McCain Campaign Backtracks On Balanced Budget Pledge, Admits It Might ‘Take Longer’ Than End Of First Term
McCain Campaign Backtracks On Balanced Budget Pledge, Admits It Might ‘Take Longer’ Than End Of First Term
As ThinkProgress has noted, despite the recent economic downturn and $700 bailout, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and his advisers still pledged that McCain will balance the budget by the end of his first term. “I believe we can still balance the budget,” McCain said last month when asked if he could “achieve your goal of balancing the budget in your first term.”
Yesterday, however, in a debate with Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee at Columbia University, McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin significantly lowered the bar for McCain. Holtz-Eakin admitted that the economic crisis makes McCain’s balanced budget promise “harder,” thus it will take “longer” to implement:
“The events of the past few months have completely thrown a wrench into that, there’s no way round it. He would still like to balance it. It’s going to be harder, take longer,” said Holtz-Eakin at a debate with his Democratic counterpart at Columbia University in New York.
Holtz-Eakin is finally admitting the obvious: that it is impossible for McCain to fulfill his balanced budget pledge. The Wonk Room has noted that McCain’s proposals would result in the largest deficit in 25 years. Combined with the economic crisis and the $700 billion bailout, balancing the budget through massive spending cuts is neither prudent nor plausible. Next year’s deficit is predicted to start at roughly $550 billion and go as high as $1 trillion.
It’s unclear, however, what the campaign’s real policy on the budget is. Yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin said that McCain would still balance the budget by the end of his first term.
Furthermore, in the third presidential debate, McCain promised an “across-the-board spending freeze” in order to reduce the deficit, while still sticking to his radical tax plan.
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Well, DUH!
October 21st, 2008 at 9:11 pmMcNumbNuts: “I can name that tune in 6 notes!”
He’s not very good at presidential races; I doubt he could win a game show, either.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:13 pmOh, dear God, please don’t tell me that a McCain presidency will resort to the “it’s hard work” line!
Geez, if that doesn’t encapsulate the Bush/McCain connection, nothing does!
PEACE
October 21st, 2008 at 9:15 pmYeah, Holtz-Eakin, that bar has been significantly lowered. It’s now just about racism, intimidation and plain old lies.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:16 pmI’ve lost track. Is this a “flip” or a “flop”.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:16 pmMcCain’s “policies” are determined, on a daily basis, by when the cock crows and which way the wind blows, while the chickens run around with no heads.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:20 pmWell, the fact is that NEITHER candidate is likely to have the funding available to accomplish all they’re setting out. That’s neither scandalous nor unique.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:25 pmMeanwhile, the Psycho-babble Talk Express rolls on!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnE-YJ—GI
October 21st, 2008 at 9:26 pm#7
October 21st, 2008 at 9:29 pmJust wrong headed to continue to spew out that balanced budget as a vote catcher Mclame repeated things that make no sense but are obviously of a pandering nature. I for one am sick of being thought of as an intellectual airhead L did not graduate 5th from the bottom of my class
Tom @8
October 21st, 2008 at 9:33 pmI had to watch that a couple times, but I still have to say
WTF? Psycho-babble is putting it lightly.
McCain-Palin: Wrong-headed 4 America!
====
October 21st, 2008 at 9:33 pmThe campaign reflects the policies which reflect the man; all are incoherent.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:35 pmIf Flippy McSpin doesn’t know WTF he’s saying, how should we?
On an off topic note, it appears that Bible Spice has been caught. Again.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PALIN_FAMILY_TRAVEL?SITE=KLIF&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
October 21st, 2008 at 9:38 pmIf anyone wants to risk any more “stab yourself in the eyeball with a fork” hijinks just check out Palin’s CNN interview.
This is from the CNN page:
Palin said ["Joe The Plumber"] Wurzelbacher is representative of “Jane the engineer and Molly the dental hygienist and Chuck the teacher.”
October 21st, 2008 at 9:39 pmAnd . . . we are now learning that this “pig” needs more than lipstick.
The Republican National Committee appears to have spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.
According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.
The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September. The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:41 pmHe will conceptually balance the budget to give voters a psychological boost!
October 21st, 2008 at 9:42 pmHe will conceptually balance the budget to give voters a psychological boost!
Anything, anything . . . so long as they quit whining.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:46 pmJohn, I think all of America had figured that out before you revised your statement.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:47 pmHow does anyone think this man is capable of being president when he makes statements of impossible achievments one day and retracts them the next. Oh wait — been there done that — it’s a lot like Bush isn’t it?
