Obama doesn't just brush them aside - he explains why their views are nonsense

Obama brushes aside GOP criticism of his tax plans

RICHMOND, Va. – Democrat Barack Obama on Wednesday brushed aside Republican charges that his tax plan amounts to socialism, but he acknowledged it involves "spreading around opportunity" so that wealthier Americans — like himself — pay a little more to help lower-rung workers.

The core of Obama's plan would reverse tax cuts for Americans at the high end of the income scale that were passed during the Bush era. He noted that when those Bush-backed cuts were first proposed, his opponent for the White House, Republican John McCain, opposed them as irresponsibly targeted.

"Was John McCain a socialist back in 2000?" Obama asked at a news conference. Responding to the late-campaign line of attack repeated daily by McCain and running mate Sarah Palin, he said, "I think it's an indication that they have run out of ideas."

Obama made his remarks at a news conference after a meeting with foreign policy and military luminaries to discuss "urgent issues" facing the country from abroad, an attempt to inoculate himself against the fresh charge from the McCain side that he is too untested for the White House.

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