The Columbus Dispatch Endorses John McCain
McCain's Democratic opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, is a rousing motivational speaker, but his experience and achievements -- eight years in the Illinois Legislature and less than four in the U.S. Senate -- do not stand comparison with McCain's. A resume containing so little evidence of leadership and accomplishment leaves in question Obama's ability to handle the most responsible and difficult job in the world, especially at a time when the nation faces a combination of problems so large and complex that they would challenge even the most seasoned leader. – The Columbus Dispatch
Live From New York, Its Governor Palin
Governor Palin on Saturday Night Live…
Sarah Palin showed up on Saturday Night Live, good-naturedly critiquing Tina Fey's impression of her in a mock press conference. As Fey told fake reporters that "the American people are angry, and John McCain is angry too," the camera cut to Palin, who was dressed identically to Fey in a red suit, and SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels. Both were standing in a hallway outside the show's New York studio, away from the audience. "I didn't think it was a realistic depiction of the way my press conferences would have gone," she told Michaels. (She hasn't held any). "Why couldn't we have done the 30 Rock sketch I wrote?" she asked, referring to Fey's low-rated NBC sitcom, which Michaels also produces. "Honestly, not enough people know that show," he replied. – USA Today
· Check out the opening skit here: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/gov-palin-cold-open/773761/?dst=nbc|widget|NBC%20Video&__source=nbc|widget|NBC%20Video
The New York Times: Barack Obama “Inaccurately” Attacks John McCain’s Health Care Plan
Barack Obama’s attacks “mischaracterize” John McCain’s health care plan…
In a coordinated air and ground attack, Senator Barack Obama is charging that his Republican rival for the presidency, Senator John McCain, would make $882 billion in “drastic cuts to Medicare” to pay for his health care proposal. That assertion, which could resonate among elderly voters in swing states like Florida, is being angrily disputed by the McCain campaign. Mr. McCain’s top domestic policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said Friday that the Democrat’s latest assault on the McCain health plan capped the “worst and most sustained distortion of policy in this entire campaign.” In fact, the Obama campaign’s new television advertisement, which Mr. Obama reinforced on the stump in Virginia on Friday and again in Missouri on Saturday, may mischaracterize Mr. McCain’s plan by making assumptions that are stitched together from news reporting and rough
back-of-the-envelope calculations by a partisan policy group. – The New York Times
We’re Confused…
This morning, Colin Powell called Barack Obama “transformational.” Yet, outside Meet, Colin Powell cited the Surge for the transformational progress we have made in Iraq. Where was Barack Obama on that one?
REPORTER: Secretary, there were a number of chinks in your own armor, actually, because of the lead-up to the Iraq war, the events. How much did this -- did that play into your decision about this, and will it be taken perhaps by some, because of your previous high-profile position, will it be taken by some as a repudiation of the Iraq war?
POWELL: I don't know why. The Iraq war is the Iraq war. We now see that things are a lot better in Iraq. Maybe if we had put a surge in at the beginning it would have been a lot better years ago, but it's a lot better now, and we can see ahead to where U.S. forces will start to come out. And so, my concern was not my past or what happened in Iraq, but where we're going in the future. My sole concern was where are we going after January 20th of 2009, not what happened in 2003. I'm well aware of the role I played. My role has been very, very straightforward. I wanted to avoid a war. The president agreed with me. We tried to do that. We couldn't get it through the U.N. and when the president made the decision, I supported that decision, and I never blinked from that. I never said I didn't support a decision to go to war. And the war looked great until the 9th of April
when the statue fell, everybody thought it was terrific. And it was terrific. We’d done a -- the troops had done a great job. But then we failed to understand that the war really was not over, that a new phase of the war was beginning, and we weren't ready for it and we didn't respond to it well enough, and things went very, very -- very, very south, very bad. And now it's starting to turn around through the work of General Petraeus and the troops, through the work of the Iraqi government, through our diplomatic efforts, and I hope now that this war will be brought to an end, at least as far as American involvement is concerned, and the Iraqis are going to have to be responsible for their own security and for their own political future. One more, then I do have to go.
· Check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fStJT2VrhdQ
Newspapers Endorse John McCain For President
The Republican nominee is a man of principle and courage, a man who has been tested on the fields of battle and in the trenches of politics. The veteran Arizona senator is wise in the ways of Washington, but he's not controlled by Washington. Indeed, his long record in the Senate paints him as honest, independent and tough - characteristics that the nation's 44th president needs more than ever. – Savannah Morning News
Sen. John McCain has earned the reputation as an architect of bipartisan compromises and a disciplined budget hawk. At no other time in our nation’s history have we needed a leader with those skills more than now. Sen. Barack Obama, while a gifted orator and a truly inspirational figure, has a skimpier record of bipartisan work and is proposing new taxes and additional government spending at a time when restraint and frugality are imperative. – Bristol Herald Courier
McCain has proven himself able to operate under pressure. He has decades of experience in foreign policy and can face the toughest foes with confidence. He has proven himself a seasoned negotiator in Congress, working across the aisle to pass difficult legislation over the years. He knows how, and when, to compromise. – Jackson Sun
Must Reads:
Sen. John McCain: Stand With Experience To Send America In A New Direction
Sen. John McCain: I'll Lead, Put Our Country First
Richmond Times-Dispatch: Supporters Rally In Woodbridge To See McCain
Charlotte Observer: McCain Rallies Crowd Of Thousands In Concord
Columbus Dispatch: For President
Savannah Morning News: Our Endorsement: John McCain For President
Bristol Herald Courier: McCain For President
Jackson Sun: McCain For President
Philadelphia Inquirer: Palin Defends Attacks On Obama Over ACORN
The New York Times: On ‘SNL,’ Fey As Palin, And Palin As Palin
USA Today: Sarah Palin: Live From New York
The New York Times: Obama Attacks McCain On Health Care And Medicare, In Some Ways Inaccurately
Schedule:
October 19, 2008:
· 1:00 PM ET: John McCain Rally (Columbus, OH)
· 4:15 PM ET: John McCain Rally (Toledo, OH)
· 5:10 PM ET: Governor Palin Rally (Roswell, NM)
Must Reads:
Stand With Experience To Send America In A New Direction
By Sen. John McCain
Duluth News Tribune
October 19, 2008
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/76130/group/Opinion/
A little over a month ago, I stood at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul and promised Americans I would fight for them as their next president. I asked the thousands in the arena and the millions of our fellow citizens to stand up and fight with me to fix Washington because, as Americans, we do not hide from history — we make history.
