McCain Backtracks From ‘No New Taxes’ Pledge, Ditches His Social Security Plan In Favor Of Bush’s
McCain Backtracks From ‘No New Taxes’ Pledge, Ditches His Social Security Plan In Favor Of Bush’s
Two weeks ago, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) took the “Read My Lips” plunge, proclaiming that as president he would not raise taxes for any reason. “No new taxes,” he declared twice in an interview with ABC News. Watch it:
The Wall Street Journal reports today that McCain is now distancing himself from the pledge not to raise taxes, saying his statement was not a firm commitment:
Q: On ABC’s “This Week” on Feb. 17, in response to a question, “Are you a ‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes?” you replied, “No new taxes.” Did you mean that literally?
McCAIN: I’m not making a “read my lips” statement in that I will not raise taxes. But I’m not saying I can envision a scenario where I would, OK? But I’m not making it a centerpiece in my campaign.
In the WSJ interview, McCain appeared clueless about his own Social Security plan. In 2000, he supported President Bush’s efforts to divert part of Social Security payroll taxes to fund private accounts. Asked about his current position, McCain said, “I’m totally in favor of personal savings accounts.”
On his campaign website, however, McCain offers a different plan. He proposes “supplementing” the system with personally managed accounts, which, as the Wall Street Journal observed, would not be financed by diverting Social Security payroll taxes:
McCain denied there was a change in his position. “I’ll correct any policy paper that I’ve put out that might intimate that personal savings accounts are not a very important factor.” His website, however, has still not been changed to reflect his support for private accounts.
In light of McCain’s now-famous declaration that “the issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” conservative pundit David Frum said McCain needs to brush up his economic bona fides or will risk looking more clueless in “what may soon become a recession year.”
UPDATE: Carpetbagger adds:
He’s confused about the relationship between taxes and revenues; he’s confused about whether he thinks our economy is strong or not; and he’s confused about why interest rates even exist. And now he’s confused about his own no-new-taxes pledge, his own Social Security policy, and how he’ll pay for yet another round of reckless tax cuts.
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Read my lips, no new flip-flops.
-George W. McCain
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:59 am“Damn the media for remembering what I said just two weeks ago!”
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:59 amDid he repeat the joke about Janet Reno being Chelsea Clinton’s father?
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:00 amThat’s a McCain joke, you know. Very presidential.
ATTENTION! FISH ON DECK!
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:00 amC’mon John, you have to talk straight to the no tax conservatives .. do you want to lose that group support too ??
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:06 amSenility is a sad thing when it affects anyone’s life but it is truly tragic when it is so publicly displayed by a candidate for president.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:09 amTalk to Tim Pawlenty about that. You CAN be overridden, sometimes.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:11 amDid someone hear that cricket out behind the house. Froggy McBush makes a Flip flop and cricket makes a chirp right after.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:20 am“John McCain supports supplimenting the current Social Security system with personal accounts - but not as a substitute for addressing benefit promises that cannot be kept”
More fear-mongering on SSI.
Some things never change.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:21 amlol good golly McCain isn’t pulling in even a fraction of Dem $.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:21 amI dare say you are the propagandist here.
Did someone hear that cricket out behind the house. Froggy McBush makes a Flip flop and cricket makes a chirp right after.
Comment by natisman — March 3, 2008 @ 10:20 am
I didn’t realize that crickets smell so bad. I think it’s more like a McCain fart than a cricket.
A deluded fart at that.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:21 amIf there is a “problem” with Social Security, it’s because McCain and the other Senators has been using SSI funds as their private piggy bank to fund their schemes.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 amHi, I’m John McChange & I stand boldly on both sides of any issue.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 amGotta give Little Johnny credit for one thing, though. Through the haze of his age-related confusion, he has still been able to remember that nothing good happens after you utter the phrase “read my lips”.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:25 amIt is sad when GG has to spend time at TP manufacturing poll results that aren’t really there. All of this attention shows how needy the GG campaign has become and how worried GG is about the latest direct evidence showing McCain beating a dead horse.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:27 amMcCain: “Read My Lips: No New Taxes For The Rich”
If there’s a need for new taxes (corporate welfare), Republicans would introduce new tax brackets on the middle class.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:30 amMcCain is beating Obama with numbered poles? Did I get that right? Talk about competitve!
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:33 amComment by good_golly — March 3, 2008 @ 10:14 am
McCain is just the right candidate to induce low republican turnout, while democratic voters flock to the polls.
