John McCain came under fire from Paris Hilton‘s mother yesterday, who blasted the Republican presidential candidate for wasting campaign money by running ads comparing Barack Obama‘s celebrity status to that of her daughter.
A furious Kathy Hilton – who, with her husband, Rick, has donated $4,600 to McCain’s campaign – said the ad that first aired Thursday “is a complete waste of the money John McCain‘s contributors donated to his campaign.”
Kathy Hilton, in a brief entry on the liberal Huffington Post Web site, said she’s been asked “again and again” for her response to the ad, which flashes still photos of daughter Paris, Britney Spears and Obama during his tour of Europe and the Mideast.
“He’s the biggest celebrity in the world, but is he ready to lead?” a voiceover in the ad asks in a bid to dismiss the Democrat’s popularity as mere celebrity.
The ad cost the McCain campaign about $200,000 to produce and air briefly in 11 battleground states last week. But it has had more far-reaching effect from the ad’s continued presence on Web sites.
“It is a complete waste of the country’s time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs,” Kathy Hilton said. “And it is a completely frivolous way to choose the next president of the United States.”
McCain last week denied that his campaign had gone negative. “We think it’s got a lot of humor in it, we’re having fun and enjoying it,” he said of the ad.
The war of words between the campaigns over the issue of race continued yesterday when McCain adviser Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) accused Obama of trying to inject race into the election.
“To say that Barack Obama did not intentionally inject the idea of his name and his race is a lie,” Graham said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
“There is no doubt in my mind that Sen. Obama is trying to suggest that he is the victim of something,” Graham said.
With Post Wire Services