John McCain

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Originally Posted by sabang

I hope I'm only hearing a fraction of the overall debate, but these are the two McCain policies I have heard so far-

1- We are willing to stay in iraq for 100 years.
2- Gas tax holiday.

Is anyone here aware of any other policies he has that might make a rational person vote for him?

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Human Trafficking – Establish an inter-agency task force on Human Trafficking

Kiddy piddlers – Maximize cooperation between federal, state, and locals in regard to the pursuit and prosecution of kiddy piddlers – also wants to improve international cooperation in this area as well

Is against judicial activism – favors a strict Constructionist point of view when it comes to federal judges

HOME lending plan thru the FHA to help people keep their homes

Wants to expand states loan capabilities for college loans to help make sure college students don’t miss out on school because of the current credit crunch

Cut taxes for the middle class, and repeal the alternative minimum tax

Cut corporate tax, ban internet tax, and ban any new cell phone taxes

Wants line item veto power to attack pork barrel spending, and wants to eliminate earmark spending and some subsidies

Not subsidize prescription drugs for the wealthy – via the Medicare drug program

Lower barriers to trade

Believes the second amendment gives people the right to keep and bear arms – advocates the prosecution of criminals who violate the law rather than restricting the rights of those who do not

Opposes back-door attempts to attack the second amendment thru gun manufacturer liability cases

Support strengthening law and increasing penalties for those that use guns to commit a crime and for the illegal possession of guns

Reform the Unemployment Insurance system – add Lost Earning Buffer Account (LEB), and target some assistance specifically towards older workers are a couple of the changes he proposes

Against nationalized health care

Public disclosure for lobbyist, and prohibiting them from giving gifts to elected officials

Require government employees to pay full charter rates if they use corporate aircraft for travel related to government business.

Create an independent ethics office in Congress

Increase support for troops on the ground in Iraq

Keep top military in place in Iraq – don’t rotate the generals like the rest of the troops

Supports federal funding of amniotic fluid and stem cell research programs

Increase military pay and give tax relief to those deployed overseas

Expand retirement benefits and health care benefits for military reservists

Supports school choice for students and parents

Supports the national missile defense system

Strong support of NASA

^ Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Bugs

Cut taxes for the middle class, and repeal the alternative minimum tax

Cut corporate tax, ban internet tax, and ban any new cell phone taxes

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Originally Posted by Bugs

Increase military pay and give tax relief to those deployed overseas

Expand retirement benefits and health care benefits for military reservists

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How does he propose to pay for all this? Is he also proposing an increase in tax for the wealthy?

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Originally Posted by sabang

^ Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Bugs

Cut taxes for the middle class, and repeal the alternative minimum tax

Cut corporate tax, ban internet tax, and ban any new cell phone taxes

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Originally Posted by Bugs

Increase military pay and give tax relief to those deployed overseas

Expand retirement benefits and health care benefits for military reservists

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How does he propose to pay for all this? Is he also proposing an increase in tax for the wealthy?

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As I understand it McCain’s economic plans calls for a combination of growth and controlling spending to balance the budget. Controlling spending does not mean there would be no new programs.

He really wants the line item veto and might be hanging too much of his plan on getting that power and using it to control pork barrel spending. But he has said that if he does not get the line item power he will use the Presidential veto power to veto entire bills if they contain pork barrel spending – to the point of shutting the government down if they keep sending big spending bills for him to sign.

One small example included above is cutting out paying for prescription drugs for the wealthy. Under the current plan McCain is eligible to get his drugs paid for and he feels that just ain’t right.

Based upon what I have read and heard out of him I doubt we would have a balanced budget for at least the first two years due to the current state of the economy. He makes quite a few statements about Regan and the Regan tax cuts during those rough economic times. Folks have differing views of the Regan years, the Regan tax cuts, and the deficits we ran up in those years - and therefore will probably have similar views on McCains plans.


I don't think I have ever heard McCain mention raising taxes on anyone. He has mentioned simplifying the entire tax code eventually - I believe something along the lines of reducing it down to two tax brackets and eliminating most deductions. But I have never seen any real details on that plan.

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Originally Posted by raycarey

bugs i don't see a link....is it from mccain's website?

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From the web site, from his speeches, and from what he has said at various public and TV appearances.

Most if not all of it should be on his website:
http://www.johnmccain.com/landing/?sid=gorganic

The Not Obama:

Col. George “Bud” Day, 83, is the most decorated service man since Gen. Douglas MacArthur, with more than 70 medals. A living legend, Day was blown out of the sky two months to the day before the North Vietnamese shot down a propaganda prize, whose father and grandfather were renowned American admirals.

“They told me we were gonna get a roommate and it was gonna be the prince. The Vietnamese called him the prince so I asked my nurse what was his name? They said John McCain,”
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During captivity, they were tortured mercilessly, Day said, describing one tactic that McCain has also recalled.

