McCain Outlines First Term: Iraq Victory, Flat Tax, Reduced Partisanship
COLUMBUS, Ohio - John McCain, looking through a crystal ball to 2013 and the end of a prospective first term, sees “spasmodic” but reduced violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden dead or captured and government spending curbed by his ready veto pen.
The Republican presidential contender also envisions April’s annual angst replaced by a simpler flat tax, illegal immigrants living humanely under a temporary worker program, and political partisanship stemmed by weekly news conferences and British-style question periods with joint meetings of Congress.
In a speech being delivered Thursday, McCain concedes he cannot make the changes alone, but he wants to outline a specific governing style to show the accomplishments it can achieve.
“I’m not interested in partisanship that serves no other purpose than to gain a temporary advantage over our opponents. This mindless, paralyzing rancor must come to an end. We belong to different parties, not different countries,” McCain says in remarks prepared for delivery in the capital city of Ohio, a general election battleground. “There is a time to campaign, and a time to govern. If I’m elected president, the era of the permanent campaign will end; the era of problem solving will begin.”
To the disdain of some fellow Republicans, the presumed GOP nominee has worked with Democrats on legislation aimed at overhauling campaign finance regulations, redrafting immigration rules and regulations and implementing government spending controls.
While that has cultivated a maverick image for McCain, the Arizona senator has also been accused of exhibiting a nasty temper—swearing even at fellow lawmakers from his own party—and unabashed partisanship.
In particular, McCain has clashed with the leading Democratic presidential contender, Barack Obama. After tangling with the Illinois senator on lobbying reforms, McCain questioned Obama’s integrity in a publicly released 2006 letter.
McCain wrote he had thought Obama’s interest in ethics legislation “was genuine and admirable,” before adding: “Thank you for disabusing me of such notions.” He accused Obama of “partisan posturing.”
While calling for Congress to drop mindless partisanship, McCain also chided the media—with whom he has enjoyed a generally positive relationship—for fueling contention with its campaign coverage.
“Campaigns and the media collaborated as architects of the modern presidential campaign, and we deserve equal blame for the regret we feel from time to time over its less-than-inspirational features,” he said.
In outlining potential achievements of a first term, the 71-year-old McCain implicitly was suggesting he would seek a second term, an attempt to mute suggestions he would serve only four years after being the oldest president ever to take office for a first term.
In particular, he sees a world in which:
—”The Iraq war has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension. Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced.”
—The Taliban threat in Afghanistan has been greatly reduced.
—”The increase in actionable intelligence that the counterinsurgency produced led to the capture or death of Osama bin Laden, and his chief lieutenants,” McCain said. “There still has not been a major terrorist attack in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001.”
—A “League of Democracies” has supplanted a failed United Nations to apply sanctions to the Sudanese government and halt genocide in Darfur.
—The United States has had “several years of robust growth,” appropriations bills free of lawmakers’ pet projects known as “earmarks,” public education improved by charter schools, health care improved by expansion of the private market and an energy crisis stemmed through the start of construction on 20 new nuclear reactors.
—Democrats are asked to serve in his administration, he holds weekly news conferences and, like the British prime minister, answers questions publicly from lawmakers.
McCain also pledges to halt a Bush administration practice of enacting laws with accompanying signing statements that exempt the president from having to enforce parts he finds objectionable.
“I will respect the responsibilities the Constitution and the American people have granted Congress,” the senator said, “and will, as I often have in the past, work with anyone of either party to get things done for our country.”
(AP)
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“We belong to different parties, not different countries,” McCain says”
Sometimes, I think it might be better for everyone if the country did split. I for one, would rather live in the Conservative United States of America than to continue as is, being pulled toward the left by a group of ignorant, illogical knuckledragging morons who are doing their best to get us all killed.
They can have their own country, Utopia. Location: downtown Berkeley.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:31 pmWTF, is Mac visiting this web site
May 14th, 2008 at 10:33 pmDUDE!!! That’s exactly what I thought!!!
