WFTV's Barbara West Interviews Senator John McCain

Channel 9's Barbara West does not ask softball questions. Her interview with Senator Joe Biden has inflamed passions on the left and the right (Obama Camp Responds). Monday, Barbara took her hard questions to Senator John McCain.

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Senator McCain campaigned in Ohio on Monday, but spoke to Barbara West via satellite about his running mate, who was in Kissimmee on Sunday.

"There are reports now on in-fighting between her staff and your staff and that she's now stepping away from your campaign's talking points this close to the election. Is that indicative that she believes your ticket is not going to win, that she's positioning herself for the future?" Barbara West asked.

"That's pure bologna. We get along fine. There's always some in-fighting among staffs that goes on," he replied. "A couple of mavericks aren't always going to agree on every issue."

West also asked McCain about the strength of his own campaign.

"Now there's no question that Senator Obama has put together a well-coordinated campaign here in Florida and across the country, yet your campaign still seems to be trying to get itself organized," she said.

"Really?" McCain asked, laughing.

"The presidency is the top executive job in the land. How can you convince the American public that you are ready to lead when the thing you're in charge in, your campaign, appears to be lacking the same fine tuned coordination as Senator Obama's?" West asked.

"I don't know, frankly, what you're talking about. I'm very happy with our team and, of course, we've had ups and downs. We've been declared dead four or five times by the pundits," McCain said.

McCain's focus the past week has been all about taxes.

"You've made Joe the Plumber the centerpiece of your campaign week, yet independent analysis shows that he would do better under Obama's tax plan. How do you respond to that?" West asked.

"Joe doesn't think so," McCain said, laughing. "If Joe wants to buy the business that he's been working in for ten years, the guy that's selling it to him would see about four or five different tax increases. Joe the Plumber wants to make money and not have to give it back to government."

Barbara West also asked McCain about why he wants to give the wealthy tax cuts. He said he only wants to keep the current Bush tax cuts permanent.

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