Since that night, Duluth and the rest of the nation has borne witness to the most serious economic crisis in our lifetime. We have seen once-sturdy Wall Street institutions vanish; we have seen huge swings in the market, both down and up; and we have seen new federal commitments in the hundreds of billions of dollars. We have seen how suddenly a crisis can unfold and how great the costs can be in jobs, savings, lost opportunities and taxpayer dollars.
What we need to see now is swift and bold action to lead this country in a new direction.
Today we are seeing how, in so many ways, Washington is on the wrong track. We need change, and I know how to deliver it. The status quo is not on the ballot. Change is coming. The question is: in what direction will we go?
As president, I will help to create jobs for Americans in the most effective way a president can: by cutting taxes, giving small-business owners the tools to create new jobs, and protecting your life savings. I will lead reforms to help families keep their homes, help retirees keep their savings, help college students pay their tuition, help every citizen afford health care, and lead America to reclaim its energy independence.
In tough economic times, higher taxes are the last thing we need as a nation. Barack Obama’s plan will raise taxes on businesses that generate more than half of the income of all small businesses in America. These are the people who added 350,000 jobs at a time when America lost 700,000 jobs. They are the backbone of our economy and will lead us to recovery.
My plan to cut capital gains taxes on investments will make sure those families forced to sell assets during this downturn aren’t penalized. We will also suspend the rules to prevent our seniors from being forced to sell off their IRAs during a weak market. These initiatives will have a real effect on working men and women in Minnesota and Wisconsin who look to pension and retirement plans in the future.
Having visited Minnesota and Wisconsin during this campaign, both Gov. Sarah Palin and I know how important mainstream values and the enjoyment of the outdoors are on both coasts of Lake Superior. When it comes to conservation of the environment, I walk the trail blazed by Teddy Roosevelt. Being a Republican and being a proponent of the environment are not mutually exclusive.
Gov. Palin and I both know what sportsmen mean to conservation efforts. Everyone who spends time in a stand or a blind or in waders knows how much the environment means to us. We enjoy the natural blessings God has given our country, and we know how important it is to share it with our children.
Sen. Obama tells us that the “tradition” of gun ownership is one which must “be respected.” It is obvious to Gov. Palin and me that he just doesn’t get it. A tradition is one thing, a constitutional right is another. Sen. Obama has a record of not supporting the Second Amendment, including support of the D.C. gun ban, which was ruled unconstitutional. A president doesn’t get to pick and choose which parts of the Constitution he gets to enforce, and I view the right to own a gun as sacred as our right to free speech.
I have been upholding my oath to support and defend the Constitution, putting my country first, since I was
17 years old and about to enter the United States Naval Academy. I have had the great fortune of defending her liberty in uniform and defending the rights of her citizens in Congress. I believe my experience will inspire a generation of Americans to serve a cause greater than their own self-interests.
We cannot afford to spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: waiting for our luck to change. We have to act immediately. We have to stand together and fight. I ask that you stand together with me on Nov. 4, so we can truly change to a new direction — one that puts our country first.
Sen. John McCain of Arizona is the Republican candidate for president. He wrote this exclusively for the News Tribune.
###
I'll Lead, Put Our Country First
By Sen. John McCain
Des Moines Register
October 19, 2008
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081019/OPINION01/810190319&template=printart
Sen. JOHN MCCAIN of Arizona is the Republican nominee for president.
The stakes of this election couldn't be higher, not only for our nation's security but for our economy. Americans need leadership to fix a broken Washington so that we may get our economy back on the path of recovery, growth and job creation.
In this time of crisis, we must have a president who will focus on the heart of the problem: the housing crisis. This is why I proposed the Homeownership Resurgence Plan - to help Americans remain in their homes and stabilize property values.
As president, I will order my treasury secretary to implement my plan, where the United States will support the refinancing of distressed mortgages and replace them with manageable ones. The funds aren't new, but our focus on working families will be. We will put the financial strength back on the side of our citizens, for we are at a moment that requires government to act. Our future is on the line and, as president, I will act quickly and decisively to stop this crisis and begin our recovery.
Today we are seeing how, in so many ways, Washington is on the wrong track. We need change, and I know how to deliver it. The status quo is not on the ballot. Change is coming. The question is: In what direction will we go?
Will our country be a better place under the leadership of the next president - a more secure, prosperous, and just society? Will you be better off, in the jobs you hold now and in the opportunities you hope for? Will your children grow up in the kind of country you wish for them?
Which candidate's experience - in government and in life - makes him a more reliable commander in chief? Who is ready to lead? In a time of trouble and danger for our country, who will put our country first?
I've seen the corrupt ways of Washington in wasteful spending and other abuses of power. As president, I'm going to end these abuses - whatever it takes.
I will enact reforms giving tax relief to the middle class and providing business the means to create new jobs. Rising food and gas costs will be brought under control. I will help working families keep their homes and make it more affordable to send their children to college.
I will freeze non-vital government spending. I will review every federal agency, improve what needs to be improved and eliminate those that aren't working. I will confront the $10 trillion debt that government has run up, and balance the federal budget by the end of my term in office.
This is the clear and candid agenda I offer the American people. When the same is demanded from my opponent, we find that we don't possess a clear picture of what he has done or what he will do.
Despite hearing all he has said, Sen. Barack Obama has never answered the serious and legitimate questions he has been asked, especially about his actual record in the years leading up to the greatest economic crisis in our lifetimes.
It started in our housing market in the form of subprime loans that were pushed on people who could not afford them. Bad mortgages were being backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This unsustainable debt was allowed to fester, ultimately infecting our economy.
I called for tighter restrictions on Fannie and Freddie that could have helped prevent this crisis from happening in the first place. My opponent was silent, and his Democratic allies in Congress opposed every effort to rein them in. Senator Obama's most notable involvement with the housing issue was taking campaign money from executives of Fannie and Freddie - the very people who were causing the problem.
In tough economic times, higher taxes are not what are needed to bring about a recovery. Senator Obama's plan will tax half of the income of small business in America. These are the people who added 350,000 jobs at a time when America lost 700,000 jobs. They are the backbone of our economy, and will lead us to recovery. When I'm president, their taxes will go down instead of up, and we'll help them create jobs for America.
