The Truth About McCain Voting Against the Bush Tax Cuts
Not a unique charge amongst conservative critics:
On the economy, I believe that Senator McCain is to the right of President Bush.
Cross-posted at Flopping Aces
McCain abandoned Bush on tax cuts as 1 of only 2 Republican senators that did so,Which is why I feel that it is important to illuminate this fact.
This is one of those issues where the whole story and context is important. From Kevin Stach of the Wall Street Journal:In 2001, with the bitter primary battle still fresh, Mr. McCain voted against the final Bush tax-cut package. Why would he deviate from a pro-growth, tax-cutting position, built up over 17 years in Congress and dozens of votes, even after running on a tax-cut plan himself in 2000?To not recognize the reason why, is to distort his record when it comes to tax cuts. In his 25 years serving in the Senate, he has never voted for a tax increase. And he has pledged to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Nothing in his record should indicate he is untrustworthy on this.
Mr. McCain's protest that he wanted spending cuts to accompany the Bush tax cuts has persuaded few conservatives. But what is not remembered is that, two weeks earlier, Mr. McCain voted to approve the final version of the Budget Resolution -- the blueprint used by congressional committees for spending and tax bills -- which included $1.35 trillion in tax cuts (the Bush proposal) coupled with a $661 billion cap on discretionary spending. When the promised spending cap never materialized, Mr. McCain denounced the wasteful earmarks and pork-barrel spending that he felt jeopardized the budget, and lodged the now famous protest vote against the tax cuts.
On the economy, I believe that Senator McCain is to the right of President Bush.
Cross-posted at Flopping Aces
Labels: Bush tax cuts, economy, George Bush, John McCain, taxes
posted by The WordSmith from Nantucket at 2/15/2008 09:30:00 AM
16 Comments:
I was also pleased to read that yesterday. I agree Mac is more conservative fiscally than Bush but it's not the fiscal conservatives (like me) who are mad at Mac. It's the social conservatives who resent him because he voted for embryonic stem cell research and against the FMA. To them he's weak on abortion and gays and poked them in the eye when he called Falwell and Robertson "agents of intolerance." These are the people who voted for the Huckster. They are not fiscal conservatives and they like Huckabee's socialist populism.
To them he's weak on abortion
Which is why I wrote this.
I read that earlier. When you tell them that, they then rejoinder with "He is against FMA." What they really mean is that he doesn't pander to their religious agenda.
I have linked to this.
That's what McCain explained at one of the debates I recall that's the only reason he voted it down was because it was full of pork!
McCain I have been finding out is alot more Conservative than most people think.
The only thing I cant figure out is why the hell would he want to close GITMO? And throw those terrorist bastards in our court system.
I think we can get him to change his mind on that one however.
Oh but back to the topic at hand.
He also said that whomever sent him a tax bill filled with pork, he was going to make them famous lol, he will name names on who want's to spend money like crazy on crap like "The Bridge To NoWhere" etc..
One of my Senator's Coburn, is a big pork cutter, and he has endorsed McCain, and is traveling around with him and McCain said Coburn will hold him to that promise :-)
Great Post Word, great research you are doing.
"On the economy, I believe that Senator McCain is to the right of President Bush."
I'm sorry but you are really grasping at straws with that statement.
Oh? How am I "grasping at straws", Dee? How is McCain not more fiscally conservative than President Bush?
I absolutely hate disagreeing with Dee because I admire her greatly, but *sigh* I must. I agree with you on that statement, Wordsmith, and on this entire post. I too have done some research in my spare time, which is really "spare" these days, and have concluded that some so-called "Conservative" talk show hosts aren't as Conservative as I would like. Patrick at Born Again Redneck has a good post up on that:
"Limbaugh and Coulter are not conservatives"
http://bornagainredneck.blogspot.com/2008/02/limbaugh-and-coulter-are-not.html
Dee? How is McCain not more fiscally conservative than President Bush?
"I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans who most need tax relief," McCain said then.
What he really said
oops, wrong link.
What he really meant
Wordsmith,
I agree that McCain's record on spending is good. He has a very solid record regarding spending. He is also pro-life, however I must depart from the thought that he is more conservative all around or a solid conservative all of a sudden.
Wordsmith,
Here is what I have found so far. It turns out that McCain did vote down the Bush tax cuts because as you said he didn't like all the pork in it. I don't have a problem with that, but it seems we have left out ANOTHER thing McCain said. Pork Barrel spending wasn't the only reason he voted them down. Here is another reason which leads me to strongly disagree with the thought that McCain is to the right of Bush economically:
"In 2001, McCain, along with Republican apostate Lincoln Chafee, were the only two Republican senators to vote against the first Bush tax cut. In 2003, he was one of three Republicans to vote against the second round, which is one of the reasons the Club for Growth hates him so much. McCain correctly noted that it didn't make sense to cut taxes in a time of war, especially in ways that benefited the wealthy to such a large degree. He voted against the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, recognizing it as a massive unfunded entitlement."
