
accused the Mc Cain campaign of waging a negative campaign against him
that uses lies and underhanded tactics. "Then we go another year or
another four years or another eight years without addressing the issues
that matter to you," he said. "Enough! I don't care what they say about
me, but I love this country too much to let them take over another
election with lies and phony outrage and Swift boat politics. Enough is
enough."The Swift boat reference is connected to Democrat John Kerry's
presidential campaign in 2004, when he came under attack from fellow
Navy veterans of the Vietnam War, who claimed he exaggerated his war
record. John Mc Cain (r) and Sarah Palin in Fairfax, Virginia, 10 Sep
2008Obama's more aggressive tone in responding to the Mc Cain campaign
comes amid new polls that show the Republican ticket of Mc Cain and
Palin gaining on Obama and his vice presidential running mate, Senator
Joe Biden. Palin has proven to be a very popular pick among social
conservatives and among some women voters. The Republicans have also
fashioned an appeal to centrist voters, with Mc Cain and Palin now
casting themselves as political 
mavericks bent on changing and reforming Washington. Palin and Mc Cain
appeared together Wednesday at a rally in northern Virginia."Because my
friends, let there be no doubt, we are going to win this election, and
let me offer an advance warning to the old, big-spending, do-nothing,
me-first, country-second Washington crowd-change is coming, change is
coming, and it's coming to our nation's capital and we will clean it
up," Mc Cain said. Mc Cain's rise in the polls and the quick ascendancy
of Palin as a national figure have eroded Democratic confidence, and
have spurred Democrats to urge Obama to fight back more sharply against
Republican attacks. The Mc Cain campaign has also formed a group of
Republican women called the Palin Truth Squad, which will defend the
Alaska governor against what the Republicans believe are unfair
Democratic attacks. 


.