Obama, Biden declare war on McCain campaign tactics

Well this doesn't happen every day. GOP strategist Karl Rove said yesterday even the McCain camp has gone a bit overboard. Discussing the state of the 2008 presidential campaign on Fox News, Rove doled out criticism to the McCain campaign and the Obama campaign for negative campaigning.

"There ought to be an adult who says, ‘Do we really need to go that far in this ad?' " Rove said. "Don’t we make our point and won’t we get broader acceptance and deny the opposition an opportunity to attack us if we don’t include that one little last tweak in the ad?’

Rove added that "McCain has gone, in some of his ads, similarly one step too far in sort of attributing to Obama things that are, you know, beyond the 100 percent truth test."

Jackpot

Just moments after those words came out of Rove's mouth the Obama campaign pounced, sending out an email proclaiming Rove to be their newest best friend. Well, kind of.

"In case anyone was still wondering whether John McCain is running the sleaziest, most dishonest campaign in history, today Karl Rove - the man who held the previous record - said McCain's ads have gone too far," Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said.

Another new ad

The Obama campaign is making a strategy out of criticizing recent McCain ads, releasing its own ad this morning that blasted Team McCain for the tenor of the contest. The new ad called "Honor"rips the McCain campaign with a choice selection of quotes from the media.

"What happened to John McCain?" asks the seemingly shocked announcer "He's running the sleaziest ads ever, truly vile, dishonest smears that he repeats even after it's been exposed as a lie. Truth be damned. A disgraceful, dishonorable campaign. After voting with Bush 90 percent of the time, proposing the same disastrous economic policies, it seems deception is all he has left."

Outside of that, the Obama campaign has no problems thus far with his opponent.

Enter Biden

And Joe Biden is back. You know that guy from Delaware. The other vice presidential nominee. No mention of Sarah Palin this morning. In a sneak-preview email from the Obama campaign, Senator Biden is expected to tear into McCain today, saying the Arizona senator is simply a sequel to President Bush and "as everyone knows, the sequel is always worse than the original."

"If we're ready for four more years of George Bush, John McCain is your man," Biden says in his prepared remarks. "Just as George Herbert Walker Bush was nicknamed 'Bush 41" and his son is known as "Bush 43," John McCain could easily become known as 'Bush 44.' "

McCain response

McCain spokesman Ben Porritt responded to Biden's prepared statement this morning calling the Obama-Biden ticket the "most partisan ticket in modern presidential politics."

“Barack Obama’s running mate, a long-time Washington insider, entrenched in the status quo is indicative of Obama’s false talk about change," he said.  "Barack Obama and his running mate are insistent upon raising taxes which would kill jobs and continue to refuse responsible energy legislation that would reduce gas prices.  Regardless of their rhetoric, Barack Obama and his running mate can’t distance themselves from their records which gives voters zero confidence that they can deliver change when we need it the most.”