McCain and Palin Play Good Cop, Bad Cop

John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) are settling into the roles they played at the GOP convention.

In a campaign event in Cedarburg, Wis., McCain was the good cop, talking about government reform and his economic proposals, while Palin played the bad cop, going after Democrat Barack Obama.

Palin was especially tough on Obama’s judgment on the war in Iraq.

“Good judgment in the commander in chief can make the difference between victory and defeat, between avoiding a crisis and inviting a catastrophe,” she said. “And the best case point is the surge in Iraq, which Barack Obama opposed because he said it was doomed to fail. But just last night — just last night, Sen. Obama finally broke and brought himself to admit what all the rest of us have known for quite some time, and that’s thanks to the skill and valor of our troops, the surge in Iraq has succeeded.”

Palin was referring to Obama’s remark in a Fox News interview Thursday that the surge had succeded “beyond our wildest dreams.”

“I guess when you turn out to be profoundly wrong on a vital national security issue, maybe it’s comforting to pretend that everyone else was wrong too,” Palin added.

Palin also derided Obama’s work as a community organizer in pushing back against Democratic attacks on her own experience as a small-town mayor.

“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, only you have actual responsibilities,” she said, repeating a line she used in her convention speech.

McCain, meanwhile, mentioned Obama only once, to note his opposition to domestic offshore oil drilling. Instead of attacking Obama, McCain spent most of his time talking about government waste.

“I’ve fought corruption, and it didn’t matter — it didn’t matter if they were Democrats or Republicans,” McCain said. “I fought the big spenders, I fought the pork barrelers.”