Obama Calls Sen. Lindsey Graham’s Attack Over Immigration Bill “Completely Overblown”

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Dem. Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Calls Sen. Lindsey Graham's Attack Over Immigration Bill "Completely Overblown"

Rep. Presidential Candidate Jim Gilmore Explains "Rudy McRomney" During Interview on ETV Radio's "The Big Picture on the Radio"

For Immediate Release
June 15, 2007

STREAM AN ARCHIVED COPY OF THE PROGRAM

Columbia, SC...During an interview on Friday with ETV news and public affair's Managing Editor and Host Andrew Gobeil, on "The Big Picture on the Radio," Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama talked about his recent spat with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC, over an immigration reform bill. Last week, the two senators' argument spilled from the Senate floor into a nearby hallway after Obama introduced an amendment to the bill that Graham said was a partisan attempt to undermine it.

Obama characterized Graham's attack as an overreaction that stemmed from the many hits Graham has taken for supporting the bill:

"Lindsey, I think, was feeling frustrated because I know he's taken a lot of heat for his positions here, and he, I think, got stressed on the floor because of an amendment that I strongly believed and still strongly believe would have improved the bill. And, you know, the notion that somehow me offering an amendment that would subset a provision that will change how we do immigration fundamentally in this country with respect to families--that that somehow is not being bi-partisan, I think, was completely overblown and designed primarily to deflect attention from some of the problems that Lindsey was having on the Republican side."

Later in the program Obama talked about his decision to visit the Upstate region for the first time, saying, "The Upstate, obviously, is an enormous growth center in South Carolina. It's got a lot of businesses that are thriving and, you know, is very important to the economy of the state overall... We're going to be not just in Spartanburg and Greenville but we're also driving down to Greenwood to visit some of the more rural parts of the Upstate and it just gives me a better perspective of the diversity of this state and some of the challenges that it's facing."

Stating that his campaign is trying to focus on smaller forums that will give him a better opportunity to interact with the crowds, Obama said this will be one of many more visits to South Carolina over remaining months before the primaries. "We're going to be campaigning very aggressively here... We anticipate working very hard to be competitive here in this state. We're going to be coming down here on a regular basis."

Gobeil's other guest on the program, which airs statewide on ETV Radio news stations Fridays from 9-10 a.m., was Republican presidential candidate Jim Gilmore, who took stabs at opponents he faces both within his own party as well as in the Democratic party.

Gilmore explained why he coined the term "Rudy McRomney" to describe his Republican opponents' liberal leanings:

"With a lot of free media and a lot of cash, the three leading front runners are trying to re-convert themselves into being conservatives, and there's just no foundation for that. And that's why I called it 'Rudy McRomney' because all those three guys at some point or the other are trying to remake themselves into being conservatives. None of them are and I think that the record is crystal clear."

As for the Democratic Party, Gilmore described it as "a classic state party."

He said, "They believe in the maximum possible taxation and the maximum possible control of society through those means. Hillary Clinton, for example, came out and said we've got to get rid of this individualistic society and, think about the 'we're-all-in-it-together' type of society. Well that's just code word for more taxation and spending on government programs."

Gilmore said he decided to run for president because "We examined the race, and examined the field and realized that there really was not a real conservative in the race, someone who is a principled conservative, who had been around the conservative ideas for a long time, someone who is consistent, kept their word on these kinds of approaches. We knew that there would be a... need for a conservative candidate and that's why we got into the race."

The Big Picture on the Radio can be heard Fridays at 9 a.m. on ETV Radio's four news formats: 88.1-WRJA Sumter, 89.1-WLJK Aiken, 89.9- WJWJ Beaufort, and 90.1-WHMC Conway. The program can also be streamed from www.myetv.org.

The Big Picture can be seen on ETV Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., with encore presentations on Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 1 p.m.

South Carolina ETV is the state's public educational broadcasting network with 11 television and eight radio transmitters, and a multi-media educational system in more than 2,500 schools, colleges, businesses and government agencies. Using television, radio and the web, SCETV's mission is to enrich lives by educating children, informing and connecting citizens, celebrating our culture and environment and instilling the joy of learning.

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For more information, contact Rob Schaller at (803) 737-6556 or rschaller@scetv.org.