Biden, Obama Respond: McCain Part Of "Old, Do-Nothing Washington Crowd"

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Responding to Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) nomination speech, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) questioned his rival's pledge to reform Washington, releasing detailed reports that "fact-checked" proposals from both candidates on several issues, and pointing out that McCain has been part of the Washington he wants to change.

McCain was largely applauded by pundits when he said in his Thursday night address, "I fight to restore the pride and principles of our party. We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us. We lost the trust of the American people when some Republicans gave in to the temptations of corruption." But apart from this and a "remarkable" retelling of his experience as a POW, many observers thought his speech was disorganized and lacked specifics on policy.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in an emailed statement the Arizona senator "admonished the 'old, do-nothing crowd' in Washington, but ignored the fact that he's been part of that crowd for twenty-six years."

"He talked about bipartisanship, but didn't mention that he's been a Bush partisan 90% of the time, that he's run a Karl Rove campaign, and that he wants to continue this President's disastrous economic and foreign policies for another four years," Burton added, before citing Obama's proposal to "cut taxes for 95% of all working families, provide affordable health care to every American... and eliminate the oil we import from the Middle East in ten years."

Spokesman Hari Sevugan released several reports, each devoted to fact-checking issues mentioned by McCain. The one on taxes cited a New York Times article published last month that said, "For the bottom 80 percent of the population -- those households making $118,000 or less -- McCain's various tax cuts would mean a net savings of about $200 a year on average. Obama's proposals would bring $900 a year in savings."

Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) sent a fundraising email to supporters that also cited McCain's voting with the President "90% of the time." The six-term senator decried the negative attacks during the four days of the GOP convention in Minnesota and said Republicans made "no mention of real proposals to fix our economy." "No matter what McCain says, we can't bring about change by relying on the same ideas that have failed us," Biden concluded.