Opinion: John McCain aide Tucker Bounds again takes heat on TV -- on Fox, no less

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What is it about John McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds?

Is it that he exudes a fresh-scrubbed youthfulness, unlike some who have served as the public face for a particular presidential campaign (think Hillary Clinton aide Howard Wolfson)?

Whatever it is about Bounds, he’s developing a track record for transforming normally innocuous TV types into the second comings of famed, feisty interviewer Mike Wallace.

Earlier this month, Bounds found himself on the receiving end of a barrage of pointed queries from CNN’s Campbell Brown about Sarah Palin’s qualifications to serve as vice president -- a clip that quickly became must-see TV.

On Monday, in a truly surprising turn of events, Bounds came under fire from Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly. The subject was the McCain campaign’s incessant -- and false -- claim that Barack Obama proposes tax hikes on the middle-class. As Kelly noted in the exchange below, Obama’s proposed tax increase targets only upper-income Americans.

Kelly’s grilling of a McCain surrogate notwithstanding, the candidate himself continued the discredited attack on Obama today. Speaking to a large crowd in Tampa, McCain said, ‘I will not raise your taxes. Sen. Obama will raise your taxes.’

Perhaps technically McCain was correct -- if all of his listeners earn more than $250,000 a year.

-- Don Frederick