John McCain, sitting just a few feet from Barack Obama at the final presidential debate Wednesday, accused his rival of trying to falsely link him to President Bush, raise taxes on hard-working Americans and brush aside “hurtful” comments made by one of his key supporters.

Obama accused McCain of exclusively running negative ads, and repeatedly said he was distorting the facts about his past associations.

Barack Obama and John McCain face off at their final presidential debate Wednesday. (AP Photo)

The tone of the debate was decidedly more tense than that of their previous two encounters — it was also a key opportunity for McCain to halt Obama’s growing momentum in the polls. The Republican nominee used the intimate format to challenge Obama’s economic policies directly and attempt to refute his campaign’s central argument that he is akin to President Bush.

“Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you want to run again President Bush, you should have run four years ago,” McCain said at the debate.

Obama repeated Wednesday that McCain has followed the economic policies of the Bush administration, saying: “What the American people cannot afford … is four more years of failed economic policies.”

McCain also accused Obama of giving Democratic Georgia Rep. John Lewis a pass when he over the weekend suggested McCain was fostering an environment of intolerance similar to that stoked by segregationist George Wallace.

“That to me was so hurtful, and Senator Obama, you didn’t repudiate those remarks,” McCain said, calling segregation the “worst chapter in American history.”

Obama said it was inappropriate for Lewis to draw that comparison, but said he was not prompted by the Obama campaign and accused McCain’s running mate Sarah Palin of permitting audience members to shout things like “terrorist” and “kill him” at their rallies.

“Your running mate didn’t … stop (it), didn’t say ‘hold on a second, that’s kind of out of line.’ I think Congressman Lewis’ point was we have to be careful,” Obama said.

Obama also criticized McCain for drawing attention over the past two weeks to 1960s radical William Ayers and the low-income advocacy group ACORN, which is under investigation for voter fraud. Obama downplayed his ties to both, and said McCain’s focus on the issues “says more about your campaign than it says about me.”

In the opening moments of the debate, Obama and McCain sparred sharply over taxes, using as an example an Ohio man who’s become known on the campaign trail as “Joe the Plumber.”

Obama was videotaped in Ohio over the weekend talking to the plumber, Joe Wurzelbacher, who challenged the Democratic nominee on his tax policies and expressed concern that he’d raise taxes. Obama told him he wants to “spread the wealth around.”

“Joe was trying to realize the American dream. … We’re going to take Joe’s money, give it to Senator Obama and let him spread the wealth around,” McCain said Wednesday, mocking Obama’s statement. “I want Joe the Plumber to spread that wealth around.”

McCain added, “Nobody likes taxes. Let’s not raise anybody’s taxes.”

“Well, I don’t mind paying a little more,” Obama responded. The Democratic nominee repeated that his plan would cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans, and that those making less than $250,000 a year would not see a tax increase. He said Wurzelbacher could have used his tax break when he was growing his business.

Obama accused McCain of watching too much of his own campaign ads after he brought up Joe the Plumber.

The two candidates also discussed their latest economic rescue plans. McCain stressed that more attention needs to be paid to homeowners and directly easing the burden of cumbersome mortgages. Obama stressed the need to directly aid to the middle class.

“What we haven’t yet seen is a rescue package for the middle class because the fundamentals of the economy were weak even before this latest crisis,” Obama said.

The debate was a key opportunity for the trailing Republican nominee to turn his fortunes in the race with just 20 days to go.

The debate, at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., was being moderated by CBS’ Bob Schieffer.

Unlike in previous debates, the format had the two presidential candidates sitting next to each other at the same table, across from Schieffer.

A California county’s Republican Party Web site encouraged readers to “Waterboard Barack Obama” and compared Obama to Usama bin Laden, drawing criticism on Wednesday from Democrats and Republicans in the state.

The Web site of the Sacramento County Republican Party posted five illustrations saying that the terrorist group Hamas supported Obama and that “the only difference between Obama and Osama is BS.” Another attacked Michelle Obama, reading, “Hey Obama! Want to see bitter?”

The Sacramento County Republican Party posted anti-Obama slogans comparing the candidate to Usama bin Laden on its web site. (Sacramentorepublicans.org)

The graphics were removed from the site by Wednesday, after the state GOP urged the local group to take them down.

The state Republican Party learned of the controversial content when it received a phone call from a reporter, said party spokesman Hector Barajas.

“I called the Sacramento county chairman and I had them remove it,” Barajas said. “I also noted to them that this is a complete distraction from what we’re trying to do, and that’s elect John McCain and Sarah Palin as the next president and vice president of the United States.”

Sacramento County Republican Chairman Craig MacGlashan could not be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon, but the Sacramento Bee reported that he defended the Web site’s content.