We can’t take anything for granted though (I made the mistake of assuming that on Saturday), and I know that TP won’t run out of accurate information to convince even Republican visitors to this site that McCain is simply a bad choice. Voters will ultimately make short work of McCain in the fall.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:37 amThe sad reality is that John McCain is brain dead and doesn’t have a clue about anything but getting “even” by torturing others and playing war games.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:38 amSoon we’ll all be saying “John Who?”.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:38 amBy the age of 70 it’s known that the synaptic activity of the human brain decreases significantly. I’d say that JohnnyBoy is in the “throes of dementia” right now.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:40 amJohn McCrazy is downright dangerous to this country!
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:40 amDoes anyone else get the impression that McCain just says yes to the last person who he talks to? Yes, I’m for that. Yes, I’m for the thing diametrically opposed to the thing I was for before. Yes.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:44 amfound this the other day.
interview on 60 minutes, 1997
I am a war criminal. I dropped bombs on innocent men, women, and children. - John McCain
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:48 amZimzone @ 10:25 am
How true. :-)
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:50 amDoes anyone else get the impression that McCain just says yes to the last person who he talks to?
Comment by RUCerious
Exactly.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 amIt has worked for George and Co. all these past horrid years.
McCain’s obvious lack of any cognizant mental capability or original thought betrays itself daily.
Much can change in either direction over the course of the next eight months.
How philosophical of you, gg. Does this mean that even you might have a rational thought over the next eight months?
I won’t be holding my breath waiting for that to happen.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 amGiGi @ 10:14
you are pissing into the wind…………..again.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:52 am“John McCain supports supplementing the current Social Security system with personal accounts — but not as a substitute for addressing benefit promises that cannot be kept.”
OK, what am I missing here? Isn’t this basically saying that people can invest as they wish beyond what is collected for SS - in other words, what people can already do with stocks, land, money markets, etc.? If not, it sounds like it’s giving people the option of adding to their current SS, something sure to piss off the norquists of the world.
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:56 amThe real question they should be asking him is whether borrowing money from our grandchildren is justified. The real choice we are making in these deficit years is whether we should pay for the needs of our country ourselves or if we should mortgage our grandchildren’s future for our benefit today.
I don’t find the “no new taxes” comment to be a real flip flop. There is a difference between not intending to raise taxes and running on a platform of not raising taxes. It shows that McCain is a realist on this issue at least in that he does allow the possibility that he would need to raise taxes. He is trying to have it both ways, but it doesn’t seem out of line in terms of campaign rhetoric.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:02 amGigi is the sound of fear whistling in the wind.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:04 amWe already have personal accounts which are written into the tax code. These include 401k’s, IRAs, Roth IRAs, SIMPLE, etc. They are administrated by the banks and investment firms independently of the government.
I think the wet dream of the Republicans is to move a lot of the money we have all invested through these banks into government controlled accounts which can be outsourced to specific companies. Kind of like Fannie Mae for investing. It’s a lot easier to get kickbacks if you have the power to funnel millions of American’s investments to a company in exchange.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:05 amDon’t worry gigi, once the bushistas are thrown from the halls of power you can go back to your old job: working on one of those phonesex lines. There will be plenty of demand from out of work neocons who need a pick-me-up. You CAN sound like boy, right?
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:06 amI think you’re on to something there fletc3her.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 amGiGi; That quote is what he said on 60 minutes. Who there held a gun at his head?
Go phuck yourself!!!
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:07 amgg — in your case, there is no choice . . . just STFU!
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:12 am36. Sounds like you are speaking from experience, Bobwurst. Were you a frequent caller, or callee?
Comment by good_golly
Why yes, in fact I’m on the phone right now, anything you want me to say to your hubby?
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:12 amGiGi; calling my bluff? link and weep shit-for-brains. Puffing up John Mcain, POW by Ted Randall.
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print/1676/
Everyone should wear bandaids on their cheeks with little purple hearts on them for the national conventions/ Repugs did in 2004 to mock John Kerry.
If you sow the wind, be prepared to reap the whirlwind. As the marines say, “payback is a motherphucker”.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:16 amerror. right church, wrong pew. http://www.smirkingchimp.com
Puffing up John McCain by Ted Rall. sorry about that.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 am“But I’m not making it (a promise not to raise taxes) a centerpiece in my campaign.” — McCain
Um…just what exactly IS the centerpiece of McCain’s campaign? It used to be “straight talk”, but now we’re getting anything but.