You don't have to hope that things will change when you vote for me. You know things will change, because I have been fighting for change in Washington my whole career. I've been fighting for you my whole life, and that is what I will do as president of the United States.
###
Supporters Rally In Woodbridge To See McCain
By Tyler Whitley
Richmond Times-Dispatch
October 19, 2008
http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.PrintView.-content-articles-RTD-2008-10-18-0177.html
WOODBRIDGE -- Calling Virginia a must-win state, Sen. John McCain today campaigned in Prince William County, where he said that Barack Obama's economic plan would give government money to people who don't pay taxes.
"That is not a tax cut. It is just another government giveaway," he told a crowd of about 7,000 cheering supporters at an outdoor rally at the Prince William County government complex.
He invoked again the name of Joe the Plumber, an Ohioan he had made famous Wednesday night at Hofstra University in the third presidential debate.
"Let's have some straight talk," McCain said. "The real winner this week was Joe the plumber."
The crowd held up signs, provided by the McCain campaign that, involked the names of Joe the plumber, Phil the bricklayer and Rose the teacher. McCain, alluding to the signs, said his economic plan would be better for workers who don't want to pay higher taxes.
Obama has said that under his economic plan, 95 percent of Americans -- families that earn less than $250,000 -- would see no tax increase.
"How do you cut income taxes, federal taxes, for 95 percent of Americans, when more than 40 percent pay no income taxes right now?" McCain asked. "How do you reduce the number to zero?
"Well, that's the key to Barack Obama's whole plan. Since you can't reduce taxes on those who pay zero, the government will write them all checks, called a tax credit, and the treasury will have to cover those checks by taxing other people -- you -- including a lot of folks just like Joe.
"In other words, Barack Obama's plan to raise taxes on some, in order to give checks to others isn't a tax cut. It's just another government giveaway."
In campaigning in the Washington suburb McCain is seeking to hold down Obama's margin in an affluent region that is home to a quarter of the state's 5 million registered voters. Northern Virginia has trended increasingly Democratic in recent statewide races.
McCain's trip capped an extroardinary week of presidential campaigning in Virginia that began Sunday with former President Billl Clinton's trip to Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. It continued Monday with trips to Virginia Beach and Henrico County by McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin and on Friday with Obama's rally in Roanoke.
McCain, wearing a blazer and an open-collared shirt, delivered largely the stump speech he gave Monday in Virginia Beach. He said he knows Americans are worried about the economy, but that he has the courage, experience and the wisdom to lead.
McCain, assessing the state of the campaign, said he trails, but that "nothing is inevitable."
"We have 17 days to go. We're down 6 points. The national media has written us off," he said as the crowd booed lustily.
McCain said: "Senator Obama is measuring the drapes" at the White House and that Obama and "the liberal Democrats" Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid "are planning to raise taxes, increase spending and concede defeat in Iraq."
He added: "My friends, in all this planning they forgot to let you decide. Friends, we've got them where we want them."
McCain noted that Palin will appear tonight on "Saturday Night Live."
"She's going to be with Tina Fey, who I think is her twin sister," McCain said.
McCain, who campaigned with Palin last month in Fairfax City, began yesterday by noting that he has roots in Virginia.
'I'm grateful to be back where I attended high school," at Episcopal High in Alexandria, said McCain, who also noted that he was first stationed in the Navy at Hampton Roads.
###
McCain Rallies Crowd Of Thousands In Concord
By Lisa Zagaroli
Charlotte Observer
Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/104/story/262333.html
CONCORD – Alan Perez, a small-business owner hoisting a sign that read, “Fight for Joe the Plumber,” was just the kind of voter Republican John McCain was looking for at Saturday's rally in Concord.
“I kind of see myself as a Joe the Plumber kind of guy,” Perez said. “These signs represent a lot of people.”
Ever since last week's presidential debate thrust him into the headlines, Joe the Plumber – Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher – has become a touchstone for McCain.
“The real winner this week was Joe the Plumber,” he told around 7,000 enthusiastic supporters at the Cabarrus Arena and Events Center. “Joe won, because he's the only person to get a real answer out of Sen. Obama about his plans for our country. Congratulations, Joe.”
McCain's rally was his second this week in North Carolina, a state no Democratic presidential candidate has won since 1976. Polls of N.C. voters show him running virtually even with Democrat Barack Obama. Today, Obama will make his fourth visit to the state since late September with a rally in Fayetteville.
While Obama is outspending McCain on TV ads in North Carolina, Republicans have been flooding homes with automated phone calls and mailers claiming, among other things, that Obama has “close ties” to 1960s radical William Ayers.
Former Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt Saturday called such attacks “beneath the dignity of a presidential campaign.”
An enthusiastic crowd
In Concord, McCain delivered a 30-minute speech interrupted by chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A!” and a roar at every mention of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. He pledged to rein in spending, explore new energy sources and help troubled homeowners by buying up bad mortgages.
He invoked Joe the Plumber nearly a dozen times.
Wurzelbacher, an aspiring small-business owner, had asked Obama on a campaign stop this month whether his tax plan would hurt him. Obama gave a detailed explanation of his proposal and said by giving tax breaks to more people, it would help small business.
“Right now, everybody's so pinched that business is bad for everybody,” Obama told him. “And I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.”
McCain has pounced. His campaign passed out posters to Perez and others that read, “I'm Joe the Plumber” and “Let Joe keep his dough.” One supporter brought his own plungers to the rally.
“We learned that Sen. Obama's economic goal is, as he told Joe, is, to quote, ‘spread the wealth around,'” McCain said. “He believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs and opportunities for all Americans…
“As Joe has now reminded us all, America didn't become the greatest nation on earth by giving our money to the government to ‘spread the wealth around'… we believe in spreading opportunity.”
Obama spokesman Paul Cox said Obama's comment “is being taken out of context by a campaign that is out of touch, out of ideas, and running out of time.”
“Obama was simply explaining that under his plan, 95 percent of workers and their families are going to get a tax cut.”
American dream
Obama has said he'd give tax cuts to the 95 percent of Americans making under $250,000 a year. He told Wurzelbacher the tax rate on income above $250,000 would rise from 36 percent to 39 percent, but small businesses would get a 50 percent tax credit for health care costs. Tax experts have said it is unclear whether Wurzelbacher would see tax hikes under Obama's plan.