“I’m aware of the content,” MacGlashan told the newspaper. “Some people find it offensive, others do not. I cannot comment on how people interpret things.”

By Tuesday night the graphics had been removed. “These types of innuendos have absolutely no place in this election,” Barajas said. “This isn’t a thing we want out there.”

Barajas said the slurs asserting Obama was Muslim and tying him to terrorism were like the Democratic Party’s attempts make race an issue in the election.

“I think it’s a distraction… I figured that we would have moved far beyond this, and as a person of color I’d rather have a discussion on the issues and why Barack Obama is not ready to be commander in chief,” Barajas said.

Bob Mulholland, spokesman for the California Democratic Party, said that the state party wasn’t focusing on the incident.

“The big picture, that’s where we’re focusing,” Mulholland said.

“I think the Republicans will be indicted on Nov. 4, so the jury will speak then. The verdict will be Barack Obama for president. We’ll be picking up House seats. We’ll be picking up Senate seats.”

He called the Sacramento County GOP’s move just one more flailing attempt to stop the Republicans’ slide “down that path of oblivion.”

Barack Obama riffs on his media image in an interview for the New York Times Magazine, which quotes him as suggesting FOX News has cost him a few points in the polls.

The interview with reporter Matt Bai, to be published Sunday, features the Democratic presidential candidate feeling lamenting a “media narrative” that has pigeon-holed him as a liberal stereotype.

“I am convinced that if there were no Fox News, I might be two or three points higher in the polls,” Obama says in the article. “If I were watching Fox News, I wouldn’t vote for me, right? Because the way I’m portrayed 24/7 is as a freak!”

He continues that he is being typecast as “the latte-sipping, New York Times-reading, Volvo-driving, no-gun-owning, effet, politically correct, arrogant liberal. Who wants somebody like that?”

Obama’s reference to his poll numbers comes at a time when he has opened up a commanding lead over his rival, John McCain, in national polls, as well as in several battleground states. A recent New York Times poll puts Obama ahead by 14 percentage points.

In the New York Times Magazine article, Obama tries to explain a comment he made during his primary race against Hillary Clinton, during which he was quoted as saying to an audience in San Francisco that some working class voters “cling to guns or religion” in response to economic woes.

Obama calls that comment “my biggest boneheaded move,” adding that his point was to say that “these voters have a right to be frustrated” and their concerns shouldn’t be ignored.

WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. John Murtha said Wednesday his home base of western Pennsylvania is racist and that could reduce Barack Obama’s victory margin in the state by 4 percentage points.

The 17-term Democratic congressman told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a story posted Wednesday on its Web site: “There is no question that western Pennsylvania is a racist area.”

Murtha said it has taken time for many Pennsylvania voters to come around to embracing a black presidential candidate, but that Obama should still win the state, though not in a runaway.

In a separate interview posted Wednesday on the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Web site, Murtha said Obama has a problem with voters’ racial attitudes in western Pennsylvania that could trim his winning margin on Nov. 4.

The working-class region is a key battleground in Pennsylvania. The area is struggling economically, and has a high percentage of veterans and elderly voters. Murtha’s district outside Pittsburgh encompasses Johnstown and many small towns once dominated by steel and coal.

In a statement issued later Wednesday, Murtha spokesman Matt Mazonkey told The Associated Press: “It’s naive to think that race or gender doesn’t play a role in a voter’s perception of a candidate. Mr. Murtha makes the point that while race may be an issue for some, it’s evident that voters today are concerned about the issues that truly matter — issues like the economy, health care, and energy independence.”

Murtha, who backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the state’s April primary, told the Post-Gazette that the older population has been “more hesitant” to support Obama. But in the past three months, he said groups he deals with regularly, such as veterans and senior citizens, have decided to back Obama.

Murtha said Republican John McCain has been stymied by the economy and the attacks on Obama’s character.

“I think Obama is going to win, but I don’t think it’s going to be a runaway,” Murtha said.
He told the Tribune-Review, however, that he sees no enthusiasm for either candidate in his district.

“The public is confused, they’re despondent, they’re unhappy. They want to see a change and I think the change is whatever the individual might believe it is,” he said.

The most recent Quinnipiac University poll showed Obama with a double-digit lead after surveys a few weeks ago indicated the race was close. Quinnipiac pollster Clay Richards has said growing support among working-class voters in the state were behind the change.

In February, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell — another Clinton backer — told the Post-Gazette’s editorial board that some whites in the state were likely to vote against Obama in the primary because of his race. Clinton easily won that contest.

