Sen. John McCain declared today in Pennsylvania that, if Sen. Barack Obama is elected president, Obama will raise everyone’s taxes to redistribute the wealth.
He got the Republicans all excited. But to independents and real liberals, it sounded like blah, blah, blah.
McCain avoided talking about the issues that might appeal to the undecideds.
* He didn’t mention that, if Obama is elected president, there is a high probability that both the executive and legislative branches will be in the hands of a single party that has been weak on freedom, weak on domestic energy, weak on Social Security, and criminal on national finance.
* He didn’t mention at all how Democrats like Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Christopher Dodd for at least 17 years used Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as a $5 trillion cookie jar to dole out the irresponsibly high-risk home loans that got us into the current financial crisis. He didn’t mention his own 2006 proposal to end the secretive manipulation of Fannie and Freddie.
* He had a quick reference to the need to expand drilling for U.S. oil, but he failed to mention how Democrats like Speaker Nancy Pelosi have been blocking or severely limiting the pumping of domestic oil.
* He didn’t mention at all the need for more CO2-free nuclear power, how Democratic theology opposes it, and how Sen. Harry Reid makes it impossible by blocking nuclear waste disposal in Nevada.
* He didn’t mention wind power and how Democrats in Massachusetts and Maryland have blocked its use.
* He didn’t mention Social Security, how Democrats blocked real attempts to actually fund the Trust Fund in 2001 and 2005, how Democrats dishonestly declared Social Security was “not in crisis” when it was -- and still is -- missing more than $2 trillion of retirement savings that it’s supposed to have.
* He didn’t mention Iraqi freedom, how Democrats were willing to abandon it and let Iraq dissolve into a return to genocide and fascism, how he stood up for the surge that dramatically reduced the violence and has secured Iraq’s new democracy, a first step to peace in the Middle East.
Just noise. Instead, McCain talked about tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. I don’t know why he thinks that’s the only issue, when we’ve heard all that before, to the point it’s just background noise. Independents in particular would identify much more with a discussion of practical problems and solutions.
We might give McCain a break today, because this speech was supposed to focus primarily on specific economic proposals. But except for Iraq, he almost never mentions any of these other points on Democratic failures and abuses. And all of them have economic consequences.
Yesterday, McCain did argue in passing that Obama’s election could boost the power of Pelosi and Reid. That’s the kind of argument that makes independents think twice about voting for a Democrat. Today, he dropped that line.
Big mystery. McCain has made it clear he’s willing to take on the Republican Party when it’s wrong. Why McCain avoids attacking the disastrous Democratic Congress is beyond understanding.
Frank Warner
As a Conservative, I agree with you
Posted by: rachel | October 16, 2008 at 08:49 PM
McCain's biggest obstacle isn't Obama, it's McCain.
He's all "Fight, Fight, Fight!, yet he doesn't even pick up any of the best weapons at his disposal, to the detriment of not only himself, but to all his Republican colleagues as well.
I fear he may be joining Bob Dole soon doing male enhancement commercials.
Posted by: Gary | October 18, 2008 at 01:07 PM