Obama: McCain Scoring 'Cheap Political Points' (ABC) (VIDEO)

[jefferson_dem]

Obama: McCain Scoring 'Cheap Political Points'
Democratic Contender Discusses Economy in Post-Debate Exclusive With Charlie Gibson
By KATIE ESCHERICH and LAUREN SHER
Oct. 8, 2008—

Sen. Barack Obama says the personal attacks levied against him by the campaign of his presidential rival, Sen. John McCain, particularly references to his association with 1960s anti-war radical Bill Ayers, are an attempt to "score cheap political points."

"Why don't we just clear it up right now," Obama told ABC News' Charlie Gibson in an exclusive interview for World News. "I'll repeat again what I've said many times. This is a guy who engaged in some despicable acts 40 years ago when I was eight years old. By the time I met him, 10 or 15 years ago, he was a college professor of education at the University of Illinois . . . And the notion that somehow he has been involved in my campaign, that he is an adviser of mine, that . . . I've 'palled around with a terrorist', all these statements are made simply to try to score cheap political points."

Obama said that the McCain campaign is making personal attacks "the centerpiece of the discussion in the closing weeks of a campaign where we are facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and we're in the middle of two wars."

"I think that makes very little sense, not just to me but to the American people," Obama said.

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http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=5985237&page=1