They wanted a statement saying that I was sorry for the crimes that I had committed against North Vietnamese people and that I was grateful for the treatment that I had received from them. This was the paradox—so many guys were so mistreated to get them to say they were grateful. But this is the Communist way.

I held out for four days. Finally, I reached the lowest point of my 5½ years in North Vietnam. I was at the point of suicide, because I saw that I was reaching the end of my rope.

I said, O.K., I’ll write for them.

They took me up into one of the interrogation rooms, and for the next 12 hours we wrote and rewrote. The North Vietnamese interrogator, who was pretty stupid, wrote the final confession, and I signed it. It was in their language, and spoke about black crimes, and other generalities. It was unacceptable to them. But I felt just terrible about it. I kept saying to myself, “Oh, God, I really didn’t have any choice.” I had learned what we all learned over there: Every man has his breaking point. I had reached mine.

Then the “gooks” made a very serious mistake, because they let me go back and rest for a couple of weeks. They usually didn’t do that with guys when they had them really busted. I think it concerned them that my arm was broken, and they had messed up my leg. I had been reduced to an animal during this period of beating and torture. My arm was so painful I couldn’t get up off the floor. With the dysentery, it was a very unpleasant time.

Thank God they let me rest for a couple of weeks. Then they called me up again and wanted something else. I don’t remember what it was now—it was some kind of statement. This time I was able to resist. I was able to carry on. They couldn’t “bust” me again.

Prayer: “I Was Sustained in Times of Trial”

I was finding that prayer helped. It wasn’t a question of asking for superhuman strength or for God to strike the North Vietnamese dead. It was asking for moral and physical courage, for guidance and wisdom to do the right thing. I asked for comfort when I was in pain, and sometimes I received relief. I was sustained in many times of trial.

When the pressure was on, you seemed to go one way or the other. Either it was easier for them to break you the next time, or it was harder. In other words, if you are going to make it, you get tougher as time goes by. Part of it is just a transition from our way of life to that way of life. But you get to hate them so bad that it gives you strength.

Now I don’t hate them any more—not these particular guys. I hate and detest the leaders. Some guards would just come in and do their job. When they were told to beat you they would come in and do it. Some seemed to get a big bang out of it. A lot of them were homosexual, although never toward us. Some, who were pretty damned sadistic, seemed to get a big thrill out of the beatings.

From that time on it was one round of rough treatment followed by another. Sometimes I got it three or four times a week. Sometimes I’d be off the hook for a few weeks. A lot of it was my own doing, because they realized far better than we did at first the value of communicating with our fellow Americans. When they caught us communicating, they’d take severe reprisals. I was caught a lot of times. One reason was because I’m not too smart, and the other reason was because I lived alone. If you live with somebody else you have somebody helping you out, helping you survive.

But I was never going to stop. Communication with your fellow prisoners was of the utmost value—the difference between being able to resist and not being able to resist. You may get some argument from other prisoners on that. A lot depends on the individual. Some men are much more self-sufficient than others.

Communication primarily served to keep up morale. We would risk getting beat up just to tell a man that one of his friends had gotten a letter from home. But it was also valuable to establish a chain of command in our camps, so our senior officers could give us advice and guidance.

So this was a period of repeated, severe treatment. It lasted until around October of ‘69. They wanted me to see delegations. There were antiwar groups coming into Hanoi, a lot of foreigners—Cubans, Russians. I don’t think we had too many American “peaceniks” that early, although within the next year it got much greater. I refused to see any of them. The propaganda value to them would have been too great, with my dad as commander in the Pacific.

David Dellinger came over. Tom Hayden came over. Three groups of released prisoners, in fact, were let out in custody of the “peace groups.” The first ones released went home with one of the Berrigan brothers. The next group was a whole crew. One of them was James Johnson, one of the Fort Hood Three. The wife of the “Ramparts” magazine editor and Rennie Davis were along. Altogether, I think about eight or nine of them were in that outfit. Then a third group followed.

The North Vietnamese wanted me to meet with all of them, but I was able to avoid it. A lot of times you couldn’t face them down, so you had to try to get around them. “Face” is a big thing with these people, you know, and if you get around them so that they could save face, then it was a lot easier.

For example, they would beat the hell out of me and say I was going to see a delegation. I’d respond that, O.K. I’d see a delegation, but I would not say anything against my country and I would not say anything about my treatment and if asked, I’d tell them the truth about the conditions I was kept under. They went back and conferred on that and then would say, “You have agreed to see a delegation so we will take you.” But they never took me, you see.

One time, they wanted me to write a message to my fellow prisoners at Christmas. I wrote down:

“To my friends in the camp who I have not been allowed to see or speak to, I hope that your families are well and happy, and I hope that you will be able to write and receive letters in accordance with the Geneva Convention of 1949 which has not been allowed to you by our captors. And may God bless you.”

