News Compass

Obama Tells Press to "Back Off"on Palin

Read here

Obama Tells Press to "Back Off"on Palin

By

Shailagh Murrayen.

Barack Obama told reporters to "back off" Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her family, following the GOP vice presidential candidate's disclosure that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.

"I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits," Obama declared after attending a Labor Day picnic here.

"People's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories."

He continued, "You know, my mother had me when she was 18. How family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn't be the topic of our politics. I hope that anybody who's supported me understands that's off limits."

The Democratic nominee grew heated when a reporter asked him about an unattributed quote from a John McCain aide that linked his campaign to Palin pregnancy rumors that have swirled on gossip and liberal blogs in recent days.

The McCain campaign offered no evidence for the charge, and to the contrary, as the chatter percolated over the weekend, most Obama aides seemed reluctant to even acknowledge it, much less fan the flames. The Illinois senator has been on the receiving end of numerous baseless allegations and whisper campaigns, including that he is a Muslim and is hostile to Israel.

"I am offended by that statement," Obama shot back, in response to the McCain aide's charge.

"There is no evidence at all that any of this involved us. I'm hope I'm as clear as I can be. In case I'm not, let me repeat: We don't go after people's families. We don't get them involved in politics. It's not appropriate and it's not relevant. Our people were not involved in any way in this and they will not be. If I ever thought that it was somebody in my campaign who's involved in something like that, they'd be fired."

Go to Latest Posting

Comments 0