McCain called Obama's tax credits “just another government giveaway.” Cox, citing McCain's proposed $5,000 health care tax credit, accused him of “brazen” hypocrisy.
McCain questioned how Obama would cut taxes for 95percent of Americans “when more than 40 percent pay no income taxes right now? How do you reduce the number zero?”
Obama, speaking to 100,000 people Saturday in St. Louis, said his tax break would go only to people who pay payroll taxes.
“John McCain is so out of touch with the struggles you're facing that he must be the first politician in history to call a tax cut for working people ‘welfare,'” Obama said.
But McCain – and Joe – struck a chord with McCain supporters.
“Joe the Plumber seems to have turned the tide a little bit,” said Jon Miller, a 36-year-old medical salesman from Concord. “(He's) just making people more aware of what the American dream is all about.”
Donny Woodard, 36, a Charlotte financial analyst who was among the few African Americans in the crowd, said he believes McCain “has a clearer message for this country.”
McCain, acknowledging the national polls, offered supporters what he called “hard facts.”
“We have to win the state of North Carolina,” he said. “… Let me give you the state of the race today. We have 17 days to go. We're 6 points down. The national media has written us off. Sen. Obama is measuring the drapes … My friends, we've got them just where we want them.”
The Associated Press and the Washington Post contributed
Alan Perez, a small-business owner hoisting a sign that read, “Fight for Joe the Plumber,” was just the kind of voter Republican John McCain was looking for at Saturday's rally in Concord.
“I kind of see myself as a Joe the Plumber kind of guy,” Perez said. “These signs represent a lot of people.”
Ever since last week's presidential debate thrust him into the headlines, Joe the Plumber – Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher – has become a touchstone for McCain.
“The real winner this week was Joe the Plumber,” he told around 7,000 enthusiastic supporters at the Cabarrus Arena and Events Center. “Joe won, because he's the only person to get a real answer out of Sen. Obama about his plans for our country. Congratulations, Joe.”
McCain's rally was his second this week in North Carolina, a state no Democratic presidential candidate has won since 1976. Polls of N.C. voters show him running virtually even with Democrat Barack Obama. Today, Obama will make his fourth visit to the state since late September with a rally in Fayetteville.
While Obama is outspending McCain on TV ads in North Carolina, Republicans have been flooding homes with automated phone calls and mailers claiming, among other things, that Obama has “close ties” to 1960s radical William Ayers.
Former Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt Saturday called such attacks “beneath the dignity of a presidential campaign.”
An enthusiastic crowd
In Concord, McCain delivered a 30-minute speech interrupted by chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A!” and a roar at every mention of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. He pledged to rein in spending, explore new energy sources and help troubled homeowners by buying up bad mortgages.
He invoked Joe the Plumber nearly a dozen times.
Wurzelbacher, an aspiring small-business owner, had asked Obama on a campaign stop this month whether his tax plan would hurt him. Obama gave a detailed explanation of his proposal and said by giving tax breaks to more people, it would help small business.
“Right now, everybody's so pinched that business is bad for everybody,” Obama told him. “And I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.”
McCain has pounced. His campaign passed out posters to Perez and others that read, “I'm Joe the Plumber” and “Let Joe keep his dough.” One supporter brought his own plungers to the rally.
“We learned that Sen. Obama's economic goal is, as he told Joe, is, to quote, ‘spread the wealth around,'” McCain said. “He believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs and opportunities for all Americans…
“As Joe has now reminded us all, America didn't become the greatest nation on earth by giving our money to the government to ‘spread the wealth around'… we believe in spreading opportunity.”
Obama spokesman Paul Cox said Obama's comment “is being taken out of context by a campaign that is out of touch, out of ideas, and running out of time.”
“Obama was simply explaining that under his plan, 95 percent of workers and their families are going to get a tax cut.”
American dream
Obama has said he'd give tax cuts to the 95 percent of Americans making under $250,000 a year. He told Wurzelbacher the tax rate on income above $250,000 would rise from 36 percent to 39 percent, but small businesses would get a 50 percent tax credit for health care costs. Tax experts have said it is unclear whether Wurzelbacher would see tax hikes under Obama's plan.
McCain called Obama's tax credits “just another government giveaway.” Cox, citing McCain's proposed $5,000 health care tax credit, accused him of “brazen” hypocrisy.
McCain questioned how Obama would cut taxes for 95percent of Americans “when more than 40 percent pay no income taxes right now? How do you reduce the number zero?”
Obama, speaking to 100,000 people Saturday in St. Louis, said his tax break would go only to people who pay payroll taxes.
“John McCain is so out of touch with the struggles you're facing that he must be the first politician in history to call a tax cut for working people ‘welfare,'” Obama said.
But McCain – and Joe – struck a chord with McCain supporters.
“Joe the Plumber seems to have turned the tide a little bit,” said Jon Miller, a 36-year-old medical salesman from Concord. “(He's) just making people more aware of what the American dream is all about.”
Donny Woodard, 36, a Charlotte financial analyst who was among the few African Americans in the crowd, said he believes McCain “has a clearer message for this country.”
McCain, acknowledging the national polls, offered supporters what he called “hard facts.”
“We have to win the state of North Carolina,” he said. “… Let me give you the state of the race today. We have 17 days to go. We're 6 points down. The national media has written us off. Sen. Obama is measuring the drapes … My friends, we've got them just where we want them.”
###
For President
A lifetime of sacrifice and service make John McCain best choice
Editorial
Columbus Dispatch
Sunday, October 19, 2008
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/editorials/stories/2008/10/19/bikepath2.ART_ART_10-19-08_G4_GUBKEGH.html?sid=101
For president of the United States, The Dispatch endorses Republican Sen. John McCain, whose experience, service and sacrifice for his country make him more qualified to lead the nation.
McCain's Democratic opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, is a rousing motivational speaker, but his experience and achievements -- eight years in the Illinois Legislature and less than four in the U.S. Senate -- do not stand comparison with McCain's.
A resume containing so little evidence of leadership and accomplishment leaves in question Obama's ability to handle the most responsible and difficult job in the world, especially at a time when the nation faces a combination of problems so large and complex that they would challenge even the most seasoned leader.
