McCain was against tax cuts for the rich before he was for them.
When John Kerry changed his mind, the "liberal" media screamed FLIP-FLOPPER! FLIP-FLOPPER!
When McCain does a flip-flop, it's "...learn[ing] from experience."
And the wingnuts call it a liberal media. Ha!
McCain Offers Tax Policies He Once Opposed
Reversal Includes New Support for Bush Cuts
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 25, 2008
On May 26, 2001, after then-Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R.I.) cast his vote against President Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut, he trudged back to his office, convinced, he recalled, that he had been the lone Republican to oppose the largest tax cut in two decades.
But Chafee's staff told him that one other Republican, who had largely avoided the grueling efforts at compromise, had joined him in dissent. That senator, John McCain, was marching to his own beat, Chafee said, impervious to pressure from either side.
Now that he is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, however, McCain is marching straight down the party line. The economic package he has laid out embraces many of the tax policies he once decried: extending Bush's tax cuts he voted against, offering investment tax breaks he once believed would have little economic benefit and granting the long-held wishes of tax lobbyists he has often mocked
[snip]
To supporters, McCain has simply seen the light and now understands the power that business tax relief has to spur economic growth and innovation. Said J.D. Foster, a former Bush White House and Treasury tax policy expert, now at the Heritage Foundation: "It's logical that he wouldn't be repeating the arguments he made then. We all learn from experience."
To critics, it is political pandering.
[snip]
Holtz-Eakin urged skeptics to "wind the clock way back," saying McCain has supported lower taxes and a smaller federal government throughout his political career.
But McCain's conflicts with fellow Republicans over taxes date back well before his differences with Bush. In December 1994, after his party swept to control of Congress on tax-cut promises, he challenged Ronald Reagan's legacy when he warned, "I think we would be making a terrible mistake to go back to the '80s, where we cut all of those taxes and all of a sudden now we've got a debt that we've got to pay on an annual basis that is bigger than the amount that we spend on defense."
[snip]
"He's put himself in a position where a conversation about the economy is a conversation about Democratic tax increases and Republican lower taxes, and that's where any Republican wants to be," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, who has clashed fiercely with McCain in the past.
But a change of position can always be used by the opposition, and Democrats have already begun.
But a change of position can always be used by the opposition, and Democrats have already begun.
"He's promising . . . tax cuts that he once voted against because he said they offended his conscience," Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) said Tuesday night. "Well, they may have stopped offending John McCain's conscience somewhere along the road to the White House, but George Bush's economic policies still offend ours."
13 comments:
Old news for an old default candidate. I prefer to refer to him as PingPong now.
The problem with the media is that they loooooooooove McCain. Although when it becomes a choice between McCain and the survivor of Rush's Operation Chaos (Obama or Clinton) the media will eat his soul. And he will be too busy running a 'respectable' campaign.
Patrick,
What is Operation Chaos?
Remember your post where you were up in ars about Rush talking about Clinton and Obama "Bloodying up" each other. (I know you do)
Basically it come down to this. The idea is to keep Clinton and Obama fighting each other all the way to the convention over the nomination, so that the weakest possible nominee emerges to battle with the Default GOP candidate. This is because the McCain camp seems to have no desire to fight and win the presidency, choosing instead to attack Republicans whenever he gets the chance.
Many of the Republican crossover voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania and other states are a result of Operation Chaos. That, and it's just funny to listen to Rush go on about it, as he is expounding on the activities and benefits from it as though it is a military operation. It seems to have worked a little, and it's been entertaining too. I was tempted to join the efforts when the great state of Ohio voted, but that would have meant voting for Hillary. And since I was sure she'd win big, I stayed Republican and played waste-a-vote.
I'm surprised you haven't done a rant about it yet, as this is Rush actually flexing his political muscle, as opposed to just talking.
Okay. I googled it and read about it at his website.
Let him have his fun with the bottom feeders who are his devoted fans. Everyone, even melon heads need to feel important, and Rush is just the perfect drug addicted, 3 times married, pilonidol cyst Viet Nam draft evader gasbag to lead them.
He contributes nothing to Sane Political Discourse in this country.
