Palin Respondes to McCain's Leadership on Obama Attacks

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times' Caucus reported today that a day after McCain defended Obama as a "decent family man" and asked his supporters to be more respectful, Palin also toned down her own attacks against Obama with respect to Ayers. All week long, she had been attacking Obama about his association with Ayers at fund-raisers and campaign rallies but today in Pennsylvania, she failed to mention the association once.

In fact, the only mention of Mr. Ayers came from a lone agitator in the otherwise temperate crowd, who shouted, “What about Ayers?” during a pause in the governor’s remarks. Ms. Palin did not
acknowledge him.

Instead, she decided to focus on his stance on abortion and told supporters there that an Obama administration would result in an activist Supreme Court.

“Let there be no misunderstanding about the stakes,” she said to a cheering crowd. “A vote for Barack Obama is a vote for activist courts that will continue to smother the open and democratic debate that we deserve and need on this issue of life.”

Regarding Obama's on statements on the type of people he would nominate to the court, the New York Times reported earlier,

SEN. OBAMA: I would not appoint somebody who doesn't believe in the right to privacy. But you're right, Wolf, I taught constitutional law for 10 years, and I -- when you look at what makes a great Supreme Court justice, it's not just the particular issue and how they rule, but it's their conception of the court. And part of the role of the court is that it is going to protect people who may be vulnerable in the political process, the outsider, the minority, those who are vulnerable, those who don't have a lot of clout.

And part of what I want to find in a Supreme Court justice -- and Joe's exactly right, sometimes we're only looking at academics or people who've been in the court. If we can find people who have life experience and they understand what it means to be on the outside, what it means to have the system not work for them, that's the kind of person I want on the Supreme Court.

I agree with her that by his own statements, it sounds like he's interested in supporting an activist court but I can't agree that this also means that he's interesting in "smothering the open and democratic debate" on any issue that arises before the court.