-20 New Nuclear Reactors
-”League of Democracies” to subplant the dictators in the UN
-His assessment of short term expectations for Iraq
That’s all our stuff!!! Does this mean he’s actually listening? I think we’ll have to wait and see, but these are all things we could live with especially if the “temporary worker” program only starts once certain security milestones are met like SHUTTING DOWN THE BORDER!!!
I’m not a fan of McCain’s outside of the fellow jihadikiller thing but this will make me pay at least a little more attention to him to see how these ideas get developed.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:14 amAnd trillions to save the planet. Cool isn’t it how the scam works.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:51 amHe better be learning who butters his bread, and it ain’t the democrats, they will just jam the knife in your back and it ain’t the moderates, they are the purgatory of politics anyway.
Maybe he will get right with many of his policies and win this thing.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:55 amMac gets it. I believe their are many that visit this site to learn about truth.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:58 amIf McCain sticks to the farce of a Flat Tax he will lose the election. I and many like me will vote for Bob Barr in support of the FairTax. A maverick would support the FairTax because it returns power to the people. A politician would support the Flat Tax because it leaves power on K-street.
We had a Flat Tax in 1986 and look at it now - fool me once… fool me twice, I don’t think so.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:04 amI had no idea we had a flat tax in ‘68. ( I was born in ‘88 ). Can you elaborate?
May 15th, 2008 at 4:41 amThe only history of a FEDERAL flat-tax that I know of was done by Abe Lincoln to fund the civil war but it didn’t last too long thanks to Woodrow Wilson, his “Progressives” and the 16th Amendment. We haven’t had a FEDERAL flat-tax since. Most of the former Soviet block nations employ a flat-tax of one shape or another along with some other nations. As far as the US goes there are some states that have it like Colorado (I prefer no income tax like we have here in Texas) then Alberta in Canada uses one (theirs is 10% compared to a US state avg. of about 4%).
Personally, I think a flat-tax better than the “fair tax” scheme (I call it a scheme because none of the rates, etc. proposed so far would be sustainable - even Bork’s plan would require an ever increasing interest rate) but either/or there would have to be extensive spending reform first that would need to include banning all earmarks from getting tagged on as riders to unassociated bills, abolishment of automatic budgetary increases and ending many federal assistance programs - unpopular but if the fed tax rate drops from 30+% to 15% then it would not be a big deal for states to raise theirs thereby setting it up for people’s money to stay local which is something we all like and it would also eliminate much of the behind the scenes crap from DC were all sick of by giving each citizen greater oversight of how their state govt. spends their money. The problem is finding someone with big enough cajones to cram it down the throats of the bureaucrats that’ll be screamin’ bloody hell. You know, kinda like what nobody seems to be able to do when it comes to energy reform.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:24 amNate
I think you mean TRA 1986 which actually was a bad piece of legislation vis a vi investment
It caused the 1990-1991 Recession by killing passive loss deductions on Real Estate as well as eliminating interest deductions on credit cards and loans
May 15th, 2008 at 5:40 amFor every “Yeah, that’s right!” for McCain, there’s a “You stupid motherfucker!”
Cap and trade?
Dollar-a-year men?
Shit. At least the things he’s pushing that really piss me off require Congress to enact them. That said, a Jackass clan majority will probably pass the worst and kill the best.
Without a Republican majority in Congress, we’re fucked whoever wins. The best I can say for McCain is that at least he’d use lube.
An Obama Administration would be four years of hard dry fucks up the ass. No wonder his strongest supporters are from Berkeley.
May 15th, 2008 at 6:38 amWhich liberal do you want to vote for - McCaine or Obama?
May 15th, 2008 at 7:18 amSorry…. The only thing I trust him to do is what I DON”T want him to do !…………….
ps No flat tax ! Only Fair Tax….. Illegals GONE !!!!…. No yielding too the liberal left !!!! and I Definitely don’t want some jackass who supports the “global warming” con job………………….. If he plans to stay in Iraq for a “long period” until the job is done, then he is not planning to put much effort into getting the job done !!!!
