Palin trots out 'Tito the builder' at Virginia rally
LEESBURG, Virginia (CNN) - Sarah Palin brought along one of her favorite working-class heroes to a campaign rally in northern Virginia on Monday: Tito Munoz, or as he’s better known to Palin and her audiences, “Tito the builder.”
Munoz, wearing a yellow hard hat with a McCain-Palin bumper sticker, introduced Palin at the outdoor rally in Loudoun County, a populous Washington exurb that broke for George W. Bush in 2004 but has gone Democratic in three consecutive statewide elections.
“Everything we stand for is in danger by higher taxes and less freedom,” Munoz said of Obama, earning chants of “Tito! Tito!” from the audience.
The McCain campaign took a shine to Munoz, who owns a construction business, two weekends ago in Woodbridge, Virginia when he was seen accusing a group of reporters of attacking Joe the Plumber for questioning Barack Obama’s tax plan. Palin has since cited Munoz in speech after speech as an example of a hard-worker who would have his dreams crushed by Obama’s plan to raise taxes on high income-earners.
When Palin took the stage, she cracked to Munoz that “not since the Jackson Five has the name Tito been used so often.”
The governor proceeded to deliver a mostly routine stump speech, lacking any of the improvisational riffs like the one she put forth in Tampa on Sunday, when she ad-libbed a four-minute diatribe on the “ridiculous” questions about her RNC-purchased wardrobe.
Instead, Palin stuck to the campaign script and accused Barack Obama of shifting his rhetoric on taxes.
“John and I have a very basic, fundamental disagreement with our opponents on this issue. Sen. Obama has an ideological commitment to higher taxes,” she said. “And though it seems that he adjusts his tax plan pronouncements almost daily now, kind of flip-flopping on what the details are. His commitment to higher taxes never changes, though.”
With Virginia teetering on the brink of falling into Democratic hands for the first time in 44 years, Palin is blitzing every corner of the commonwealth on Monday with four campaign stops and a series of local media interviews. A Washington Post poll released Monday showed Obama leading John McCain by eight points in Virginia, with one half of registered voters holding "strongly" or "somewhat" negative views of the GOP vice presidential candidate.
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He does not flip flop on his tax policies. You can find them on his website and they have remained the same throughout the general election. So, I guess straight up lying is all that McCain/Palin have left.
Oh boy. This is really getting ridiculous. The McCain camp has boiled down the collective psyche of America's people to three-word, cartoonish titles. Is Tito the Builder Bob the Builder's cousin? lol.
Diva has spoken
And I have a fundamental disagree with you Gov. Palin. You are not qualified to lead this country even sitting behind Sen. McCain.
But I also would like to thank you for helping to make my presidential choice even that much easier.
Obama / Biden 08" (and 2012 is yet to be deteremined)
why not bob the builder and scoop and the rest of the gang
Hey CNN, where's the story about Obama wanting to 'spread the wealth'? Waiting for the Obama campaign's talking points before you publish an article. Pretty sad. Stop the bias.
PUMA
This is so pathetic no one cares about Tito or Joe.
Not another name to be used over and over and over again!! I really can't believe she could be annoyed with Katie's interview..the questions weren't that hard. But I do believe that after two months of hearing terrorist, Muslim, Socialist, oh and let's not forget Joe... that the people of the world are annoyed! Sarah has done more to inspire hatred and aggression in two months than most can do in a lifetime. She has divided the country and made the USA a laughing stock of the world.
That being said- mud slinging did not work for her, so now we need the "real" Sarah to come in... special needs Mom, Mom of a soldiier, Piper asking people to vote for Mom- not much about Bristol though. We the people are annoyed Sarah...please take a long walk on the Bridge to Nowhere and when you get to the end ask Joe the Maverick to hold a mirror so you can apply your lipstick and wave to your Russian fans....wink wink. Yes Sarah you will have to apply your own makeup and live with the person you see... now i understand why you must be annoyed...
Why doesn't this FOOL trot out a real VP candidate? Who's next: Millie the Maid?
GOP is nothing but tax breaks for the rich and for BIG OIL. Note that Congressional GOP blocked any "windfall taxes" for BIG OIL.
Palin is a liar and an insult to America.
GO HOME and take Tito with you!
Hahaha...You guys really need –
Mike the ECONOMIST
Mary the HEALTHCARE specialist
Marvin the DIPLOMAT
Susan the CONSTITUTION Scholar
Dave the ACCOUNTANT
Paula the LAWYER
I think the construction guy and the plumber will not be much help unless the WH needs repairs.
Why does it seem that all of the people that McCain and Palin trot out are men. Don't they acknowledge that women also own businesses?
I am very sick of her repeated lies, of Obama's tax plans and "adjusting his plan daily" and "flip-flopping". She is just throwing dirty waters around to hopefully it will stick somewhere. Where did she get her journalism degree from? Because she just makes claims without any facts to back them up.
please, this woman is an idiot and an example of how far the Republican party has gone in it's attempt to divide this country.
get her and her ilk out and by a large enough margin that they will never come back.
Almost have enough for YMCA Y-M-C-A
My god. Is she running for vice-president or to be the lead singer for the Village People?
I think the McCain Palin campaign should write a children's book with all their characters! "How Joe and Tito lost the race"
The McCain/Palin ticket is a danger!What does she know about the Jackson Five? Maybe she was referring to the "Keating Five"
Only 8 more days of this crap! Can't wait to send her back to where she belongs to get impeached!
It's over Palin. You can go home now.
This ticket has always had low expectations but they have managed to successfully underperform anyway.
She is just plain scary.
Oh. My. God.
Get this woman off the stage.
Why has CNN, ABC NPR and MSNBC not brought up Obama's 2001 NPR interview, in which he affirms his belief in redistributing the wealth? This is the bigger story. It is hitting the airwaves and is all over YouTube.
While I believe that politicians should be more attuned to their constituents' needs, it cracks me up that the McCain campaign holds these people up as "experts". I heard an interview with Palin wherein she was asked if she thought Obama was a socialist...her response was that SHE didn't think so but (paraphrasing) that's what Joe the Plumber thought. Meaning no disrespect to tradespeople but...I don't know too many of them who think along those lines OR who know enough about the nuances between socialism, democratic socialism, capitalism or communism to make these pronouncements.
Of course, neither does Sarah Palin.
Sarah The Jilted Beauty Queen needs to go back to Alaska. Her 15 minutes are about up!
I love how one of Tito's comments was about less freedom when the Republicans wont allow gay people to get married and want to stop abortion