Captain's Quarters Comments - Latest Comments in A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Max Lybbert — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:43:09 -0000

You'll notice in my previous comment that I linked to a list of several comments by John McCain, such as “I’m not giving tax cuts for the rich,” "I don’t believe the wealthiest 10% of Americans should get 60% of the tax breaks. I think the lowest 10% should get the breaks," “We give the millionaire a $2,000 refund. Gov. Bush gives him $50,000," “I don’t think Bill Gates needs a tax cut. I think you and your parents do,” “Mr. President, the principle that guides my judgment of a tax reconciliation bill is tax relief for those who need it the most—lower- and middle-income working families," and several others.

No, McCain is not being quoted out of context.

Back then he opposed across the board tax cuts because "across the board" includes rich people; now he claims he opposed it because of pork. I watched Sesame Street, and I can tell that one of these things is not like the other.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Christopher Balsz — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:42:19 -0000

If McCain makes "dozens of comments" explaining himself, and some of them are contradictory, how do you know which is "the truth"? And how are we the dishonest ones for quoting McCain on McCain?

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Armando — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:41:24 -0000

The senator - governer contrast is completely irrelevant. That would have been a convenient position during Bush 1. He had to raise taxes to acquiese demands for a more balanced budget. I guess that means that "conservatives" should forgive Bush 1 for raising taxes and revise history to reelect him.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Armando — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:37:39 -0000

Could you be any more incoherent?

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Armando — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:35:57 -0000

McCain made dozens of comments regarding those tax cuts. To take just one of the comments and ignore the rest is dishonest. The truth is that he voted against it because it did not reign in spending and was pork-ridden. That tax cut marked the beginning of a downward spiral by conservatives.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Armando — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:32:59 -0000

Thank you so much for this posting. Everyday Rush, Ingraham, and Coulter are discredited more and more when it comes to McCain. I am glad to see that their diatribes are not gaining traction with the Republican electorate.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Christopher Balsz — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:08:24 -0000

So, The Rest Of The Story is, McCain voted FOR the tax cuts before he voted against it? Wonderful.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

The Yell — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:06:45 -0000

"McCain is more conservative in fiscal policies than almost any other Republican senator. McCain is more conservative in conservation matters than almost any other Republican senator. McCain is more conservative in supporting defense activities than almost any other Republican senator. "

Agreed, which is why the Republican Senate caucus will be remembered for throttling the party of Reagan.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Max Lybbert — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:41:31 -0000

That's funny because I feel like nominating McCain is a lot like nominating Dole. I get the feeling that people are voting for him just because he's wanted the job for so long that they feel he has a right to it.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Squid_Shark — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:58:26 -0000

That McCain was also boring and uninteresting, Like Bob Dole before the viagra.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Squid_Shark — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:46:15 -0000

He is for closing the border.

He is for strong interrogation, just not torture.

Have fun with your Liberal actviist majority on the supreme court for the next 40 years.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Stew — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:16:37 -0000

"Yet a look at Mr. McCain's record in Congress over the past 25 years demonstrates a tax-cutting pedigree at least as strong as, if not stronger than, Mitt Romney's or Mike Huckabee's (they both raised taxes as governors).

One request when comparing a member of the Unites States Senate and a governor. Can we observe that governors are chief executive officers and are required to both create and manage a balanced budget edited by legislatures? That is not a requirement weighing down Senators, especially at the Federal level.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

jpm100 — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 05:56:27 -0000

Now if we could only open a portal in time and pull the mid 1990's McCain through it and replace current day McCain, we'd be fine.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Mark J. Goluskin — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 01:07:52 -0000

The fact is that Sen. "F--- You" McCain has a lot of supporters from the Wall Street Journal. Almost all supported the so-called "comprehensive immigration reform" bill-scam. Hence, they will prop up his fiscal conservatism. Even leaving out key talking points such as how the tax cuts favored the "rich". They will not let class warfare get in the way of the thought that a President McCain will eventually pursue "comprehensive immigration reform" the way that was defeated by We The People. It is one thing to be a fiscal conservative, but Sen. "F--- You" McCain should also remember that this is a sovereign nation, the United States of America.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Steffan — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:46:31 -0000

I still am bothered by his support for the BCRA, but it's entirely possible that he would undertake the seriously overdue revamping that Social Security and Medicare require.

