In defense of Obama, Rendell hits McCain’s ‘consistent pattern of lies’

By Alex Roarty, PolitickerPA.com Reporter

HARRISBURG - How many times and can you call someone a liar during a 20-minute press conference?

Gov. Ed Rendell tried to find out Wednesday when he launched a blunt attack on what he called John McCain's "consistent pattern of lies" at press conference at an Obama campaign office. The governor repeated his accusation seemingly every other breath, referring to the GOP presidential nominee's campaign tactics as "as sin," "the kitchen sink strategy," "bull," and "a pattern of lies and deceit."

At one point the governor, referring to McCain's insistence he is different than President Bush, even said, "You can tell me your cute little lies all you want" but you can't escape your voting record.

The press conference, held in response to McCain and running mate Sarah Palin's visit to Bethlehem, is part of Rendell's responsibility as leader of the "Pennsylvania Truth Squad," he said.

McCain and his campaign, Rendell said, lie about nearly all of Obama's policy proposals, including his tax and health care plans, and distort their own proposals. Although hardly surprising coming from a Democratic governor and former Democratic National Committee chairman, Rendell said McCain's proposals are geared to help the rich while Obama's are aimed at middle-class America.

He also took a shot at Palin.

"Change involves more than winking," he said.

Rendell's remarks drew a strong rebuke from Republican former Gov. Tom Ridge, who scorned his successor in an interview with PolitickerPA.com.

"I'm disappointed my friend used those words," Ridge said.

"Maybe they're panicked, maybe they're under stress," he said, saying that calling opponents liars is typical of a desperate campaign.

Alex Roarty is a PolitickerPA.com Reporter and can be reached via email at alex.roarty@politickerpa.com.

Related topics: John McCain, Barack Obama, Ed Rendell, Tom Ridge

If you liked this article, subscribe to The Wake-Up Call. It's FREE!

Email this Article

Comments

GOP LIES

posted by therese

Good I'm glad somebody is finally hitting back at McCain. He is a liar and I wish instead of people just buying the evil spew from mccain and palin ,they would go and search out the truths. plenty of sites like FACTCHECK are NON partisan.

10/09/08 8:55 am

Who's Lying?

posted by Todd

The perception that factcheck.org is unbiased is pure BS. Everybody has an opinion in politics and it's human nature to insert that into everything. For the record, factcheck.org is part of the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania and is funded by the Annenberg Foundation that employed Barrack Obama in Chicago. Keep on spreading the liberal lies.

10/09/08 11:07 am

Spin

posted by Debbie L

Todd's right. Both sides have sites like that to make the other candidate look bad. They profess to be non partisan and knock both sides but their is a definite bias. Kind of like Fox News. They say they're fair and balanced. While they do present both sides, Fox most certainly leans to the right.

10/09/08 11:15 am

No

posted by Joel

Obama is lying. McCain does include a tax breaks for businesses but there's a big difference between business taxes and personal tax. The rich aren't For individuals, he actually raises it. Politicians on both sides offer incentives to business to set up shop not just in this country but in a certain state. Rendell does the same thing and there's nothing wrong with that. It creates jobs.

If you tax businesses they aren't going to absorb it. They are going to pass it on to the consumer. For example, cigarettes have been taxed for years. Did that affect the tobacco companies? No. People just pay more for them. Obama says he offering a tax cut for the middle class. That's great but what do I care if I don't have a job? That's what more important.

10/09/08 11:25 am