McCain staffer suspended for Obama, pastor video
WASHINGTON (AP) - March 20, 2008 The staffer, a low-level aide named Soren Dayton, sent out a
link Thursday to the YouTube video, titled "Is Obama Wright?" on
the social messaging Web site Twitter.
The campaign suspended him a few hours later, although it
wouldn't say for how long.
"We have been very clear on the type of campaign we intend to
run and this staffer acted in violation of our policy," campaign
spokeswoman Jill Hazelbaker said. "He has been reprimanded by
campaign leadership and suspended from the campaign."
Last month, McCain swiftly denounced the comments of a radio
talk show host who, while introducing McCain, repeatedly called
Obama by his middle name of Hussein.
The Politico, a Washington-based newspaper, reported that the
two-minute video was the work of Lee Habeeb, a former producer of
the Laura Ingraham Show, a conservative talk program. In the video,
Wright's most incendiary remarks are mixed with snippets from Obama
speeches and interviews, which are edited to make the senator seem
to be sputtering and unpatriotic.