Nor does it seem likely that a man who has traveled in the left lane of American politics for his entire adult life really is the bipartisan centrist that he claims to be. And with Democrats already in control of the U.S. House and Senate -- and the possibility that they might gain a filibuster-proof majority in the next Senate -- there would be little to check the inevitable excesses of one-party rule if a Democrat wins the White House.
This could have a profound effect on the U.S. Supreme Court. A divided Senate acts as a check on presidential nominations to the court by preventing the confirmation of justices with extreme views. But with a filibuster-proof Senate majority ready to do his bidding, Obama would have the unfettered ability to appoint justices likely to be judicial activists, eager to launch a new era of legislating from the bench. Such a Supreme Court could end up as a rubber stamp for, rather than a check on, the White House and Congress.
While neither party can make a credible claim to fiscal responsibility, the dangers of more deficit spending, a growing national debt and uncontrollable entitlement spending are likely greater with an Obama administration. Democrats have not controlled the White House and Congress simultaneously since 1994. A return to majority status is likely to unleash pent-up demand to enact a Democratic wish list of new and expensive social programs when the nation can't afford the ones it has. Given his party-line voting record in the Senate, there is no indication that Obama is able or willing to stand against such an onslaught.
But many of the policy choices the nation will have to make in the next four years are monumental and should be the result of a bipartisan dialogue, not of unchecked one-party dictate.
Debate and political give and take ensure that decisions have been fully vetted, that all interests and concerns have been weighed and that the resulting decisions enjoy broad public support.
Unlike Obama, McCain has a record of bipartisanship: He was a member of the Gang of 14 Republican and Democratic senators who joined in 2005 to preserve the Senate filibuster rule. Note that this courageous act, which enraged the Republican Senate leadership, preserved the filibuster power for what was then the Democratic minority in the Senate. And that was not the only time that McCain has bucked his party.
At a time when the nation faces serious problems, including international economic turmoil, immigration, health care, war in Afghanistan, nation-building in Iraq and foreign-policy challenges from the Middle East, Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela, the president should have an extensive resume and long experience in grappling with tough decisions. Few new presidents have faced an assignment as tough as the one facing the winner of the November election.
From 5 1/2 years as a POW in North Vietnam, where he endured torture, through 25 years in the U.S. House and Senate, McCain has demonstrated the grit, energy and determination that the present challenges demand.
The choice is between a candidate who has been tested to a degree experienced by few and a candidate who is untested. In Obama, Americans are presented with a question mark.
Among the top problems facing the United States is its dire fiscal situation. The nation has a $10 trillion debt and other unfunded obligations to entitlement programs that total $53 trillion. The federal deficit this year is nearly $458 billion and some project the 2009 deficit could hit $700 billion. Despite these staggering numbers, lawmakers and the president just approved a $700 billion Wall Street bailout that they don't have the money to pay for. In short, the United States is dangerously overextended at a time when a worldwide recession threatens.
For years, The Dispatch has called on the president and Congress to deal with this massive, mounting debt which threatens the prosperity and quality of life of generations to come. But year after year, the nation's leaders have kicked the problem down the road.
Seriously confronting this problem will require a president able to call on Americans to make sacrifices for the sake of their grandchildren.
The president will have to ask them to accept cuts in popular programs, tax increases and lowered expectations of what government can afford to do.
Because of the personal sacrifices that McCain has made for the nation, he has unmatched moral authority to call on Americans to take their medicine. If elected, that is precisely what he should do.
The Dispatch urges voters to elect John McCain as president.
###
Our Endorsement: John McCain For President
By Savannah Morning News
October 19, 2008
http://savannahnow.com/node/597179/print
THE NEXT president of the United States must be able to build a consensus, unify a divided country and tackle an uncertain economy, two wars and national security.
It's a job for someone with a proven track record, not untapped potential. Substance matters more than style. The next president must make tough decisions for the good of America, not get cozy with the special interests.
We believe the candidate who's best equipped to be our country's next chief executive during these difficult times is John McCain. We recommend his candidacy to voters.
The Republican nominee is a man of principle and courage, a man who has been tested on the fields of battle and in the trenches of politics. The veteran Arizona senator is wise in the ways of Washington, but he's not controlled by Washington.
Indeed, his long record in the Senate paints him as honest, independent and tough - characteristics that the nation's 44th president needs more than ever.
Earlier this year, this newspaper endorsed Mr. McCain in Georgia's Republican primary and Barack Obama in the state's Democratic primary. Both men won. Then, they went on to capture the nominations.
Since that time, however, their campaigns have lurched along unimpressively. As the days tick down to the Nov. 4 general election, the candidates have done little to inspire greater trust or confidence, especially as world financial markets imploded.
Still, this is an important election and voters have a choice to make. We hope they focus on what the candidates have done and will do if elected, not on which man seems cooler on camera or is better at soothing, siren-like rhetoric.
A tax-cutter
Take taxes, a critical issue as the nation tries to rebound.
Mr. McCain will fight to keep the Bush tax cuts from expiring. This will help working Americans and their families keep more of their hard-earned money.
Just recently, he promised to slash taxes on capital gains from the current 15 percent to 7.5 percent for two years. He pledged to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent (one of the highest rates in the world) to 25 percent.
Mr. Obama, however, will let the Bush tax cuts lapse, which means higher taxes. Taxes on capital gains would rise to at least 20 percent, and possibly higher (but not more than 28 percent, the candidate indicated this summer).
While he promises tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans, he will unleash government so it can take more from those who earn more and produce more. This is exactly the wrong antidote during a time of business closings, job losses and shrinking 401(k)s.
Mr. McCain's 26 years in Congress taught him a valuable lesson. He understands that the best way to create jobs, stimulate growth and put more people on the road to prosperity is by implementing a tax policy that encourages investment, not one that chokes it off.
He also knows it's critically important to stop runaway federal spending, which has gotten worse during the Bush administration and under the Democratic-led Congress.
A fiscal conservative
When Mr. McCain says he's not George Bush, he speaks the truth when it comes to spending. He's one of the few lawmakers in both parties who have eschewed earmarks and voted against pork-barrel giveaways. He wants to freeze spending for a year on discretionary programs - a good idea. His military background will help him take on the Pentagon and fight waste and build strength.
