JOHN McCAIN HAS SOME EXPLAINING TO DO!

"At every crossroads on the path that leads to the future, tradition has placed 10,000 men to guard the past."
- Belgian poet, playwright, and essayist Maurice Maeterlinck

John McCain has some explaining to do. He claims to be an independent maverick, yet he has voted with George W. Bush well over 90% of the time. He wants to continue Bush's foreign and economic policies. Steve Schmidt, who was a top communications aide in the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign, now runs the McCain campaign's day to day operations. Phil Gramm, the architect of the "Enron loophole" lifting restrictions on energy speculators which has over-inflated the selling price of oil and led to $4.00 per gallon gasoline, and whose deregulation efforts for the banking/mortgage industry have contributed directly to millions of foreclosures on American homes, was McCain's chief economic advisor, then resigned, and now is back again. With a voting record like that and reliance on key Bush neoconservatives, McCain is hardly being independent, original, OR a maverick.

John McCain has some explaining to do. He has named his campaign the "straight talk express", but it has apparently become mired in a double talk ditch. He has had to backtrack and retract a number of campaign claims and distortions over the past few months, and www.factcheck.org/ has cited his campaign for a much larger number of campaign exaggerations, misrepresentations, and distortions than the Obama campaign.

John McCain has some explaining to do. He has portrayed Barack Obama as an elitist who is out of touch with the average American, yet McCain himself owns 7 homes, a private jet, married into a $100 million fortune many years ago, and has been a Washington insider for more than 25 years. In contrast, Obama owns one house, forsook what could have been a huge law practice salary to live among and organize lower-income Chicago south side residents whose jobs had been displaced, as well as teach law in college before being elected to the US Senate. So who's an elitist? And who's out of touch?

John McCain has some explaining to do. He has said he is not well-versed on economic matters, then has said the economy is strong and has prospered during the Bush years, even as foreclosures accelerate to record levels, middle class and poor wages and buying power have declined over the past 8 years, and millions of good-paying American jobs have been exported overseas, being replaced by lesser-paying ones.

John McCain has some explaining to do. He claims Barack Obama will raise everybody's taxes, but Obama's tax plan clearly shows that 95% of all Americans' taxes will DROP under that plan, and the only rise will be on incomes over $250,000. In fact, Obama's plan CUTS taxes by 5.5% on the vulnerable below-$18,900 income level (whereas McCain's plan cuts them by only a measley 0.2% there). In the $18,900-$37,600 range, Obama's plan CUTS taxes 3.6% (whereas McCain's only cuts them there by a tiny 0.5%). In the $37,600-$66,300 range, Obama's plan CUTS taxes by 2.4% (and McCain's by only 0.7%), and in the $66,300-$111,600 range, Obama's plan gives 1.8% tax relief (while McCain's gives only 1.4%). It is interesting to note, however, that McCain will cut taxes by 3.4% on incomes between $603,000 and $2.87 million, a level at which Obama raises them. And, on incomes over $2.87 MILLION PER YEAR, McCain proposes cutting taxes by a whopping 4.4%, while Obama would raise them there by more than 11%. It is easy to see whose plan is best suited for the vast majority of cash-strapped Amnericans, and that tax plan is NOT McCain's, which, like Bush's, blatantly favors the wealthiest 1% who don't need any help.

John McCain has some explaining to do. He supports more "free trade", a policy which has allowed millions of American jobs to go to cheap foreign slave-labor markets outside our country. He is also opposed to closing tax loopholes for companies which export American jobs but turn around and sell their cheaply produced goods back over here.

John McCain has some explaining to do. He claims he'll give us a tax credit with which to buy health insurance, but will then turn around and tax this "benefit." He doesn't say how these tax credits will enable all citizens to be fully covered, and they won't be. The net increase of his plan will not be more covered people, but only increased sales and profits for insurance and pharmaceutical companies with the taxpayer footing the bill.

John McCain has some explkaining to do. For much of the past 2 years, he has repeatedly said Barack Obama has neither the experience, judgment, nor the temperament to become Commander In Chief. Then what does McCain do? He selects for his running mate a half-term Alaska Governor with ZERO foreign affairs experience, who, prior to becoming Governor had been mayor of a town with a population just over 9,000, and who has never met with foreign leaders or served on a Senate Foreign Relations committee! This stands in stark contrast to himself, Joe Biden, AND Obama, all of whom have done so. And, should McCain, the oldest Presidential candidate in history (and one who has twice had cancer), die in office, we are supposed to entrust the defense of our country and the control of our military to THIS person? Not only that, but he has previously met his prospective running mate only TWICE! What type of foresight or judgment is THAT? And, unlike Obama, who has a well-developed strategy of diplomacy, for attacking terrorists where they're AT, and for using our military solely as a last-option resort, McCain is far more bellicose in his approach to foreign affairs. He favors continuing the now-discredited Bush neoconservative practice of using pre-emptive military strikes and unilateralism rather than diplomacy and consensus-building, as even George H. W. Bush had previously done. McCain favors military intervention in Iran even though they, like Iraq before them, have never attacked us. Rather than using the prudent and time-tested technique of speaking softly and carrying a big stick, McCain prefers to use a big stick first and then MAYBE speak afterward. What kind of temperament is THAT?

Yes, John McCain has some explaining to do. His policy positions appear dangerously impulsive, confused, and are often contradictory. He makes very frequent false accusations and inaccurate statements. He has a LOT of explaining to do before his comprehension, reasoning, and judgment can be deemed suitable for the presidency!

REMEMBER TO VISIT www.factcheck.org/ REGULARLY TO VERIFY THE VALIDITY OF THE POLITICAL ADS YOU SEE AND HEAR!

NEXT WEEK: JESUS WOULD BE ASHAMED!