Palin Questions Biden's Record as 'Agent of Change'


By Tom Brune, Newsday
September 7, 2008

COLORADO SPRINGS -- Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin yesterday challenged the reform credentials of her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden, contrasting his many years and many friends in Washington with her reputation as a reformist outsider.

Yet as the McCain campaign attempted on its post-convention swing West to wrest the issue of "change" away from the Democrats, Barack Obama for the first time yesterday took a shot at Palin, scoffing at her boast that she's an anti-earmark "champion."

Obama's former Democratic primary rival Hillary Rodham Clinton once again brushed aside questions about Palin yesterday as she marched with labor and stumped for Democrats in Manhattan and Staten Island. "This election is about issues," she said.

With polls showing a close race with two months to go to the election, the McCain and Obama campaigns have focused on asserting that they, not their rivals, will bring the change needed to a Washington many Americans deplore as unresponsive.

As another friendly crowd gathered at the local airport here, many to see the new GOP star, Palin went on the attack.

Speaking in a hangar as thousands stood waving American flags, Palin noted that many say the choice of a vice president says a lot about a presidential candidate. Obama, she said, had chosen a "fine man." But she also cast the senator from Delaware, who was first elected in 1972, as a creature of Washington.

"Senator Biden can claim many chairmanships across many, many years in Washington. He certainly has many friends in Washington's establishment," Palin said.

"But most of his admirers," she said, "would not call him an agent of change." In contrast, she said, "Senator McCain has called us a ticket of mavericks." . . .



McCain has vowed to wipe out earmarks, funds for local projects lawmakers add to spending bills. Palin as a mayor and governor in Alaska successfully sought millions before coming out against earmarks.

Palin took note of Obama's shot later yesterday at a rally in Albuquerque, saying she was surprised he had brought it up since he is responsible for "nearly $1 billion in earmarks in just three years . . . that's about a million dollars a day." She paused. "Just wait until President John McCain puts a stop to that." . . .

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