“They roped me under the arms, tied my hands behind my back, ran another rope to that, got me up on a chair, threw that rope up over a rafter and jerked the chair out from under me and your own weight just tears your body apart,” he said.

Day’s broken arm was re-broken during torture so he would never fly again. McCain played physical therapist.

“John said, ‘Well we’ll gather up some bamboo, and he was in a bandage on his leg at that time. So I got some strips of bamboo, smuggled them into the room, John put his foot in my arm pit and pulled on my wrist ’till we could get the bone forced back down … it wasn’t exactly perfect but it worked out he got it back to where it was functional,” Day said.
...
“And when I finally did regain use of that, it was after months and months of dragging this hand and finger on the wall of the prison cell,” Day said, walking his fingers up the air like he did many years ago.

“John would help me. … John would pull my fingers out straight. They would just instantly recurl. And finally, one morning, I had just the slightest bit of movement in this hand — finger — and we both cried,” Day said.

McCain’s Former Hanoi Cell Mate Describes Character in Deplorable Conditions - America’s Election HQ

Ah, how sweet - 'John' helped a US colonel in captivity, that's the stuff great presidents are carved from, regardless of their policies, no doubt! :)

John McCain paints BO's portrait:

"To encourage a country with only rhetoric, rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people, is not a promise of hope," -- McCain

"I do not seek the presidency on the presumption that I am blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need." -- McCain

The more I think about McCain, the more I think he is a good man. Just too old.

He's really the ideal candidate in terms of being a moderate republican, and a Reagan democrat kind of guy.

I just wish he were a little younger I would support him.

^ He just needs a good running mate.

wow. scores of posts 'mysteriously' gone from this thread. i wonder how that happened. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

^ He just needs a good running mate.

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Why?

To make his policies better or to win the election?

Or, to have a good VP become President?

McCain is a Neo-Con, IMO. He's too old for such a demanding job. He's not a very bright fellow, but if he hire good people around that might help him.

I'm still skeptical. The fact that McCain is the nominee reveals that good people don't run for President. Perhaps they never did.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I would not classify McCain as a neocon nor would I say he is not “good people”. McCain has always had a hard time with the red team because he is not far enough right for many of them. He was practically counted out before things even got started this year as most expected much of the same as before – not enough appeal to the far right, and therefore lacking in the fundraising and vote getting needed to be successful in the red team primaries.

McCain has been difficult for folks to pigeonhole because he is a bit of an independent thinker. He does not toe the party line and has worked many times across party lines. I am sure the core of the neocons are more than a bit skeptical about how things would unfold should McCain with the top job.

There are several instances in which McCain did not jump to send troops or have US military deployed overseas. From his freshman year in 1983 he opposed Regan’s desire to send troops to Lebanon all the way thru to at first supporting only a limited (air only) Us military response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Hardly a hard-core neocon.

Retired Adm. Bobby Ray Inman (a McCain supporter) says of McCain if he is able to get the top job:
“…there is going to be a lot of disappointment on the neoconservative side.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-mccainpolicy16mar16,0,7782992.story?page=1


I would say McCain coming out on top is about as big a surprise for the red team as Obama coming out on top is for the blue team.

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Originally Posted by Bugs

He does not toe the party line

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bugs you're reminiscing about the mccain of 2000.

in the last few months he's flip-flopped on some aspect of his position on the follow issues...
immigration
abortion
torture
religous zealots
taxes.

he's no longer a maverick or a straight talker...he's a shadow of his former self

Obama to Receive Endorsement
Of 3 Former SEC Chairmen

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Three former chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission will publicly endorse Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the presidency Wednesday, including one who served under President Bush.
William Donaldson, who was SEC chairman for about 2½ years from early 2003, along with Clinton and Reagan appointees Arthur Levitt and David Ruder, will join former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker in endorsing Sen. Obama, his campaign said. Mr. Volcker endorsed Sen. Obama in January.

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Wall Street may remain leery of Sen. McCain; the Republican candidate has offered few concrete proposals for improving the nation's financial outlook and preventing future crises in the credit markets. Although he has begun speaking more frequently about the economy, Sen. McCain has repeatedly said his expertise is foreign policy, not markets. Words he uttered to reporters in December, "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should," are likely to haunt him this fall.

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Obama to Receive Endorsement Of 3 Former SEC Chairmen - WSJ.com

I guess it's no surprise the Wall Street regulators have chosen Obama, but McCain is still asleep at the switch to allow this to happen so early in the campaign.

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Originally Posted by chinthee

the Republican candidate has offered few concrete proposals for improving the nation's financial outlook and preventing future crises in the credit markets.

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He doesn't have to because his vast experience edge on Obama will automatically fix everything from the economy to global warming. :rolleyes:

not only that, but yesterday in a mystical speech mccain predicted the following will happen by 2013 if he is elected president....

all US combat troops will be out of iraq...because the US will have "won"!
OBL and ALL top lieutenants killed or in prison.

