I could not resist writing a little political parody for today’s post. So here you go. – Jerry Kolber
McCain Accuses Obama of Being “A Robot”
CNN – October 31, 2008 – Ohio: Sen. John McCain stepped up his rhetoric against his Democratic rival in Ohio today, saying that in addition to being a socialist, his campaign had definitive proof that Barack Obama was “a robot”.
The remarks echoed a theme McCain has used since the final presidential debate, but his most recent comments were the first time he used the word to describe Sen. Barack Obama.

In his remarks to the crowd, McCain initially stopped short of calling Obama a robot, using the term “advanced humanoid electronic device.” But during a question-and-answer session, he agreed that what he was suggesting is that “Barack Obama is a very cleverly designed robot,” he said, then added “Probably from Japan.”
“You see, [Obama] believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that help us all make more of it. He wants to help poor people by taxing rich people. Only a robot could think that’s a good idea,” McCain said Friday to tremendous applause. The McCain campaign said police estimated the crowd to be in excess of 300 people, making this one of the largest McCain rallies in recent weeks.
In an interview with ABC last week, Joe “The Plumber” Wurzelbacher said Obama’s proposal to raise taxes by 3 percent on those making $250,000 and over is a “very socialist view.”
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has used the word “socialist” in speeches over the past week as well. But today marked the first instance that the campaign has called Obama a robot.
McCain also said in his remarks, “At least in Europe, the socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are up front about their objectives. They use real numbers and honest language. And we should demand equal candor from Sen. Obama. It’s time for my opponent to own up to the source of his programming.”
On the campaign trail later in the afternoon, he added that Americans have seen “sharing the wealth” in other countries before. But he quoted Obama as saying he “grew up around factories, people who knew how to work with metal, and also people who were good with computers.” McCain went on to say “Let’s put two and two together my friends. You don’t need a calculator to know that people who work with metal and are good with computers make robots.”
In his speech, McCain also said, “This explains some big problems with my opponent’s claim that he will cut income taxes for 95 percent of Americans. You might ask, how do you cut income taxes for 90 percent of Americans when more than 40 percent pay no income taxes right now?”
“How do you reduce the number zero? That’s the key to Barack Obama’s whole plan: Since you can’t reduce taxes on those who pay zero, you bring in the robots. And the Treasury will have to cover the costs of all those robots by taxing other people.””
Asked why McCain used the word “robot” for the first time today, a spokesman said, “That’s what he is. ‘Spreading the wealth’ around can only be condoned by robots.”
In a July interview with the Kansas City Star, McCain said Obama had the “most extreme” record in the Senate. He said in a comment he has since repeated on the trail, “his voting record … is more to the left than the announced socialist in the United States Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont. No human would be foolish enough to, what does he call it, vote his conscience like that. The man is obviously a robot.”
Pressed on whether he really considered Obama a robot, McCain shrugged and said, “I don’t know.”
Obama hit back against the McCain campaign’s accusations immediately Friday and said the Republican nominee was ignoring the needs of America’s middle class.
“John McCain is so out of touch with the struggles you are facing that he must be the first politician in history to call someone proposing a tax cut for working people a robot’ ” Obama told a massive crowd under the famous St. Louis arch. “The only robot in this campaign is John McCain’s robo-calls trying to scare the you-know-what out of good people all over this great nation. But you know what folks? If I was a robot, god bless America for being the only country in the world where a robot can grow up and run for president.”
“George Bush and John McCain are out of ideas, they are out of touch, and if you stand with me, in 5 days they’ll be out of time,” Obama added to wild applause.
The Obama campaign said police in St. Louis estimated the crowd size at 100,000 people.
In remarks this week, Palin referred to Obama’s encounter with “Joe the Plumber” in Ohio on Sunday.
At a rally Friday in West Chester, Ohio, where one banner in the crowd read, “Obama is a Socialist/Marxist ROBOT,” Palin said, “Joe suggested that that sounded a little bit like socialism. Whatever you call it, I call bringing in robots bad medicine for an ailing economy, and it’s what Barack Obama will do, and we’re willing to call Barack Obama a robot if that’s what he is.”
Palin invoked Wurzelbacher again Friday, needling Obama for having a “staged photo-op” interrupted by a voter asking him a question about taxes.
“So when he left Joe’s neighborhood in Toledo, our opponent didn’t look real happy,” Palin, speaking in Pennsylvania, said of Obama. “Seems that the staged photo-op there got ruined by a real person’s question – probably threw off his programming or whatcha-ma-callit.”