Mr. Obama, however, has proposed $800 billion in new spending, although he has conceded some expenditures may have to be postponed until the economy improves. Good luck on that.
With the big-spending Nancy Pelosi-Harry Reid team running things on Capitol Hill, the liberal-leaning, freshman senator from Illinois will be pressured to keep his veto pen in his pocket.
Indeed, unlike Mr. McCain, Mr. Obama has been a go-along guy within his party. Such lock-step loyalty has helped him get ahead during his short political career. But America doesn't need a rubber stamp in the White House. It needs someone with the guts to occasionally say "no."
A consensus-builder
Mr. McCain, however, has often opposed his own party, which shows grit and integrity. Unlike Mr. Obama, he has reached across the aisle to work with those who disagree with him, liberal Democrats such as Sens. Ted Kennedy and Russ Feingold.
Both candidates have competing health-care plans - Mr. Obama wants the government to do more, Mr. McCain wants more people covered by insurance. Mr. McCain's direction makes more sense, given the budget deficit. Neither candidate is specific on how to address looming Medicare and Social Security challenges, but Mr. McCain has the skills to build a necessary consensus.
On national security and defense, Mr. McCain has said he'd rather lose an election than lose a war. He may get his wish, given the polls. But he has his priorities in the right order. He supported the surge in Iraq, which has been a success. Mr. Obama opposed it.
Mr. Obama's meteoric rise has been impressive. All Americans can take pride in his historic candidacy. But America needs a president who shines with experience more than star power. That's John McCain. We recommend his candidacy.
###
McCain For President
By Bristol Herald Courier Editorial Board
October 19, 2008
http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/opinion/editorials/article/mccain_for_president/15200/
Sen. John McCain has earned the reputation as an architect of bipartisan compromises and a disciplined budget hawk. At no other time in our nation’s history have we needed a leader with those skills more than now.
Sen. Barack Obama, while a gifted orator and a truly inspirational figure, has a skimpier record of bipartisan work and is proposing new taxes and additional government spending at a time when restraint and frugality are imperative.
For these reasons, the Bristol Herald Courier’s editorial board endorses McCain, the Republican candidate for president.
But it was an extremely difficult choice, further complicated by McCain’s erratic campaign and endless missteps compared to Obama’s consistent calm.
Both McCain and Obama, the Democratic standard bearer, are complex, somewhat flawed candidates. At times, both have played to their respective bases in ways that make them less appealing to centrists of either party or to independents.
Take McCain’s hard-right tack since vanquishing his primary foes. His selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate certainly shored up his base but has caused even noted life-long conservative columnists and commentators to jump from the GOP ship.
Obama, meanwhile, veered left to secure his party’s nomination, but has moved back to the center during the general election campaign.
With both men, this begs the question: Were they being honest about their positions in the past or are they being honest now? We don’t have the answer.
Our support for McCain is conditioned on his lengthy and distinguished Senate career rather than his craven campaign appeal to the far right of his party. We’re reasonably confident that McCain will govern from the center and act as a check-and-balance to Congress, which will remain under Democratic control.
Divided government protects us against the extremes of either party. For an example of the pitfalls of single-party control, one needs to look no further than the excesses of the Bush administration, many of which were facilitated by a supine and complacent Republican Congress.
The Democrats are poised to make huge gains in the House and Senate as a result of Bush’s abysmal eight years in office. Unlike President Bill Clinton, who was forced to govern from the center after Republicans gained congressional control in 1994, Obama – even if he wanted to govern as a centrist – would be pulled to the left by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
While the Republicans have squandered our nation’s blood and treasure through a combination of incompetence, idealogy and greed, now is not the time for the pendulum to swing completely in the other direction.
Centrist solutions are needed, and McCain is the right candidate at the right time to lead us through the most difficult time this nation has experienced in many generations. His five-plus years as a Vietnam prisoner of war give us a glimpse of how McCain responds when everything is on the line – with honor, bravery and dignity.
While Obama campaign commercials might portray McCain as Bush’s alter ego, the senator from Arizona is actually an antidote to our current president, under whom our national debt has nearly doubled through a combination of tax cuts for the nation’s wealthiest and unbridled spending.
Our government has never been larger and more unwieldy.
McCain appears to be the most fiscally responsible candidate and the one most likely to deal with entitlement spending. The nation’s obligations in the form of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid threaten to gobble up an ever-increasing portion of the budget – even if the nation does nothing to shrink the number of Americans without health insurance. Reform is urgently required.
Obama has some relevant ideas on the matter of health insurance. We agree that no child should go without adequate health care for lack of insurance, regardless of family income. But Obama’s plan will come at a cost; it isn’t clear that Americans are ready to pay for it.
McCain was slow to propose a health care solution, but has come to embrace market reforms that would end the practice of cherry picking (where insurers only issue policies to the healthy) and provide refundable tax credits to help Americans purchase insurance on their own. It’s not certain that these reforms will work, but they are easier to implement than a massive and far more costly overhaul of the entire system. They are worth a try.
McCain’s commitment to fiscal discipline is a primary reason for our support, but it is not the only one. On a number of issues, he’s shown an independent streak that has put him at odds with his more ideological Republican brethren.
For instance, McCain stood up against torture and called for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. He tried to craft a reasonable immigration compromise that increased security and created a path to citizenship for immigrants who have worked in this country for years. He worked with a Democrat on campaign finance reform. And he’s far more of a conservationist than others in his party – embracing the existence of global climate change and calling for an end to mountaintop removal mining. He, like Obama, understands that a comprehensive energy plan was needed yesterday.
In one area, McCain raises concerns. He’s far too willing to commit troops to Iraq for the long haul and seems to support military action against Iran. He seems poised to embrace the destructive Bush doctrine of pre-emptive war. We hope we are wrong.
Obama, meanwhile, tacks too far to the opposite extreme. He has at times supported a hasty pullout from Iraq, regardless of conditions on the ground. But his call to push for diplomatic rather than military solutions to international problems is on the money.
The next president, regardless of who it is, will inherit a mess of monumental proportions. We remain a country at war, and our economy is threatened in ways we never imagined since the Great Depression. Entitlement spending and the national debt are looming crises.
McCain has the experience to solve these problems by working with the Democrat-controlled Congress and nudging it back to the political center when necessary.
