McCain Wraps Up Poverty Tour With Speech At ‘Business Awards’ Banquet
McCain Wraps Up Poverty Tour With Speech At ‘Business Awards’ Banquet
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is currently on his “Forgotten America” tour, talking about the need to address the places “ignored for long years by the sins of indifference and injustice.” The Washington Post writes, “In effect, McCain is launching Version 2.0 of Bush’s ‘compassionate conservative’ campaign.”
Today, McCain is speaking in Katrina-ravaged New Orleans. But tonight, he will travel to upstate Louisiana to Baton Rouge and return to the wealthiest Americans as the “guest speaker” at the 25th annual Business Awards and Hall Of Fame banquet. BusinessReport.com reports:
Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential front-runner, is the guest speaker for the 25th annual Business Awards and Hall of Fame Banquet presented by Business Report and Junior Achievement. The event, sponsored by Capital One and Franklin Press, is scheduled for Thursday, April 24 at the Holiday Inn Select on Constitution Avenue.
While proceeds benefit the Junior Achievement Endowment Fund, it’s likely that only the wealthiest can attend, as “tickets are $75 per person, $550 for a table of eight and $700 for a table of 10.”
It’s fitting that McCain would end a tour of the poorest parts of the country by talking to wealthy Americans. After all, he is offering a $1.7 trillion dollar tax cut for corporations, despite U.S. corporate taxes being the fourth-lowest in the industrialized world as a share of the economy.
Throughout this week, he has touted tax relief for the poor. But adults working full time earning minimum wage and living in poverty would not even receive a tax cut from McCain, as a Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis reveals:
As McCain polishes his “image” this week, he is unlikely to mention how his proposed spending cuts will also neuter key anti-poverty programs.
Robert Gordon of the Center for American Progress observes today, “It’s admirable that John McCain is visiting ‘forgotten places,’ but his economic plan forgot about the people who live there.”
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How many single parents make half a cool million?
April 24th, 2008 at 6:05 pmA quibble: Baton Rouge isn’t really “up-state.” More like “up-river.” Iirc, in Louisiana, ‘up-state’ is north of Alexandria. Katrina damn near killed N’Awlins, but it revived ‘Batten Rudge.’ Red Stiuck property values there just about doubled overnight.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:12 pm“McCain is on tour…talking about the need to address the places “ignored for long years by the sins of indifference and injustice.”
Does John McCain realize that the perpetrators of this neglect and indifference, in large part, are none other than the current Republican administration, and the Republican leadership of the past twenty years?
There is nothing compassionate about a conservative Republican. Their theory – in a nutshell – is this: If you are in a hole, you probably have no one to blame but yourself, so look to yourself to get out of it. And if you didn’t put yourself there, why should you expect the government to get you out? (Those are tax dollars better spent on businesses and the war machine.)
The hubris and irony on this are just too much.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:26 pmThis year the tax code will encompass over 6000 pages of text. It is a tool used by both sides to either punish a segment of the population (higher taxes), or reward a segment of the population (lower taxes). It has been cut-up, cut-down, changed, re-changed, worked, re-worked for decades now and we are still talking about it. It is an unfair system due to its ability to be mutated at the will of the majority party in power at the time. When the new congress gets to town, the code gets changed once again. Why not a flat tax?
April 24th, 2008 at 6:27 pmNow, that’s what I’d call elitist.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:29 pmMcCain Poverty Tour was the old “Hey, I’ll take care of you with some more of that Compassionate conservative stuff” for the idiots that would believe any of these guys give a rats ass about their troubles…republicans don’t care if your poor, they do care that you stay that way and they do care that you stay uneducated, if you were educated then you more than likely wouldn’t vote republican.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:30 pmJohn Sidney McCain III = Effete snob.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:33 pmAs this week’s “Forgotten Places” tour of America shows, John McCain doesn’t merely represent a continuation of George W. Bush’s tenure in the White House. He’s planning on traveling the same road to get there. Facing an American electorate which overwhelmingly rejects his policies across virtually every issue, John McCain is running as a “different kind of Republican.” And that makes him no different from the Republican George W. Bush of 2000.
