US election candidates unite to honour 9/11 victims
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama dismissed the "lipstick on a pig" controversy as a "silly season in politics" before White House candidates halted their attacking adverts to mark the seventh anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks today.
Both Mr Obama and his Republican rival John McCain will put their differences aside and come together "as Americans" at Ground Zero in New York as they remember the nearly 3,000 people who died in the worst terrorist outrage in history.
The respite from campaign attacks marks a rare moment of political tranquility in what has become an increasingly negative campaign to win voters before the presidential election on November 4.
Late last night, Mr Obama told David Letterman on 'The Late Show' that it had been "silly season in politics" and that there was "no doubt" Mr McCain's surprise running mate Sarah Palin had been a "phenomenon".
The 47-year-old Illinois senator joked about how he "used to be on the cover of Time and Newsweek" but now he had "had a recent offer with Popular Mechanics".
"Ultimately what we've seen over the last week is a concession on the part of the McCain campaign that this election is going to be about change.
"You'll recall, for the last two years, we've been talking about needing to change how Washington works, how the country is managed and people were saying: 'No, it's about experience, experience, experience', and over the last week and a half I think they recognised that, no, the American people want something fundamentally different and for a good reason," he said.
"Because when you travel, it doesn't matter whether you're here in New York City or a tiny hamlet somewhere in the Midwest, what you find is people are just having a tough time right now.
"The economy is not working for middle class families, incomes have gone down, people don't have health care, you've got foreclosures all across the country, and so people want something different, and whoever makes the better case that we have had enough of the last eight years, we need something fundamentally new - whoever makes that case to the American people - will be the next president."
His appearance on the popular late-night US TV show came after he accused the McCain campaign of using "lies and phoney outrage and Swift-boat politics" in claiming he used a sexist comment against Mrs Palin earlier in the day.
He called it "the latest made-up controversy by the John McCain campaign".
The 72-year-old Arizona senator's campaign had called Mr Obama's comments that "you can put lipstick on a pig" both "offensive and disgraceful".
Mr Obama's reference to an earlier joke by Mrs Palin came as he intensified his criticism of the Republican ticket, challenged the notion they offered change and said a McCain presidency would be like four more years of President George Bush.
Mrs Palin compared herself with a pit bull in lipstick during her high-profile acceptance speech at her party's national convention last week.
"You can put lipstick on a pig," Mr Obama said to an outbreak of laughter, shouts and raucous applause from an audience in Virginia on Tuesday.
"It's still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still going to stink after eight years."
Jane Swift, chair of the newly-formed Palin Truth Squad, said: "It's clear to me - as I'm sure it will be to fair-minded Republicans, Democrats and independents across the country - that Senator Obama owes Governor Palin an apology."
Mr Obama's campaign said he was not referring to Mrs Palin and said the Republican camp was engaging in a "pathetic attempt to play the gender card".
The spokesman also noted that Mr McCain once used the same phrase to describe Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care plan.
"I don't care what they say about me," Mr Obama said.
"But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phoney outrage and Swift-boat politics. Enough is enough."
His reference was to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an outside group that in 2004 made unsubstantiated allegations about Democratic nominee John Kerry's decorated military record in Vietnam.
Speaking in Norfolk, Virginia, Mr Obama said: "What their campaign has done this morning is the same game that has made people sick and tired of politics in this country.
"They seize on an innocent remark, try to take it out of context, throw up an outrageous ad because they know that it's catnip for the news media."
He told supporters: "This whole thing about lipstick, nobody actually believes that these folks are offended.
"Oh, we're shocked. Everybody knows it's cynical, everybody knows it's insincere."
McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said: "Barack Obama can't campaign with schoolyard insults and then try to claim outrage at the tone of the campaign.
"His talk of new politics is as empty as his campaign trail promises."