SO you see the quote where McCain said it didn't make sense to cut taxes in a time of war in ways that BENEFITED THE WEALTHY TO SUCH A LARGE DEGREE. That doesn't sound real conservative to me. The hatred for spending does, but not the wealthy comment.
Here is the link: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/ken-shepherd/2008/02/06/newsweek-mccain-tolls-end-bush-tax-cuts
o.k. Congrats wordsmith you have really got me to think about this more. ;~)
Regarding taxes and freedom of choice we need to look at the big picture in regard to McCain.
McCain is totally for Global Warming which means tax hikes in the future. He also is for OUTLAWING incandescent light bulbs and switching to the mercury filled, expensive twisty ones which infers that he is for the eroding of our rights to make choices in areas like this.
I was hoping I wouldn't have to go there because of my time constraints but this post has spurred me on.
I will concede that there are some areas McCain is conservative on such as spending. He is also more conservative than Hillary and Obama on the war on terror. However, he has a much higher percentage of being on the wrong side than on the right.
That said I will submit that I will pull the lever for him ONLY because he is not a socialist. I dread the thought of having an Obama or Hillary presidency.
Excellent find, jennifer! And thanks for also weighing in rivka. The class warfare rhetoric has always been one of those things that annoyed me about McCain. It was stupid of him to say- and more so if that's how he feels. I'll look into this some more later. Appreciate the reminders, though. I still think there is merit in Kevin Stach's WSJ regarding McCain's vote 2 weeks earlier on the 2001 Bush tax cuts. I don't remember him saying anything on the Senate floor, though, regarding the need for spending cuts. What we all remember is the "I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle class Americans who most need tax relief."
because that's gotten the loudest airplay.
This is a great thread, especially for it's civil tone among passionate partisans.
As folks know, I've backed McCain the entire campaign, well before he flopped last summer, and thus way before he made his comeback.
I think Word puts it right by noting that McCain needs to watch his mouth. That part about the wealthy sounds like class warfare. That said, he's obviously been the most principled on both sides of the fiscal issue: taxes AND spending.
It seems, as these posts are showing, that a careful look at the facts can be persuasive.
Other than that, I'd just note that I've visited the blogs of some of the commenters here, and I'm not seeing the same kind of even handed approach. Hannity, Limbaugh and their lot are having way too much influence on this debate, because frankly, I would argue, they don't really care about GOP fortunes this fall, that is, they're for purity over victory.
But no candidate's perfect, certainly not Fred Thompson, who made a big mistake waiting as long as he did to get in the race, and then campaigning like a frightened grandpa. Nor is Mitt Romney, who's as good a flip-flopper as anyone, and honestly, they all do it sometimes to get elected.
One who does it only rarely is McCain. He's a Churchillian figure, who has an uncanny sense of mission and perseverance. He's superstitious, too, which means in a sense he's got some faith.
I'm pleased to see folks at least saying they won't vote for the Democrats. I've recently been hammering the Dems in my posts, especially Obama. There's been this last week almost a constant attack on the war in Iraq by his campaign, on how misguided our efforts there are and how failed the mission is. This is deceipt, pure and simple. I don't think Obama's going to gravitate back to the middle either. He's the "Shady Chicago Socialist," and that's not going to change.
We need conservatives to join together on this. I make no apologies for calling the far-right out for their irrationalism, which is not a slur, just an observation that folks haven't been doing as much hard thinking about these things as they might.
Keep it up, Wordsmith!!
American Power
The links that Rivka an JG give are exactly what I'm talking about. And here is what the Club for Growth has to say about McCain: http://www.clubforgrowth.org/2007/03/arizona_senator_john_mccains_t.php
The Club for Growth specializes in who is conservative on economic issues and they don't agree that McCain is farther to the right than Bush.
Sorry I've put this comment thread on my backburner. I wanted to research this more, but haven't had time.
Rivka, from your quote:
"In 2001, McCain, along with Republican apostate Lincoln Chafee, were the only two Republican senators to vote against the first Bush tax cut. In 2003, he was one of three Republicans to vote against the second round, which is one of the reasons the Club for Growth hates him so much. McCain correctly noted that it didn't make sense to cut taxes in a time of war, especially in ways that benefited the wealthy to such a large degree. He voted against the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, recognizing it as a massive unfunded entitlement."
That last part, to me, is him being fiscally conservative. The other part with class warfare rhetoric bugs the hell out of me, of course.
Dee,
I am suspicious of the Club for Growth's ability to see things "objectively", where McCain is concerned. To me, they are like listening to Rush or Coulter describe McCain.
I'll try to look more into this, as I gather the time to research. Thanks for the challenges. I appreciate them.
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