cnn: Sen. Barack Obama slammed President Bush on Friday for launching "exactly the kind of appalling attack that's divided our country and that alienates us from the world."
Sen. Barack Obama speaks at a town hall in Watertown, South Dakota, Friday.
He also took a shot at Sen. John McCain for "embracing" the president's "attacks on Democrats," and "suggesting that I wasn't fit to protect this nation that I love."
"So much for civility," Obama said, noting that McCain had talked about the need for civility in politics earlier Thursday.
Obama was responding to Bush's remarks in Israel on Thursday that suggested Obama and other Democrats want to appease terrorists.
In speaking at an event marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Jewish state, Bush said, "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.
"We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement."
White House aides privately indicated the criticism was aimed at Obama.
Democrats, including Obama's rival for the nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton, condemned the president.
"After almost eight years, I did not think I could be surprised about anything that George Bush says, but I was wrong," Obama said.
"The president did something that presidents don't do. That is launch a political attack targeted toward the domestic market in front of a foreign delegation," he said.
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