Seriously, take a look at the current budget and run down the list until you see the line item for Supplemental Security Income. http://www.whitehouse.gov/o... has the info. In 2007, SSI cost the taxpayers $36 billion dollars. It's supposed to be over $41 billion this year and $43 billion next year.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Phil Weingart — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:31:47 -0000

I think I believe the story about McCain refusing to vote for a porked-up tax cut bill. However, the rest of the article is pretty meaningless. There have been two McCains: the one befor 1997, who had an average ACU rating of 88.4, and the one after 1997, who has an average ACU rating of 74.9. All of Stach's examples are from the earlier McCain, and yes, that McCain was reliably conservative.

I analyzed the McCain ACU ratings on my blog, and then a site called Snarky Bastards did me one better. Check it out.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:18:11 -0000

McCain is more conservative in fiscal policies than almost any other Republican senator. McCain is more conservative in conservation matters than almost any other Republican senator. McCain is more conservative in supporting defense activities than almost any other Republican senator. McCain is a Republican. He is not a nut case. He was the most conservative candidate in the race from day one. The kook from Texas is not a conservative but a libertarian.

McCain is much more like Reagan than any Republican candidate since Reagan left the White House. The rest is all hot air and talking trash by people who need to sell soup, soap and sodas.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

wharrison51 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:06:26 -0000

The article is very detailed except for two key points: first, Mr. Stach mentions McCain's defense that he wanted spending cuts to go along with the 2001 tax cuts, but fails to mention McCain's remarks about the tax cuts "favored the wealthy" at the expense of the middle class. Second, Mr. Stach fails to mention McCain's vote against the 2003 tax cuts at all.

For someone who is purporting to write a fair description of John McCain's record of fiscal conservatism, these are fairly big omissions.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

wharrison51 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:06:12 -0000

The article is very detailed except for two key points: first, Mr. Stach mentions McCain's defense that he wanted spending cuts to go along with the 2001 tax cuts, but fails to mention McCain's remarks about how the tax cuts "favored the wealthy" at the expense of the middle class. Second, Mr. Stach fails to mention McCain's vote against the 2003 tax cuts at all.

For someone who is purporting to write a fair description of John McCain's record of fiscal conservatism, these are fairly big omissions.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Max Lybbert — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:48:15 -0000

McCain may have been right about voting against the tax cut bill when it was porked up. But why did he go out of his way to say the bill was wrong-headed as a tax cut to the rich ( http://www.humanevents.com/... ) instead of complaining about the pork? This sounds like revisionist history.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Mike — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:33:43 -0000

Now if McNutt wasn't for Shamnesty, against closing the border, Glob Al warming, for drillin in Anwar and elseware, McNutt-Feingold, Against strong interrogation of Terrorists, On and On and On!

it'll be "A Cold Day in Hell" before I vote for McNutt

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Monkei — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:28:09 -0000

For fiscal conservatives, this track record looks better than one might expect. In fact, it looks considerably more Reaganesque

Yep, exactly, this guy is as close to Reagan in stature and in his body of governmental work as you can get, I don't know where the talking head blowhards and far right wing wackos are getting their information from.

Then there is that great record he has on earmarks ...

Any conservative who does not support McCain should not even call themselves such.

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

AngryDumbo — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:10:42 -0000

You mean us "agents of intolerance"?

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

Stephen_Macklin — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:50:01 -0000

...all the commenters HERE...

Re: A Second Look At McCain's Fiscal Conservatism

jharp — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:48:06 -0000

Imagine that. It turns out wasn't McCain's fault at all.

It was the other republicans.

Don't worry guys. I have no doubt the knuckledraggers will buy it.