Marie:
As far as consistency goes, Flippy McSpin has pulled off the nearly impossible. He’s WORSE than Chimpy. At least the chimp has stuck to his, wrong, positions on many issues. Flippy, on the other hand, appears to have reversed himself on everything but his obsession with earmarks. Though, to be fair, his votes are not as consistent as his rhetoric. The poor old coot has reversed himself so many times he doesn’t even know what he’s saying. If there were not still a chance he could be our next President? It would be sad.
October 21st, 2008 at 9:56 pmHe could turn the tide by coming out and saying it will take longer than four years so elect him now and he won’t campain in ‘12. Lay it all out John, why not? Afraid you might not make it that long? He knows how to fix it, and all we have to do is vote for him. Desert sunshine salesman
October 21st, 2008 at 10:05 pmdear thinkprogress.org user community,
i invite you to check out this breaking news story.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:07 pmOT
October 21st, 2008 at 10:14 pmNEWS FLASH: Bullwinkel Moose (R-fantasyland) has said he will
cross party lines and vote for Barak Obama, In a statement
Mr. Moose said “that b!tch shot my brother Leon!
NBC/WSJ is just reporting a poll that says that the biggest concern about McCain that voters have, is that Palin’s “not qualified”.
Can anyone recall a general election where the VP’s qualifications (or lack thereof) have overshadowed the Presidential candidate?
Anyone? Ever?
October 21st, 2008 at 10:15 pmwearechange… yeah I saw that this morning. The deployment has been a story bubbling below the radar for a couple of weeks now. The ACLU will bring so much needed attention to it.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:18 pm5th Estate What is really unbelievable is it has taken this long for them to figure it out.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:21 pmhello fifth estate,
i became of this story in mid-september, however no msm media channels (and very few “alt” media) have covered it. naomi wolf asserts that we are in the final stages of a coup. she argues that in fact the apparatus is fully, 100% in place and is only awaiting activation.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:27 pmsorry, i meant to post that “i became *aware* of this story”….
October 21st, 2008 at 10:27 pmPossibily a Trillion dollar deficit!
Thanks again to the “Borrow and Spend” Rethuglicans for spending our kids and grandkids tax money before they can even get a job.
What was it Cheney say? Oh, yeah. He said “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter”
Sure, tell my kids and grandkids why taxes are so high and services from the government are so poor and why Grandpa and Grandma are sleeping on the sofa bed in the basement.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:28 pmI find it hard to believe that there’s still somone inside the McCain campaign that thinks McCain’s credibility hasn’t already been irretrievably lost.
October 21st, 2008 at 10:38 pmwearechange Says:
naomi wolf asserts that we are in the final stages of a coup.
I agree. Were in the final stages of a “self coup d’etat” where the government overthrows the will of “We the People“.
The Neo-Nitwits, with their “World Domination” plan, have, with the help of Cheney and Dumbsfeld slowly and steadily turned our country over to the Multinational corporations and New World Order types.
Jeez, I starting to sound like one of those conspiracy theory nuts.
Well, maybe, just maybe, come 1/20/2009 we can take back our country!
October 21st, 2008 at 10:39 pmcoprogressive, may i please turn your attention here.
it has been said that “the writing is on the wall” for some time now.
October 21st, 2008 at 11:04 pmIt must be a real b*tch when the Straight Talk unexpectedly jumps into reverse like that.
The campaign’s tranny must be shot.
No, not Ghouliani – the other one.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:07 amThank you. Republicans could care less about voter fraud. Witness the arrest of one of their guys just this week in California and hiring another guy who ahs also been investiagted for voter fraud. They want to start palying the victim game so that when they lose they have someoen to blame other than themselves.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:39 amhttp://straighttalkonmccain.blogspot.com
Of course he can’t do it in his first term. That’s just another example of McCain not being honest with us. If he truly was about straight talk, he would say “Man, we’re screwed, this is going to take awhile.” But he tells the people what they want to hear. Cut taxes, cut pork abrrel spending (though how as president he would do that, I don’t know), and magically everything will even out in the end. Madness.
October 22nd, 2008 at 12:43 amhttp://straighttalkonmccain.blogspot.com
.
Sort of like MISSION ACCOMPLISHED …
… left UNACCOMPLISHED.
… NO?
.
October 22nd, 2008 at 1:35 amtoo bad he won’t get the chance to balance anything as he will get polaxed in the election.