For the details, see:
April 24th, 2008 at 6:42 pm“McCain Turns to Bush 2000 Formula.”
What kind of shoes will McCain wear tonight?
FLIP-FLOPS
April 24th, 2008 at 6:42 pmZed Lefflin Says:
StratRat….
On your flat tax thingy what would the percentage of your income be that you would be willing to give to Nancy and Harry to spend?
10%. As you earn more, you pay more. Have a income floor for those who work, but don’t bring home very much $$$ above the poverty line. At the top end, have a sliding scale which taxes at a higher percentage those who earn over a stated amount (say $5 million). The middle class must survive and prosper for democracy to endure.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:51 pmthose born to privilege and preference will never have a shred of empathy for those born to neither.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:16 pmTalking about the need to address the places “ignored for long years by the sins of indifference and injustice.”
Talking is not going to help people who are in poverty. Your indifference to the ingnored is duly noted. If you truly wanted to help fix many of the injustices, you had a perfect opportunity at the Hall of Fame Banquet. Part of the proceeds could have been donated to the poorest sections of New Orleans.
John, you did as we all expected you to do completely ignore, with your indifference, the people that need your help the most.
To be a Republican is your heart excised before or after you take office?
April 24th, 2008 at 7:31 pmOfficial McCain campaign “Po’ Folks Tour” portrait — free download:
April 24th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
That friggin’ chart is upside down! WTF is a family of 4 making a $100,000,000.00/yr going to do with $2450.00 that a single parent making $12,000.00 do better? It is absolutely disgusting how far down this country has tunbled. Was it Roosevelt who said (paraphrasing) “you could tell the character of a country by the way it treats its most vulnerable?” Pitifulo. The wealthy have so much they can’t tell when it is enough. This is obscene.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:38 pmMcCheshire has no credibility concerning Hurricane Katrina. Does anyone remember what McCain was doing while New Orleans was drowning? He and George Bush were eating birthday cake and playing guitar during that disgraceful disaster. Save the film for the General Election.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:39 pmOops:
http://www.musicals101.com/News/Magoo.JPG
April 24th, 2008 at 7:39 pm“The cake, melting in the 110-degree Arizona heat, was left behind, uneaten.” How symbolic of the GOP, McCain and Bush laugh, and smile for the cameras. What happened to Bush’s compassion, and McCain’s straight talk?? Both of them are useless
April 24th, 2008 at 8:02 pmThe table for eight is cheaper per person ($68.75) than the table for 10 ($70). Did “No Econ” McCain set up the table arrangements?
April 25th, 2008 at 8:50 amThis is one of the saddest swipes at McCain I’ve seen in a while. This event will benefit a really worth cause; according to Junior Achievement’s website:
We don’t know whether or not any non-wealthy people, say representatives and members of Junior Achievement, will be there. What we do know is it makes sense for tickets to be expensive – don’t you want as much as possible to be raised for this organization? And, here’s who they’re honoring:
I’m sure the people honored consider themselves “wealthy Americans,” huh?
April 26th, 2008 at 2:19 amSo people are upset that McCain isn’t going to lower the taxes on:
May 10th, 2008 at 5:13 pmSingle parent earning $12,000
Couple with 2 kids, income $24,000
According to H&R Block (http://www.hrblock.com/taxes/tax_calculators/index.html)
people in either of these groups DO NOT PAY ANY TAX TO BEGIN WITH. The single parent gets $2,800 GIFT and the couple gets over $5,000 GIFT. GIFT from whom, you ask….THEIR NEIGHBOR.
Does John McCain realize that the perpetrators of this neglect and indifference, in large part, are none other than the current Republican administration, and the Republican leadership of the past twenty years?
There is nothing compassionate about a conservative Republican. Their theory – in a nutshell – is this: If you are in a hole, you probably have no one to blame but yourself, so look to yourself to get out of it. And if you didn’t acer btp-43d1 battery,acer travelmate 220 battery put yourself there, why should you expect the government to get you out? (Those are tax dollars better spent on businesses and the war machine.)
October 15th, 2008 at 7:59 am