###
McCain For President
Editorial
Jackson Sun (TN)
October 19, 2008
http://www.jacksonsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081019/OPINION01/810190306&template=printart
In an uncertain world, America needs a new president with certainty, fearlessness and proven leadership skills. That candidate is Sen. John McCain of Arizona. The Jackson Sun endorses McCain for president.
The nation faces some of the most trying times in its history. We are involved in two wars, the national and global economies are near meltdown, government spending is virtually out of control, the health care system is broken, Medicare and Social Security face bankruptcy, and partisan bickering has stymied progress in Congress. Who better to cross such a battlefield than a proven military veteran?
As a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a Vietnam War hero, McCain knows the value and importance of discipline. And it will take great discipline to tame government spending.
McCain has proven himself able to operate under pressure. He has decades of experience in foreign policy and can face the toughest foes with confidence. He has proven himself a seasoned negotiator in Congress, working across the aisle to pass difficult legislation over the years. He knows how, and when, to compromise.
Despite his toughness, McCain has demonstrated a deep caring for those in need, for family values, for our troops and our veterans. He understands hard work and sacrifice, and can lead the nation through these tough times by example.
To balance his ticket, McCain boldly chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be the nation's first female vice president. Her intelligence, vitality and strong family values have energized and inspired Americans.
We don't doubt that McCain's opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, is a man of great intelligence, political potential and an exciting candidate. But right now, given the nation's challenges, we need the proven leadership of John McCain. He is the right candidate at the right time.
###
Palin Defends Attacks On Obama Over ACORN
By Larry Eichel
Philadelphia Inquirer
October 19, 2008
http://www.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Palin+defends+attacks+on+Obama+over+ACORN&expire=&urlID=31791097&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.philly.com%2Fphilly%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Felections%2F20081019_Palin_defends_attacks_on_Obama_over_ACORN.html%3FadString%3Dph.news%2Felections%3B%21category%3Delections%3B%26randomOrd%3D101908122511&partnerID=168206
LANCASTER - Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin said here yesterday that more needs to be known about the links between Democrat Barack Obama and ACORN, the community-activist group now being investigated by the FBI in connection with voter-registration fraud.
At an outdoor, morning rally at a minor-league ballpark, the Alaska governor told about 6,000 wind-chilled supporters that Obama, as a lawyer, had represented the group once in the 1990s and that his campaign had hired an ACORN-related group earlier this year for get-out-the-vote activities.
"Wouldn't that be a lot of baggage to drag into the Oval Office?" Palin asked.
"On Election Day, we have to choose between a candidate [Obama] who won't disavow a group committing voter-registration fraud and a leader [John McCain] who will not tolerate it," she said.
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has acknowledged that some of its workers, many of whom are paid on the basis of how many voters they register, may have turned in fraudulent registrations.
The law in many states, Pennsylvania included, requires that a group submit all the registration cards it collects, even the dubious ones. And ACORN officials say they have segregated questionable cards to make them easier for state officials to review.
At the rally, Palin defended the amount of attention she and McCain have given to such matters, which Democrats say are meant to distract voters from more pressing concerns, such as the economy.
"It is not mud-slinging; it is not negative campaigning," she said, "when we talk about someone's record and his associations."
Palin's day was to conclude with a trip to New York City for an appearance on NBC-TV's Saturday Night Live.
The visit to Lancaster, her second since the GOP convention, was part of a Pennsylvania blitz that began with two stops by McCain in the Philadelphia suburbs Tuesday and Thursday.
Yesterday, Palin's husband, Todd, had a three-stop, in-state itinerary that concluded at the Penn State-Michigan football game in State College.
In addition, McCain's wife, Cindy, was in Wilkes-Barre; today, she'll be in Gettysburg.
Tomorrow at 10 a.m., Cindy McCain headlines a rally at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia featuring former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Arlen Specter (R., Pa.), and the wives of five prominent Republican senators and governors from around the country.
Polls show Obama leading in Pennsylvania by a double-digit margin.
###
On ‘SNL,’ Fey As Palin, And Palin As Palin
By Julie Bosman
New York Times
October 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/us/politics/19snl.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
Anyone tuning in to “Saturday Night Live” hoping to see side-by-side versions of Gov. Sarah Palin — the real thing and the Tina Fey version — would have been disappointed.
But Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, did appear on the show Saturday, wearing a bright red suit and her trademark glasses for the opening sketch. She left most of the comedic heavy lifting to Ms. Fey, who played Ms. Palin giving her first news conference as the nominee for vice president. Lorne Michaels, the longtime executive producer of the show, and the actors Mark Wahlberg and Alec Baldwin also appeared in the sketch.
Ms. Palin stood next to Mr. Michaels as they watched the news conference, with Ms. Fey at the lectern playing Ms. Palin, from a television backstage.
“Why couldn’t we have done the ‘30 Rock’ sketch that I wrote?” asked Ms. Palin, her left hand planted impatiently on her hip, referring to Ms. Fey’s critically acclaimed but underwatched comedy series.
“Honestly,” Mr. Michaels answered, “not enough people know that show.”
Mr. Baldwin arrived on the scene long enough to mistake Ms. Palin for Ms. Fey and, after realizing his “mistake,” to tell Ms. Palin, “You are way hotter in person.”
The appearance was Ms. Palin’s effort to be good-natured after enduring weeks of mockery from the show, especially from Ms. Fey, whose winking, girlish, folksy impersonation of Ms. Palin has been called one of the most pitch-perfect in political satire.
In the sketch on Saturday, Ms. Fey, wearing the same red suit and half up-do as Ms. Palin, reprised her now-famous impersonation of the Alaska governor.
Ms. Palin popped up again an hour into the show on the “Weekend Update” sketch, where she joined in a rap routine that made fun of Senator John McCain’s smile, and she cheerfully waved her arms in the air when the chant ordered “all the mavericks in the house” to raise their hands.
Rumors of a Palin appearance on “SNL” had circulated for weeks, but it was not until Friday that the campaign confirmed them. That afternoon, Ms. Palin said she had yet to see a script. By Saturday afternoon, campaign aides had seen several tentative versions.
On the campaign trail in Lancaster, Pa., on Saturday morning, Ms. Palin appeared to be primed for television, emerging from her hotel wearing a miniskirt and black go-go boots and breezing through her single campaign event of the day, a rally before several thousand people at a baseball stadium.
