McCain: Tax Cuts > Balanced Budget

[JME2]

From Yahoo

WASHINGTON - Republican John McCain said Sunday that cutting taxes and stimulating the economy are more important than balancing the budget, and accused both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama of supporting tax hikes that would worsen the impact of a recession.

"The goal right now is to get the economy going again," the GOP presidential nominee-in-waiting said on ABC's "This Week," adding that he would put the country "on a path to a balanced budget" by attacking wasteful spending.

McCain conceded it was probably a mistake to seek and accept the endorsement of televangelist John Hagee, who has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as "the great whore" and called it a "false cult system."

The Arizona senator said he had condemned Hagee's remarks about Catholics, and said it was different than the way Obama has responded to questions about his own relationship with William Ayers, a 1960s-era radical who in an interview published on Sept. 11, 2001, said he didn't regret bombing government buildings.

"How can you countenance someone who was engaged in bombings which could have or did kill innocent people?" McCain asked, calling Ayers an "unrepentant terrorist."

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton, in response, said McCain had "stooped to the same smear politics and low road that he denounced in 2000" by commenting on Ayers.

McCain appeared on the talk show as the Democratic National Committee announced it would begin running an ad Tuesday on national cable networks tweaking McCain on the economy. The ad, released to reporters Sunday, shows McCain saying the country overall is "better off" than it was eight years ago, and ends by asking viewers, "Do you feel better off?"

The Republican National Committee said the ad is misleading.

Responding Sunday, McCain brushed off Democratic assertions that he is out of touch on the economy and reiterated a pledge to cut taxes even if it means running up deficits. Turning the tables on Clinton and Obama, he said they are the misguided ones for proposing tax increases during a recession.

Both Clinton and Obama support higher taxes for people earning more than $200,000 a year. Obama also has said he wants a capital gains tax higher than the current 15 percent.

"They are out of touch when they want to raise taxes at the worst possible time when we're in a recession," said McCain, who has been under constant criticism from Democrats for saying the economy isn't his best subject.

McCain said he has a solid economic plan, centered on extending Bush administration tax cuts he once opposed. Clinton and Obama would reverse those tax cuts.

Blaming federal spending for the economic troubles, McCain pledged to "scrub every agency of government" of wasteful expenditures and close loopholes.

"Is there any American that doesn't believe that there's tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars that can be saved?" he said. "Americans know that. That's why they're fed up."

McCain also said he would not hold off on tax cuts if Congress didn't approve his spending cuts and declined to make a pledge to balance the budget by the end of his first term in office. "When economies are rough, then you've got to reduce the tax burden on people," McCain said.

You know, I really, really miss the days when fiscal converatism actually meant something...

[Illuminatus Primus]

Its bullshit. The problem is hardly the tiny pittance of billions on pork when he wants to continue the trillions-cost Iraq War indefinitely, and we need to raise taxes because how else are we supposed to service our debt and improve infrastructure? Maybe not all recessions are cured by sending people home with a couple hundred extra bucks to spend at Wal-Mart and for the Forbes 500 to invest in tax loopholes.

[Shinova]

He wants to scrub the budget of wasteful expenditures. Does the Iraq war count as one?

[Glocksman]

Last week McCain said he'd eliminate every single earmark in the budget.
Even if he could[/b] accomplish that, it's only about $18 billion in this year's budget, and the total deficit* is over $400 billion.

Where's he going to come up with the other $380 billion?


*I'm not sure if that includes the Iraq war costs or not.

[J]

Great, more "trickle down economy". Because that worked so well the first time.

[K. A. Pital]

"Is there any American that doesn't believe that there's tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars that can be saved?"

Hundreds of billions? Sounds like he hit the nail on the spot with Iraq too bad it's probably not on the cutdown list.

[PeZook]

Gah...

Whenever I hear somebody needs to "Get the economy going again, no matter the cost!" I think somebody's priorities are fundamentally broken.

I guess lots of politicians are in love with Keynes, because they feel they can spend frivolously and that it's a good thing to do so...

It's really too bad that Keynes is applicable to horrible economic crises like the Great Depression, rather than running an everyday healthy economy.

Besides, the success of a country shouldn't be measured by GDP and growth alone. The US has plenty of things to do which are completely unrelated to GDP growth.

[Gustav32Vasa]

"How can you countenance someone who was engaged in bombings which could have or did kill innocent people?" McCain asked, calling Ayers an "unrepentant terrorist."

Yes, how could you?

[PainRack]

Someone PLEASE remind McCain the Republicans already pulled this stunt back during the Clinton Presidency.

As Bill shows, that's bullshit. Increasing taxes doesn't necessarily lead to a recession if it can lead to a balanced budget(and money is spent responsibly).

[SirNitram]

Last week McCain said he'd eliminate every single earmark in the budget.
Even if he could[/b] accomplish that, it's only about $18 billion in this year's budget, and the total deficit* is over $400 billion.

Where's he going to come up with the other $380 billion?


*I'm not sure if that includes the Iraq war costs or not.

If you bought that, you're gullible. He immediately recanted when someone pointed out aid for Israel, the one who wears the pants in this relationship, is in earmarks. So he said he'd keep those. Then someone pointed out that troop housing is in earmarks. Now he's saying he'd cut '15-16' billion of 'unneeded projects'.

[Glocksman]

Ah yes, the 'Straight Talk Express' yet again demonstrating just why his extensive experience in the Senate and intimate knowledge of the buget qualifies him to be President.
If we get any honest-to-God 'straight talk' from McCain, it's purely by accident and his handlers will do their utmost to insure it never happens again.

[SirNitram]

The last straight talk from McCain was 'Bomb Iran' being sung, exposing him as just another cretin who views wars as a good way to get up in the polls.