In the last few weeks, we have seen many examples of Republicans turning the tables on their opponents, switching defense into attack. Take, for examples, the response to the controversy over McCain’s houses, or the reply to the Palin-is-inexperienced charge. Today, however, it looks like Joe Biden played a very cunning reverse on the McCain campaign.

It started this morning at a rally when he said,

“I hear all this talk about how the Republicans are going to work in dealing with parents who have both the joy… and the difficulty of raising a child who has a developmental disability, who were born with a birth defect,” he said. “Well, guess what folks? If you care about it, why don’t you support stem cell research?”

Though he omitted to mention her name, these remarks were intended to be understood as a dig at Palin–mother of a Down Syndrome child, as we all know–who has vowed to be a “friend and advocate in the White House” to parents of children with disabilities.

The McCain campaign took the bait,

Barack Obama’s running mate sunk to a new low today launching an offensive debate over who cares more about special needs children,” McCain-Palin spokesman Ben Porritt said. “Playing politics with this issue is disturbing and indicative of a desperate campaign.

Point to McCain-Palin, it seems. But the row has already led to questions about where the candidates stand on this issue. Surely most reporters will not fail to mention that McCain approves of stem-cell research whereas Palin does not? The “re-energized” evangelical and Catholic elements of the GOP base may be forced to remember that McCain is not the moral conservative that they want him to be. He may have picked a solid pro-lifer as his running mate, but his support for destructive research on human embryos belies his talk of human life beginning at “the moment of conception”.

Perhaps I am giving Biden too much credit: but certainly Team McCain-Palin does not want the media dwelling on this issue.