Cindy McCain Warms Up the Crowd at McCain-Palin Anti-Obama Rally

Cindy McCain Warms Up the Crowd at McCain-Palin Anti-Obama Rally
By Perry Bacon Jr. - Washington Post

BETHLEHEM, Penn. -- The gloves were off, and that was well before Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin even walked on stage.

"The day that Senator Obama decided to cast a vote to not fund my son when he was serving sent a cold chill through my body," Cindy McCain told a crowd of several thousand here, speaking in advance of Palin and her husband."I would suggest Senator Obama change shoes with me for just one day and see what it means to have a loved one serving in the armed services."

At the first joint rally held by Palin and Sen. John McCain in several days, it was Cindy McCain and others who introduced them who delivered the sharpest attacks. The remarks of the Arizona senator's wife lasted less than five minutes, and she used them to focus on her two sons -- as well as Palin's one -- serving in the military, saying Obama should take time to "watch our young men and women deploy."

It was the most pointed attack of the campaign cycle by Mrs. McCain.

Obama voted against a war-funding bill in 2007 that didn't include a timeline for troops. McCain has advocated members of Congress voting against similar bills that do include timelines, which he opposes.

But while Cindy McCain's remarks were pointed, even before Palin and McCain arrived, a series of other speakers at the packed event at the basketball arena at Lehigh University had rallied the crowd by harshly attacking the senator from Illinois.

The chairman of the Lehigh County Republican Party, William Platt, implored the crowd to work hard to elect McCain or wake up November 5 to see "Barack Obama, Barack Hussein Obama," as the president.

He invoked the Democratic candidate's middle name again a few minutes later. (A McCain spokesman, Paul Lindsay, later e-mailed reporters to say the campaign does not "condone the inappropriate rhetoric" that took place in the rally pre-program.)

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Cindy McCain Warms Up the Crowd at McCain-Palin Anti-Obama Rally