May 15th, 2008 at 8:29 amPat, I personally am not too familiar with it because I was eleven years sold at the time. Quincy, you are correct, the TRA of 1986. In addition, it wasn’t a true Flat Tax across the board, but it did break it down into two tax rates by lowering the upper bracket and raising the lower. At least that is what I think.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986.
Spending reform is definitely a necessity. Also, the FairTax is misrepresented by many who say we could keep our entire paycheck and prices would fall to pre-FairTax levels. Truthfully, the savings employers realize from eliminating producer to producer taxation would go to lowering prices, or increasing pay. The competitive forces of the free market would decide the mix.
Above all else, the FairTax expands the tax base exponentially and is far more transparent to the electorate than the current disgraceful income tax. Not to mention the current tax code forces producers to locate to countries with more friendly tax structures. What is more tax friendly than producers not being taxed at all, only retailers?
Either way, I am sick and tired of politicians using the income tax to manipulate society. I think if we take that tool away from them they will have to promote policy, not divide along incomes.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:41 amMac has given us a look into his goodie bag, we see what he put on top but what lies underneath the rest of that stuff?
May 15th, 2008 at 9:33 amFair is when every consumer of goods and services in the US pays the same rate of tax and it becomes extremely difficult for lobbyists to obtain preferential taxation for clients. Fair is when we aren’t forced to give information to the government that they may use against us in a court of law - filing our annual tax returns does just that.
The FairTax would bring our corporate tax rate down to one of the lowest in the world. As if corporations truly pay taxes anyway.
http://www.FairTax.org
May 15th, 2008 at 10:22 am@Nate
“Fair is when we aren’t forced to give information to the government that they may use against us in a court of law - filing our annual tax returns does just that.”
So are you saying the FBI shouldn’t have access to the tax returns of potential terrorist funding operations (like so many of the charities) in the GWOT?
May 15th, 2008 at 1:44 pmGovernment spending will balloon under McCain. Tax cuts without decreases in spending is pointless.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:45 pmOkay so it looks like McCain and or his advisers have been reading this website along with others.
I just saw his speech in a piece on Fox, the one thing that still irks me is that he wants us to have “comprehensive immigration reform that treats illegal immigrants in the United States humanely”.
Umm, but excuse me where are illegals beings dragged out of their homes, flogged, and or otherwise publicly humiliated? They are here illegally, keep enforcing the law and have a flood of migrants return to where they came from whether it is Mexico, Brazil, New Zealand, or Estonia. Illegal is illegal and they need to made uncomfortable and see how we welcome those with open arms that abide our laws and follow the legal process.
Keep up the enforcement, tax at a rate of 40% any cash transactions overseas that originate through personal bank accounts that were open without a Social Security Number, and other types of wire transfer companies like Western Union that profit off off illegal immigration, and then the spigot will trickle to drops.
The implication that illegal immigrants are being treated inhumanely by Senator McCain from his ivory tower, wreaks of an attempt to smear anyone who wants the laws enforced that are already on the books in regards to immigration, as bigoted rabid xenophobes.
Senator ditch the phony indignation, you and the likes of Teddy Kennedy have allowed this problem to fester. You were elected to the Senate in 1986 when the last amnesty was rammed down the American people’s throat but you were in the House and could have done something about it. Now we want something done and it doesn’t involve anything “comprehensive” we want Simpson-Mazzoli Enforced.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:27 pmNone of it matters. With the massive numbers of seats the Democrats are going to gain in Congress this year, McCain will be a relatively powerless President.
May 15th, 2008 at 2:29 pmPat! UR only 20? You look mature for your age.
McCain will learn soon enough that deals with Dems are about as meaningful as hudna ceasefires in the ME.
May 15th, 2008 at 3:34 pm