0:46
Arkansas Senate candidate Tom Cotton also used the quote at an event last weekend to link his opponent's voting record to the president's policies.
\"He said last week that he may not be on the ballot, but his policies are on the ballot – every single one of them… more debt, higher taxes, Obamacare, a foreign policy of weakness and indecision,\" Cotton told ABC's Jeff Zeleny. \"Here in Arkansas the way you find those policies on the ballot is Mark Pryor – cause Mark Pryor's voted for him 93 percent of the time.\"
The quote has been a popular go-to line in debates too, and was used by Tillis and Georgia Republican nominee David Perdue in Senate debates this week.
David Axelrod, former senior advisor to the president, said on \"Meet the Press\" that he would not have included the line if he was still writing the president's speeches.
\"It was a mistake,\" Axelrod said.
When White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked during a briefing if he agreed with Axelrod's assessment he replied, \"Well, I guess the short answer is no.\"
Earnest sought to clarify the president's comments, saying he meant voters have a choice this election between \"candidates who are supportive of policies that will benefit the middle class, and candidates who are supportive of policies that will benefit those at the top in the hopes that the benefits will trickle down to the middle class.\"
ABC's Erin Dooley contributed to this report.
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