Rush is fascinating the way a wart hog rolling around in slimey squalor is fascinating to watch because one can't understand how a repulsive creature like that can be so happy flopping around in so much filth. And yet he is, and his fans are happy to encourage the porcine vulgarian.
Everyone needs a hero, I suppose.
The rightist bias of the corporate media is not that big surprise. A bunch of corporations are looking out for their interests and the interests of their advertisers.
Ok, so you're saying that I'm a bottom feeder and that Rush has never contributed to SPD, whether the discourse or my site?
Because the fact is that (prepare to shudder) a great deal of my thoughts and philosophies were formed from copious hours of listening to Rush. And while I don't agree with everything he says, the image of a bloated hypocrite you paint is a canned mischaracterization that requires no thought and no analysis to arrive at, only a healthy dose of Kool-Aid.
Also, where do you get this shit? Read too many moonbat hate blogs?
So let me just clarify one of your twisted lines, as most of it is not worth answering with anything resembling a dignified response.
and Rush is just the perfect drug addicted, 3 times married, pilonidol cyst Viet Nam draft evader gasbag to lead them.
So you want to attack someone who has let himself, after painful surgeries on his back, become addicted, and finally kicked the habit after admitting it on his show? Your compassion for people who suffer addiction ends when the person is a conservative? And when you're ready to scream hypocrite, I hope you at least have the balls to have some serious links to back that up.
Okay, 3 divorces, no children involved, no bitter fights. I don't see the obsession, and I've never heard Rush condemn people who divorce. So what's the obsession?
As for the draft dodging, I had to look that one up. Here's what I found in Wikipedia: Limbaugh's birthdate was ranked as 175 in the Vietnam War draft lottery. No one was drafted above 125. However, he was classified as "1-Y" (later reclassified "4-F") due to either a football knee injury or a diagnosis of Pilonidal disease. Do you research, or just open fire?
So how does the cut-and-paste attacks on Rush add to the Sane Political Discourse?
Patrick,
I get to say what I want about Rush because this is my blog.
And I stand by my characterization of him as a narcissistic, bloviating gasbag interested only in self-promotion. Plus he smells funny. (joke)
There are numerous sites on the internet that do nothing but document what he says and then actually do the research to determine if what he says is accurate. He's inaccurate a hell of a lot of times, so much so, that he's untrustworthy and dangerous to this country.
This one is the most comprehensive sites:
http://tinyurl.com/3fbew5
And this one:
http://tinyurl.com/l6a2x
Why anyone would form his/her philosophy on the basis of a demagogue* is a mystery to me.
*A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace.
One should do that by reading history and great books by great thinkers and by listening and making one's own opinions based on facts.
Limbaugh is an entertainer. Period. Why would you base your philosophy on an entertainer?
Imagine if I told you I based my philosophy on what Michael Moore said.
To do real research and find out if what Limbaugh says is true, takes time and effort.
It is so much easier to listen to his skewed opinions and believe them as truths.
No one does my thinking for me. Especially not comedians on the radio.
PS Why wouldn't you base your philosophy on someone with a great mind, like William F. Buckley?
To continue on Limbaugh.
When Kurt Cobain died of a drug overdose, Limbaugh called him a "...worthless shred of human debris."
Rush also once said on his entertainment show that drug abusers (he didn't make any distinction between prescription drug abusers or street users) should all be locked up and given the maximum sentences.
But he expected and pleaded with his audience to understand his drug addiction and to forgive him is trespasses.
Why should he be shown any human consideration when he so pompously trashed others who had the same problem as he?
HYPOCRITE.
He's one of the biggest fans of the Iraq War, yet when it came time for him to stand up and fight for democracy in Viet Nam, he conveniently got a low draft number and a cyst on his spine.
PS. People have been know to volunteer to fight in our wars--John Kerry comes to mind. And I had a cousin who got a growth removed from his nose so that he could join the Marines and fight in Viet Nam. He now suffers from the effects of Agent Orange and is disabled.
Some people step up and fight for their country, no matter the obstacles.
Limbaugh is a member of the "Family Values" Republican Party, and is a great hero to a lot of conservatives.
Being divorced 3 times is hardly a "Family Value."
