Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden has backed away from a recent remark that called a political ad from his running mate Barack Obama’s campaign “terrible.”
The ad, launched this month, included unflattering footage of Republican presidential nominee John McCain at a hearing in the early 1980s, wearing giant glasses and an out-of-style suit, interspersed with shots of a disco ball, a clunky phone, an outdated computer and a Rubik's Cube.
"He admits he still doesn't know how to use a computer, can't send an e-mail, still doesn't understand the economy, and favors $200 billion in new tax cuts for corporations, but almost nothing for the middle class," the ad said.
In an interview with CBS News on Monday, Biden said he disapproved of the ad, declaring: “I thought it was terrible.” He also said: “If I had anything to do with it, we’d have never done it.”
The McCain campaign immediately attacked Obama, invoking Biden's words, The Washington Post reported.
"Barack Obama has brought the sleazy gutter politics of Chicago to our national stage, exposing his call for a 'new politics' as a lie and embarrassing even his own running mate with the low road campaign he's running," said campaign spokesman Brian Rogers.
But in a statement the Obama campaign issued later, Biden says he had never seen the ad and only read press reports about it.
He also said: "Having now reviewed the ad, it is even more clear to me that given the disgraceful tenor of Senator McCain's ads and their persistent falsehoods, his campaign is in no position to criticize.”
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