They took it but, of course, it was never published. In other words, sometimes it was better to write something that was laudatory to your Government or against them than say, “I won’t write at all”—because a lot of times it had to go up through channels, and sometimes you could buy time this way.

How Dick Stratton Was ” Really Wrung Out”

At this point I want to tell you the story of Capt. Dick Stratton. He was shot down in May of 1967, when the American peace groups were claiming that the United States was bombing Hanoi. We were not at that time.

Dick was shot down well outside of Hanoi, but they wanted a confession at the time an American reporter was over there. That was in the spring and summer of ‘67—remember those stories that came back, very sensational stories about the American bomb damage?

“The Rabbit” and the others worked on Dick Stratton very hard. He’s got huge rope scars on his arms where they were infected. They really wrung him out, because they were going to get a confession that he had bombed Hanoi—this was to be living proof. They also peeled his thumbnails back and burned him with cigarettes.

Dick reached the point where he couldn’t say “No.” But when they got him to the press conference, he pulled this bowing act on them—he bowed 90 degrees in this direction, he bowed 90 degrees in that direction—four quadrants. This was not too wild to the “gooks,” because they’re used to the bowing thing. But any American who sees a picture of another American bowing to the waist every turn for 90 degrees knows that there’s something wrong with the guy, that something has happened to him. That’s why Dick did what he did. After that they continued to keep pressure on him to say he wasn’t tortured. They tortured him to say that he wasn’t tortured. It gets to be a bad merry-go-round to be on.

Dick made some very strong statements at his press conference here in the States a few weeks ago. He said he wanted the North Vietnamese charged with war crimes. He’s a fine man. He and I were at “The Plantation” together for a long time, and he did a very fine job there. He’s an outstanding naval officer, a very dedicated American, and a deeply religious man.

I think a great deal of Dick Stratton. He just was very, very unfortunate in getting the worst that the “gooks” could dish out.

We had a particularly bad spring and summer in 1969 because there had been an escape at one of the other camps. Our guys carried out a well-prepared plan but were caught. They were Ed Atterberry and John Dramesi. Atterberry was beaten to death after the escape.

There’s no question about it: Dramesi saw Atterberry taken into a room and heard the beating start. Atterberry never came out. Dramesi, if he wasn’t such a tough cookie, would probably have been killed, too. He’s probably one of the toughest guys I’ve ever met —from south Philly. His old man was a pro boxer, and he was a wrestler in college.

The reprisals took place all through the other camps. They started torturing us for our escape plans. The food got worse. The room inspections became very severe. You couldn’t have anything in your room—nothing. For example, they used to give us, once in a while, a little vial of iodine because many of us had boils. Now they wouldn’t let us have it because Dramesi and Atterberry had used iodine to darken their skin before they tried to escape, so they would look like Vietnamese.

That summer, from May to about September at our camp, twice a day for six days a week, all we had was pumpkin soup and bread. That’s a pretty rough diet—first, because you get awfully damn tired of pumpkin soup, but also because it doesn’t have any real nutritional value. The only thing that could keep any weight on you was the bread, which was full of lumps of soggy flour.

On Sunday we got what we called sweet bean soup. They would take some small beans and throw them in a pot with a lot of sugar and cook it up, with no meat whatsoever. A lot of us became thin and emaciated.

I had the singular misfortune to get caught communicating four times in the month of May of 1969. They had a punishment room right across the courtyard from my cell, and I ended up spending a lot of time over there.

It was also in May, 1969, that they wanted me to write—as I remember—a letter to U. S. pilots who were flying over North Vietnam asking them not to do it. I was being forced to stand up continuously—sometimes they’d make you stand up or sit on a stool for a long period of time. I’d stood up for a couple of days, with a respite only because one of the guards—the only real human being that I ever met over there —let me lie down for a couple of hours while he was on watch the middle of one night.

One of the strategies we worked out was not to let them make you break yourself. If you get tired of standing, just sit down—make them force you up. So I sat down, and this little guard who was a particularly hateful man came in and jumped up and down on my knee. After this I had to go back on a crutch for the next year and a half.

That was a long, difficult summer. Then suddenly, in October, 1969, there were drastic changes around the camp. The torture stopped. “The Soft-Soap Fairy” came to my room one day and told me that I would get a roommate. The food improved greatly and we started getting extra rations. The guards seemed almost friendly. For example, I had a turnkey who used to just bash me around for drill. The door would open— and he’d come in and start slugging me. They stopped that kind of thing. I attribute all this directly to the propaganda effort that was directed by the Administration and the people in the United States in 1969.