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Why I love this Ohioan …

Boehner stumps for McCain in Oxford

by Charlie Turner - (Miami Student)

Following a three-week tour around the country campaigning for House Republicans, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stumped for presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) at Brick Street Bar and Grill.

Boehner criticized Illinois senator and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama for his stance on domestic drilling, taxes and his number of “present” votes in the Illinois legislature-an attack originally leveled by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) during the democratic primaries.

“Now, listen, I’ve voted ‘present’ two or three times in my entire 25-year political career, where there might have been a conflict of interest and I didn’t feel like I should vote,” Boehner said. “In Congress, we have a red button, a green button and a yellow button, alright. Green means ‘yes,’ red means ‘no,’ and yellow means you’re a chicken shit. And the last thing we need in the White House, in the oval office, behind that big desk, is some chicken who wants to push this yellow button.”

Obama voted “present” 129 times, 3 percent of the roughly 4,000 times he voted during his 8 years in the Illinois legislature, according to factcheck.org

Some said that Boehner’s charges were legitimate and illustrated potential issues with an Obama presidency.

“Obama consistently took a pass on making tough decisions and that’s just not something you can do as president,” said Don Seymour, director of communications for The Freedom project, a right wing political action committee.

Though the audience primarily consisted of Miami University’s chapter of College Republicans and other McCain supporters, the few self-identified independent voters present said the comments did not sit well with them.

Steve Murdoch, an Oxford resident, said after hearing Boehner’s speech, he would likely be voting for Obama.

“I thought he spent more time slamming his (party’s) opponent than promoting himself,” Murdoch said. “Just from what I saw tonight-I try to keep an open mind-but I was fairly disappointed. I definitely think that McCain is more concerned with demoting his rival than he is with promoting himself.”

Sophomore Laura Heins agreed with Murdoch.

“To hear this man call this man a chicken shit in front of an audience was absolutely appalling,” Heins said. “I couldn’t believe it, this man’s supposed to be a respected politician who’s supposed to have a positive public image … It angered me that he would go that low in order to promote his own candidate.”

Boehner’s attacks came as both candidates have moved on the offensive. Recent Obama TV spots have worked to show a connection between McCain and Bush and accuse McCain of “resorting to smears and false attacks” because he has “no plan to fix our economy.”

McCain’s recent advertisements have tagged Obama with badges like “dangerous” and “dishonorable” and say he is unprepared to be president.

Boehner has also recently introduced a Republican-backed economic stimulus plan as an alternative to the one House Democrats are expected to propose in November.

Boehner’s stimulus package, outlined in a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), relies on lowering taxes in order to stimulate spending and investment. It would temporarily suspend the capital gains tax, increase the child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000 and lower the corporate tax from 35 percent to 25 percent.

“I rely on allowing the American people to keep more of what they earn, to provide incentives to invest in our economy, to grow our economy, to create jobs and to help all Americans through that process,” Boehner said. “All they want to do is just give money away to states and infrastructure projects that aren’t ready, it will take so long for it to take any effect that it will have no effect.”

The yet-to-be-unveiled Democrat-backed stimulus package was discussed by Pelosi in early October and is anticipated to invest heavily in state governments facing severe budget deficits and infrastructure projects.