There used to be a time when Americans demanded their presidential candidates stand for something…anything. Now it appears that McCain is rapidly selling what’s left of his soul to every possible nook and cranny of the GOP — to the point where his only official stance will be that he is “not Hillary” and “not Obama”.
Sad. But we’ve elected presidents in the past who didn’t stand for anything. Just look at both Bushes.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 amUm, so when *hasn’t* that senile old fart changed his mind about anything…?
Senile, I’m telling you. Just senile.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:45 amcalling tim russert, calling tim russert ………….
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:56 ammclame reminds me of ned beatty in that scene from the movie Deliverance where a couple of good ol boys from the backwoods of georgia have him stripped down to his underwear and on his knees squealing like a pig.
in mclame’s case, the good ol boys are the neocon base of the repugnican party.
he stood up to the north vietnamese, but submits to the extremists of his freaking party. that’s some “war hero”!
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:57 amGive the man a break, he did admit that economics wasn’t his strong suit.
Of course, he corrected that statement a few days later.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:58 amadditonal link; Google John McCain: War hero or War Criminal
http://www.leftblogdig.net/archives/articles.
link and weep GiGi. you too Daryll, Frankie, charlie, & southern idiot.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:11 pmlol good golly McCain isn’t pulling in even a fraction of Dem $.
I dare say you are the propagandist here.
Comment by Guido OBGYN Lover
It is not a propagandist, it is a moron living in a fantasy world. It knows that it’s beautiful world is about to collapse and it is in panic mode. It thinks if it keeps up the right’s “happy talk” that maybe it will become reality. But in it’s heart, it knows that it is going to be squashed like a bug in November.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:11 pmWhat he really said was, “No New Texas. We already have on Texas, plus New Mexico. We don’t need a new Texas.”
http://newsprism.wordpress.com
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:21 pmSo McCain is not able to lift his arms above his shoulders like this photo shows him doing?
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:23 pmMcCain waving
Here’s a better McCain waving link
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:28 pmStraight Talk my ass.
is it my imagination or is this guy getting creepy with all the GW emulation?
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:42 pmJohn McLiar says “no new taxes if elected”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23212854/
McFlipFlopLiar.
McTRAITOR, McWar, McLoser, McBush.
“You’re either WITH Bush and McCain OR
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:57 pmYou’re with the USA and the TRUTH”
I am a war criminal. I dropped bombs on innocent men, women, and children. - John McCain
And he stayed in a Hanoi hotel, not is a POW camp. That whole story is bullshit, they gave him hookers and drugs, that’s why he didn’t come home. he was ahving too good a time.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:58 pmlooks like GiGi went away, tail between legs and whimpering. :-)
That’s the way uh-huh,uh-huh. I like it. Uh-huh, uh-huh.
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:01 pmOne more reason to defeat McCain. If you think the housing crisis is an unregulated mess, can you imagine Social Security in the greedy paws of the private.
March 3rd, 2008 at 2:33 pmLefty Patriot–feel free to take legitimate argument against McCain’s, albeit questionable, economic credentials. Do not, however, discredit the liberal cause by spouting such defamatory slander as, “And he stayed in a Hanoi hotel, not is a POW camp. That whole story is bullshit, they gave him hookers and drugs, that’s why he didn’t come home. he was ahving too good a time.”
The fact of the matter is that acknowledging McCain’s travails for what it is–an impressive story of courage–is a far more effective rhetorical tecnique than disputing its basis. He won’t be swiftboated like perennial loser Kerry.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:21 pmTB; (tuberculosis?)- The way I hear it, McJowls sung like a canary to the VC. That was not in keeping with the code of conduct.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:35 pmWait a second…how is it that “deficit spender-in-chief” Reagan is a considered a paragon of spending restraint?
I seem to recall that Reagan and Bush 1 doubled the national debt.
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:55 pm66. They did indeed increase Defense spending by an amount that would not have been necessary had Jimmy Carter not gutted the military during his terms. Otherwise, they shrunk the size of the Federal government in many ways.
Comment by good_golly — March 3, 2008 @ 5:19 pm
And they paid for it by … oh that’s right, they never paid for it, spend Georgie spend.
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:48 pmI will paste this news in my blog on the dating site ————http://tallmeet.com ——- And as a part-time model, I uploaded my best photos, the members there said I am amazing. here are many people like me. interested in?Just search the username, you may want to check them first.
March 3rd, 2008 at 11:02 pmI think what will happen is we won’t get personal accounts, but we may get a higher retirement age, which is appropriate. I also think progressive indexation of benefits would make a lot of sense - no reason for the wealthy to be getting as much as they are now.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:12 am