This page is going to be a centralized location for all of my “why you shouldn’t vote for McCain” tidbits collected from around the web. The main purpose is to create an easy place for me to point friends and acquaintances who are remotely considering McSame, er McCain.
Last Updated: August 29, 2008, with much more to come.
Women’s Issues
Despite McCain’s recent play for Hilary Clinton supporters, I’d like to remind them of his campaign’s “How do we beat that bitch?” moment:
And on reproductive rights, McCain has received a 0 percent rating from NARAL (2002 to 2007). According to the site:
In addition to his solidly anti-choice record, Sen. McCain has never cosponsored or supported legislation that would prevent unintended pregnancy or reduce the need for abortion.
Including voting against or opposing:
- A 2005 measure that would allocate $100 million to prevent unintended and teen pregnancies
- 2006 legislation to provide funding for comprehensive and medically accurate sex education, including teaching about abstinence
- Extending the Title X family planning program (in 1990), which provides low-income and uninsured women and families with health care services ranging from breast and cervical cancer screening to birth control.
- Comprehensive sex education
- Overturning the policy which bars foreign non-governmental organizations from receiving U.S. family planning assistance if the organization (using its own, non-U.S. funds) provides abortion services or information or advocates for pro-choice laws and policies in its own country. (2005)
McCain skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which “restores the longstanding interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act,” adding that instead of legislation allowing women to fight for equal pay, they simply need “education and training.“ [Source and Source ]
Despite quotes from the past and his current campaign surrogates (and here) saying McCain would not overturn Roe vs. Wade (legislation favored by 62% of Americans in a 2007 poll), McCain has gone on the record stating otherwise – both at the Saddleback Forum and on his campaign website.
More recently, Carly Fiorina, one of McCain’s most outspoken surrogates, stated that McCain “has never signed on to efforts to overturn Roe vs. Wade,” and that he would do more to ensure that health insurance companies would cover birth control medication – despite McCain voting against measures that would do just that in 2003 and 2005.
And on Think Progress, we are told the story of McCain’s alleged 1986 rape joke:
Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, “Where is that marvelous ape?”
[Also reported by MSNBC too.]
The Economy
Think Progress reports a tax policy expert at the Cato Institute on McCain’s tax cut proposals:
McCain’s apparent bent towards deeper tax cuts at the higher end of the income scale in his recent campaign proposals surprised many who recall his rejection of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts.“McCain’s proposals this year are consistently pretty supply-side, even more so than Bush’s were,” said Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute.
Also from the post on Think Progress:
Earlier this year, the non-partisan Tax Policy Center found that McCain’s economic plan “would primarily benefit those with very high incomes.” In fact, under McCain’s plan, John and Cindy McCain would get a $300,000 tax break while middle class Americans would save only $319. The McCains save $60,016 more under McCain’s tax plan than under Bush’s.
And this was the man who said (in reference to the Bush tax cuts):
“I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans who need tax relief.”
The McCain camp is also a little confused on taxes, with senior campaign adviser Steve Schmidt saying it was OK for Palin to have raised taxes while she was in office, while simulaneously lying about Obama’s tax proposal:
She raised sales taxes because that was the right thing to do for that town at that time. It shows that she doesn’t adhere to a dogmatic principle. We have to have taxes in this country. Here’s the difference. Sen. Obama wants to raise everybody’s federal taxes. Gov. Palin and Sen. McCain are going to cut them.
Here’s the Washington Post graphic comparing the two tax proposals:
So Obama’s going to raise everyone’s taxes, right? I guess, if by everyone you mean the ultra rich. Obama’s plan gives better tax breaks to a majority of Americans when compared to McCain’s plan. Guess Schmidt doesn’t like to look past the top 1%, after all that’s where he and his client reside.
Iraq
McCain very recently called Iraq a “peaceful and stable country.” Which was, in fact, McCain’s definition of ‘victory’ in Iraq. Think Progress listed some examples of ‘peace and quiet’:
- August 9: A suicide car bomb in Tal Afar killed at least 25 people.
- August 24: A suicide bomber killed 25 people, including women and children, in Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib district.
- August 27: A suicide bomber killed 28 and wounded 45 in Iraq’s Diyala province.
Sounds pretty peaceful and quiet to me. And even if it was, wouldn’t this mean McCain is for getting out of Iraq, if we’ve won?
Despite his many quotes against setting a ‘timetable to leave Iraq’ (and constantly denigrating Obama’s support for one) and his avid support for the Bush Administration, will McCain change his tune now that the Bush Administration has set a timetable with Iraqi leaders and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s insistence on a withdrawal date.
Remember:
“If you pass a resolution…that dictates withdrawal and a time for withdrawal, all you’re doing is telling the enemy, ‘hang on, we’re leaving.’”
But, Obama is putting politics in front of ‘winning’? It looks like McCain is the only one hanging on to hanging around Iraq.