Personally, I don't care what happens in his life--but it amuses me to see how the "Family Values" Republicans fall all over themselves to excuse this scalawag.
IOKIYAR!!!
PS. Does Limbaugh wear a flag pin?
First of all, I never said you couldn't say it. But you often repeat the line by wrote, and it comes of as more moonbat than substance. Thus I challenge you on it.
First of all, I've listened to Rush enough to have a good feel for what he says, how he says it, and why he says it. I don't assume everything he says is true, unless I know it to be so, or determine it is important enough to verify, especially if I'm going to comment on it.
Rush has always said his goal is to get as many listeners as possible and keep them entertained. But he also has said his conservative worldview is a key component of his appeal, and he does his best to not misrepresent it. I also know that most of Rush's conservative philosophies come primarily from his family and from William F Buckley. So I'm getting secondhand Buckley, I guess.
As for accuracy, I can only offer two points. First, it's a bitch to try to come up with stuff to talk about for three hours a day, five days a week. I did some radio in college, and I stumbled on my tongue between songs. So if he's really inaccurate, he gets called on it. And second, I have heard him apologize when he does make big mistakes.
Pending verification of the quotes, I concede on the drug issue. However, I will say I was of the same mindset only a few years ago. Then I got to thinking about it, and based on my libertarian leanings, I changed my position. I hope Rush has done so now that reality has kicked him in the ass. (I know, you're thinking how wide a target that is)
As for Vietnam, I'm sure many of us wouldn't have rushed out to volunteer. And as for his draft number, he got that by being born. I don't think you can really blame him for that. My father went into the Air Force to avoid going to Vietnam because he knew he was going to get drafted. The Air Force sent him to Vietnam.
Now unless he is being truly hypocritical about the family values thing, I give him a pass. Come to think of it, I have two children from someone I never married, but I still am wholly in favor of building and preserving the nuclear family. Does this make me any less right or justified in what I am saying? I can share more on that if you want to expand on this point.
As for the flag pin: I did a Google image search, did not find one after about 6 pages. Make of that what you will.
Ok, found a relevant drug quote here:
“Drug use, some might say, is destroying this country. And we have laws against selling drugs, pushing drugs, using drugs, importing drugs. ... And so if people are violating the law by doing drugs, they ought to be accused and they ought to be convicted and they ought to be sent up.”
I officially stand corrected on that one.
Now unless he is being truly hypocritical about the family values thing, I give him a pass. Come to think of it, I have two children from someone I never married, but I still am wholly in favor of building and preserving the nuclear family. Does this make me any less right or justified in what I am saying? I can share more on that if you want to expand on this point.
You missed my point. I'm not criticizing Limbaugh on how many marriages he's had. I have no opinion on his marital status. I don't care, it's his business.
My point is that Republicans have been the "Moral Majority" and "Family Values" political party. And yet they have no problem with a guy who's been married 3 times. Same with Rudy! How could any Republican have supported him? He had his mistress in Gracie Mansion with him.
There's no consistency. When the Right has a hero, he's given a pass for behavior they'd crucify a Liberal for.
Just saying.
That was my point.
As for your circumstance, I think you're a real hero. You're raising your children and probably doing a great job. A job that is difficult but will be well worth whatever you are going through at this time.
I do not judge what happens in a person's personal life. Not even Limbaugh's.
Exactly what Shawn said. I don't care if someone has been divorced 3 times, didn't go to war or even if they are on drugs as long as they don't scream the loudest about the other people who are just like them. It's the big government Republicans who cry about "big government" Democrats, it's the "Gay Marriage Destroys My marriage" crowd when in fact its their own gay prostitute hiring and meth smoking which destroys marriage, not gay marriage. Gay marriage creates marriage.
Rush is a Hypocrite! I wouldn't hold it against him for having no family and a multiple divorcee if he didn't attack people on the grounds of family values. How you can be entertained by that is beyond me.
And by the way, I would but Michael Moore Facts up against Rush Limbaugh facts any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Moore may not always tell the whole truth but he doesn't lie.
Oh, and McCain also flip flopped on this religion, Kerry couldn't have even pulled something like that off.
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