Late Saturday afternoon, she arrived at Rockefeller Center, the skyscraper complex in New York that houses the “SNL” studios, to join the cast’s rehearsals, which were closed to the press. Ms. Palin was accompanied by Mark Salter, the closest adviser to Mr. McCain, the Republican nominee for president; Tucker Eskew, one of her advisers; and Tracey Schmitt, her spokeswoman.
The McCain campaign tightly limits Ms. Palin’s availability to the traveling press corps, but in rare forays to the back of her campaign plane in the last several weeks, she has told reporters that she “would love to” make a guest appearance on “SNL.”
###
Sarah Palin: Live From New York
By Gary Levin
USA TODAY
October 19, 2008
http://usatoday.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Sarah+Palin%3A+Live+from+New+York+-+USATODAY.com&expire=&urlID=31770421&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.usatoday.com%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Felection2008%2F2008-10-17-palin-snl_N.htm&partnerID=1660
Sarah Palin showed up on Saturday Night Live, good-naturedly critiquing Tina Fey's impression of her in a mock press conference.
As Fey told fake reporters that "the American people are angry, and John McCain is angry too," the camera cut to Palin, who was dressed identically to Fey in a red suit, and SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels. Both were standing in a hallway outside the show's New York studio, away from the audience.
"I didn't think it was a realistic depiction of the way my press conferences would have gone," she told Michaels. (She hasn't held any). "Why couldn't we have done the 30 Rock sketch I wrote?" she asked, referring to Fey's low-rated NBC sitcom, which Michaels also produces. "Honestly, not enough people know that show," he replied.
Mark Wahlberg then joined them, demanding to know the wherabouts of cast member Andy Samberg, who mocked him in a sketch earlier this month. And rounding out the guest-star cameos, Fey's 30 Rock co-star Alec Baldwin quickly appeared, pretending to assume the VP candidate standing beside Michaels was actually Fey.
"This is the most important election in our lifetime and you want Tina, our Tina, to go out there and stand next to that horrible woman?," he said, gesturing to Palin. Corrected by Michaels, he told Palin, "You are way hotter in person." And she told Baldwin that "your brother Stephen is my favorite Baldwin brother." (Stephen Baldwin is a McCain supporter).
She then delivered the show's "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night" opening line.
Palin made a low-key return appearance during the Weekend Update segment, when she demurred as Amy Poehler did a Palin-tribute rap that featured fake snow and a dancing moose. But Palin did sign off the segment with co-anchor Seth Meyers.
Fey's version of Palin has been a big hit for SNL, which has seen ratings spike this season. The appearance marked her first on a late-night show.
###
Obama Attacks McCain On Health Care And Medicare, In Some Ways Inaccurately
By Kevin Sack
New York Times
October 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/us/politics/19health.html?ref=politics&pagewanted=print
In a coordinated air and ground attack, Senator Barack Obama is charging that his Republican rival for the presidency, Senator John McCain, would make $882 billion in “drastic cuts to Medicare” to pay for his health care proposal.
That assertion, which could resonate among elderly voters in swing states like Florida, is being angrily disputed by the McCain campaign. Mr. McCain’s top domestic policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said Friday that the Democrat’s latest assault on the McCain health plan capped the “worst and most sustained distortion of policy in this entire campaign.”
In fact, the Obama campaign’s new television advertisement, which Mr. Obama reinforced on the stump in Virginia on Friday and again in Missouri on Saturday, may mischaracterize Mr. McCain’s plan by making assumptions that are stitched together from news reporting and rough back-of-the-envelope calculations by a partisan policy group.
The advertisement asserts that the McCain plan would require “cuts in benefits, eligibility or both.” In his speech Friday, Mr. Obama added that “it would mean a cut of more than 20 percent in Medicare benefits next year.”
But Mr. McCain has not proposed benefit cuts, though he may find it necessary to make his plan pay for itself. Rather, Mr. Holtz-Eakin said Friday that Mr. McCain would fill any budget hole in the plan through a variety of changes that would leave seniors with “exactly the same benefits.” And he pointed out that Mr. Obama supports many of the same changes.
Among the measures he listed were accelerating the computerization of health records, eliminating fraudulent Medicare claims, requiring high-income beneficiaries to pay more for pharmaceuticals, speeding the use of generic drugs and eliminating government subsidies for private Medicare Advantage plans. He also spoke, as Mr. Obama often does, of saving money through more effective treatment of chronic diseases and reconfiguring the Medicare payment system to emphasize prevention.
Economists agree that many of those initiatives should save money over the long term, but estimates of how much and how fast are varied and speculative. Nonetheless, both candidates rely on such guesswork.
The centerpiece of Mr. McCain’s plan, which is intended to make the insurance markets more equitable and competitive, is the elimination of the income tax exclusion of employer-sponsored health benefits. That tax advantage, often worth thousands of dollars a year, is not available to those who buy insurance individually. In exchange, Mr. McCain would offer all consumers tax credits of $2,500 per individual or $5,000 per family to buy coverage.
Mr. McCain’s aides assert that his plan would not add to net government spending. But in July, the Tax Policy Center, a group of analysts from the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, estimated that the change in tax treatment would cost the government $1.3 trillion over 10 years.
The analysts did not evaluate whether the health care savings proposed by Mr. McCain would be sufficient to fill the gap.
Mr. Holtz-Eakin has declined to accept or reject the Tax Policy Center estimate. But this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that he said — without providing much detail — that Mr. McCain had always planned to help pay for the tax credits with reductions to Medicare and Medicaid. The next day, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which is led by John D. Podesta, who was a chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, asserted that a proportional cut would mean eliminating $882 billion from Medicare and $419 billion from Medicaid. The Obama advertisement cites both the Journal article and the center’s study.
Jason Furman, Mr. Obama’s economic policy director, said Saturday that the center’s estimate was “extremely conservative” given Mr. McCain’s pledge to balance the budget. Mr. Furman said there would be no way to fill a $1.3 trillion hole without significant cuts to benefits. He also said the McCain plan would save less than the Obama plan from advances in computerization because it would invest less.
Having problems with message search?
Offline 
Send Email
![[Review & Outlook]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-CM373_oj_1do_D_20081009193327.jpg)
AP 
Glenn Beck is seen here on the Insider Webcam, an exclusive feature available only to Glenn Beck Insiders. 