VOA News - McCain Predicts Iraq War Won by 2013 if He's Elected President

c'mon. maybe this sort of chicanery worked back in the day, but in 2008 people are too savvy for this sort of nonsense.

this is nearly as absurd as that gas tax holiday he proposed a few weeks ago.

even more lobbyists are resigning from the mccain campaign...

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John McCain's national finance co-chairman has stepped down, the latest casualty of a presidential campaign eager to cauterize damage caused by its ties to lobbyists.
Former Texas Rep. Thomas G. Loeffler, one of McCain's key fundraisers, resigned in the wake of a new McCain policy on conflicts of interest that required campaign volunteers to disclose their lobbying connections

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McCain advisers Doug Goodyear, who was to run the Republican convention in St. Paul, Minn., and Doug Davenport, a regional campaign director for the Mid-Atlantic states, also resigned this month. Both worked for DCI Group, a consulting firm hired to improve the image of Myanmar's military junta.

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but the self described 'straight talker' is simply bullshiting the american public...

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Several top strategists working on his campaign are lobbyists who have taken leaves of absence from their jobs to work for McCain. Among them are campaign manager Rick Davis, whose past clients have included a Russian industrialist, and Charlie Black, a high profile Washington lobbyist with domestic and foreign clients

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McCain's national finance co-chair resigns - Yahoo! News

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Originally Posted by Jet Gorgon

^ He just needs a good running mate.

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I am writing a second post on this comment.

The VP, or running has no influence on policy.

Therefore, how would a running mate help McCain in policy?


Please clarify, Jet G.

Seems he is a closet Obama supporter. Given the amount of defections from the Mccain team, I think this is a pretty good reflection of the uphill battle he faces to gain election:-

"Senator John McCain's chief advertising strategist, Mark McKinnon, announced Tuesday that he was resigning, following through on a vow he had made months ago not to work against the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama.

His resignation follows the departures of five other aides in recent days because work they have done outside the campaign — as lobbyists for corporations and foreign nations, and, in one case, as a strategist for an independent political group — had presented conflict of interest issues.

In telling the Cox News Service last June that he would not work against an Obama candidacy, Mr. McKinnon had said that Mr. Obama’s election to the presidency “would send a great message to the country and the world.” In that interview, Mr. McKinnon had said that he had policy differences with Mr. Obama, especially on Iraq, and that he believed Mr. McCain was best suited for the presidency because of his national security positions. But, he added, “I just don’t want to work against an Obama candidacy.”

Mr. McKinnon’s decision highlights challenges Mr. McCain may face in running against a man who will be the first black presidential candidate from a major American political party if he cinches the Democratic nomination."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/us...21consult.html

I basically agree with Bugs- McCains not a bad guy, although he has some fatal policy flaws, he's too old, and prone to some stupid gaffe's on foreign policy matters- he's no statesman. The fact he got the GOP nomination shows just how much the neo-con element has been purged from the mainstream Republican party. That is good news.

But I'm becoming fairly confident now- Obama is going to be hard to stop. I also think his Presidency will be a good thing for the USA. :1st:

Unfortunately Osama the car salesman would be the worst news for the world, luckily he won't make it as president. McCain will demolish him quite easily. :)

Guess we can add that gem to the "Sayings of Britmaveric" thread.

McCain is definately past it. Take a hard look at his current public speaking style, I think it could be described as sleep talking. He'll read anything that's written on the teleprompt. Kind of reminiscent of Reagan in the last year of his presidency and not the kind of person who should be in charge of the nuclear trigger.

McCain is ready for a rocking chair and a glass of warm milk.

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Originally Posted by britmaveric

Unfortunately Osama the car salesman would be the worst news for the world, luckily he won't make it as president. McCain will demolish him quite easily. :)

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What polling data are you referring to?

I haven't seen any polling data, and right now, the election is too far away for the polling to be valid.

We'll have to wait and see.

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Originally Posted by Milkman

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Originally Posted by britmaveric

Unfortunately Osama the car salesman would be the worst news for the world, luckily he won't make it as president. McCain will demolish him quite easily. :)

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What polling data are you referring to?

I haven't seen any polling data, and right now, the election is too far away for the polling to be valid.

We'll have to wait and see.

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To Britmaveric:

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Obama leads McCain in November match: Reuters poll


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama has opened an 8-point national lead on Republican John McCain as the U.S. presidential rivals turn their focus to a general election race, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
Obama, who was tied with McCain in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup last month, moved to a 48 percent to 40 percent lead over the Arizona senator

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Link: Obama leads McCain in November match: Reuters poll | Reuters

Britmaveric?

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Originally Posted by Boon Mee

"I do not seek the presidency on the presumption that I am blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need." -- McCain

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Thank goodnesss for that. Senator McCain has a lot to be modest about. :)

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Originally Posted by Milkman

Britmaveric?

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He's gone and will be back in a few days to drop another one-liner.

Well, 2-liner, he must be excited about the topic. :p