McCain Goes Negative

By Kevin Robinson in News on Jul 28, 2008 2:45PM

In an ad that started running over the weekend, the McCain campaign is slamming Barack Obama for canceling a visit to a VA Hospital in Germany during his recent European visit. Obama passed on the visit after deciding that mixing his campaign with members of the military might not be such a good idea. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said:

...the senator wanted to visit the men and women at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center to express his gratitude for their service and sacrifice. The senator decided out of respect for these servicemen and women that it would be inappropriate to make a stop to visit troops at a U.S. military facility as part of a trip funded by the campaign.

The McCain camp, however, doesn't see it that way.



McCain is already taking heat for the ad - including from some Republicans. Nebraska Republican Chuck Hagel told Bob Schiffer on CBS's Face the Nation:

The next president will have to bring the country together and lead the world, and that's going to take a bipartisan consensus. They are better off to focus on policy differences. I think John is treading on some very thin ground here when he impugns motives, when we start to get into, "You're less patriotic than me' and 'I'm more patriotic." I admire and respect John McCain; we talk often. John's better than that… It's just not responsible to be saying things like that.