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:21 amand isn’t it a thing of beauty watching republicans fall apart? – and suffocating on their own propaganda!!
as an observer from the oustide,this speaks volumes about the disdain that neocons have for the american public in general thinking that the same shit will get swallowed over and over again (these people are treasonous putting party over country) – well obviously not this time – pretty clear now that america will be in safe hands come january – obama is in a class of his own and will be a fantastic leader.
What has John McCain been smoking?
Just as insane Republican (conservative) feed-the-wealthy, starve-the-poor policies in the 1920s, coupled with get-rich-quick-schemes, led to the Great Depression, similarly insane Republican (conservative) feed-the-wealthy, starve-the-poor policies over the past decade (actually longer), also coupled with get-rich-quick-schemes, has led to the financial crisis of today.
I’d say that we’re less than 10 percent into the severe economic downturn our nation faces…so the idea that we will have a balanced budget anytime soon is someone’s pipedream.
And whatever malady has afflicted the Republicans in the White House has bled over to the Democratic Party leadership in Congress.
Remember how anxious the White House Republicans, and Treasury Secretary Paulson, were to have Congress pass a Wall Street bail-out bill totaling $750 Billion? Even as these same Republicans delayed doing anything about this looming economic crisis for a long, long time, until finally they demanded this $750 Billion Bail-out Band-aid, rush, rush?
Well, the Democratic Leadership (Reid, Pelosi, Hoyer) decided to not push for an economic stimulus package meant to address the economic crisis from the bottom-up instead of the top-down at the same time that the Wall Street bail-out bill was passed, opting instead to delay consideration of any economic stimulus package until after the November election (similar to the delay by Republicans in the White House prior to the “emergency” Wall Street bail-out bill), thus letting the financial crisis get worse and worse instead of taking remedial action immediately.
The Democratic leadership in Congress needs to call an emergency session of Congress RIGHT NOW, because if they wait until after November 4th, odds are that lame-duck Bush will veto any stimulus package that doesn’t include massive Republican tax cuts for the top 10 percent of wealthiest U.S. citizens.
However, if the Democratic “Blue Dog” leadership in Congress (once again) caves to Bush and the Republicans, and compromises, allowing these tax cuts into the bill, then middle-class taxpayers and our nation’s poor will discover what sinking into another Great Depression feels like, for I’m certain “trickle down economics” is not going to slow our country’s economic collapse at this point.
Hours are critical at this time. Not days. Not weeks. Not months. Waiting until late January, early February of next year will be far too late. Congressional action is required RIGHT NOW, even if a Bush veto must be overridden to get an economic stimulus package passed RIGHT NOW, minus the Grover Norquist/Republican tax cut. But I’m not holding my breath.
October 22nd, 2008 at 3:34 amI would expect a $700 billion dollar expenditure to be a game-changer when it comes to balancing the budget, and I would also expect BOTH candidates to do some reshuffling to their economic plans as a result.
It’s like the family who puts a five-year economic plan into place, swears they will live according to the budget they set, and then get hit with some unexpected huge medical bills. They would also have to make some changes to their economic plan in order to get their bills paid.
What I don’t understand is how McCain was still promising to balance the budget by the end of his first term AFTER the $700 billion became a factor. After all, Bill Clinton didn’t have that kind of hit to his budget, he had the benefit of the dot-com boom, and it STILL took him both of his terms to finally get the debt clock running backward (a feat, I’d like to point out, that no recent Republican president has managed).
Get real, John.
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:35 amIn the last debate, Bob Schieffer asked McCain is he could balance the budget in his first term. McCain answered “Sure” and then proceeded to attack Obama on something else.
October 22nd, 2008 at 7:39 ampete Says:
——————————————————————————–
I’ve lost track. Is this a “flip” or a “flop”.
Pete, it’s a “flip,” b/c he’s always stated he could balance the budget by the end of his 1st term. Oh, wait a minute, didn’t also say he’d balance the budget by the end of his 2nd term? In that case, this “flip” would be a “flop,” in essence. But, at one time didn’t he say he wouldn’t run for a 2nd term, so that would make this a “flip,” and not a “flop.” But since he said he wouldn’t run for a 2nd term, does that negate the “flop,” and make it a “flip”? Oh, God, this is so confusing.
McIIIrd/Pailin’ – send them home with the concilation prize!
Obama/Biden2008
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:43 amHey Granpa – you got the order wrong.
First you make outrageous promises. Second you get elected. Then you renege on your promises.
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:46 am