Why John McCain should not be President (Part 2)
Since Part 1 of this series, a lot has happened with the McCain campaign. Questions have been raised regarding McCain’s economic policy advisor, as well as bold claims from McCain regarding earmarks attached to spending bills.
As Michael Dobbs of the Washinton Post points out, McCain’s talk about earmarks is fantasy. For example:
Here’s $100 billion right here for you, George. Two years in a row, the last two years, the president of the United States has signed into law two big spending, pork barrel-laden bills with $35 billion (in earmarks). In the years before that, $65 billion. You do away with those, there’s $100 billion right before you look at any agency.
This is yet another example of what I call “band-aid” politics. McCain glazes over the problem but doesn’t directly address it. The problem is that McCain is stretching the facts beyond imagination, isn’t basing it on fact, and isn’t addressing the larger issues related to government spending. The government is hemorrhaging millions of dollars a month on Iraq and McCain seems to think that we can “magically” continue to fund it by simply eliminating earmarks. Great if you know how much is truly wasted on earmarks. Even better if you can truly get rid of them. But to say that this is McCain’s plan for a continued war in Iraq is just pure fantasy.
McCain really doesn’t have much of an economic policy. He seems to emphasize the war in Iraq above anything else. And now we know why. Recently it was revealed that McCain’s campaign co-chairman, Phil Gramm, was a lobbyist for UBS. Why is this such a big deal? Because UBS is a Swiss bank that is directly involved with the current mortgage crisis that threatens to cause millions of home owners to go into foreclosure. What is troubling about this is that McCain is receiving advise on his policy regarding the mortgage crisis from someone who lobbied for the mortgage industry. Not good.
And, lastly, Jonathan Martin of Politico.com posted a Top 10 list of McCain’s “misstatements and outright deceptions”:
- McCain doesn’t even know who is in charge in Iran.
- Iraq/Iran, Sunni/Shia: McCain doesn’t know the difference.
- McCain still thinks Czechoslovakia (which split into two countries in 1993) exists.
- McCain wrongly claimed that Baghdad was mostly normal.
- McCain called Baghdad market safe.
- McCain can’t even remember how little he knows about the economy.
- McCain falsely claimed he never requested pork.
- McCain falsely claimed that tax cuts increased government revenues.
- McCain’s claim to be untainted by special interest money is false.
- McCain wrongly claimed he never supported amnesty.
With the exception of the one regarding Czechoslovakia, I’ve personally heard quotes from McCain that confirm each of these statements. Craziness!
