McCain and the GI Bill - Flop till you flip?

Where does McCain flip-flop to regarding the GI Bill?

ummm...what day is it?

FLIP: McCain said NO to Jim Webb's proposal to give our troops the same educational opportunites as those offered to our troops after World War II.

McCain said NO to the GI Bill of Rights. McCain stood with Bush in opposing legislation and programs which support our troops.

FLOP: McCain Supports GI Bill and issues this statement

I'm happy to tell you that we probably agreed to an increase in educational benefits for our veterans that not only gives them increase in their educational benefits, but if they stay in for a certain period of time than they can transfer those educational benefits to their spouses and or children.

Watch the Clip

Is it Trickling yet?

Trickle-down Economics and Ronald Reagan
Jim Blair

There has been a good deal of discussion centred on the question of whether anyone can point to a nation or empire that implemented 'Trickle Down Economics' and saw wealth actually trickle. In reviewing the issue I see two separate issues, and plan to treat them in the two parts of this essay.

PART I: What is meant (or at least what is commonly understood) by the term 'Trickle Down Economics'. And from that, what are examples that will be accepted by the parties to the discussion. In other words, let's see if we can agree about what we are talking about, and agree on specific examples.

PART II: How to evaluate a specific example, or what I call the use and misuse of statistics. The earlier exchange generated a "textbook example" of the misuse of statistics about the recent US. And what should be the basis of comparison? Should one country be compared to another? Or one time period in history to another. More on this later.

D.C. SNAPSHOT: Bush Lawyers on Child Torture and Burial Alive

D.C. SNAPSHOT: Bush Lawyers on Child Torture and Burial Alive
By Harry Hanbury on Jun 26, 2008

On June 26, 2008, John Yoo and David Addington, two leading architects of the Bush administration's policies on torture, testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Even seemingly simple questions yielded evasive answers.

John McCain vs John McCain

The Official John McCain Flip-Flop and Gaffe Master List

Passing this website along to you:

The Official John McCain Flip-Flop and Gaffe Master List
Republican Presidential candidate Senator John McCain has become a Gaffe Machine since hitting the campaign trail last year. As the November election nears, the frequency and severity of his gaffes & flip-flops has grown to the point where it's necessary to have a MASTER LIST (with confirming links) of the multitude of missteps coming out of the McCain campaign, all in one place. Seeing as what a big deal Republicans made out of Senator John Kerry's supposed "flip-flops" during the 2004 Presidential race, it only seems fair that we pay attention when their nominee for 2008 does the same thing.

McFlip vs McFlop

Where does McCain stand on the Oil Crisis? Ummm...what day is it?

McFlip Late may 2008: "With those resources, which would take years to develop, you would only postpone or temporarily relieve our dependency on fossil fuels," McCain said when asked about offshore drilling. "We are going to have to go to alternative energy, and the exploitation of existing reserves of oil, natural gas, even coal, and we can develop clean coal technology, are all great things. But we also have to devote our efforts, in my view, to alternative energy sources, which is the ultimate answer to our long-term energy needs, and we need it sooner rather than later."

McFlop JUNE 18, 2008: "I believe it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use," he said on Tuesday, "as a matter of fairness to the American people, and a matter of duty for our government, we must deal with the here and now, and assure affordable fuel for America by increasing domestic production."

McFlip Mid-May 2008: McCain was quoted saying he didn't "like obscene profits being made anywhere," and, as such, would be "glad to look" at a windfall profits tax on oil companies.

McFlop June 17, 2008: McCain criticized Barack Obama for wanting "a windfall profits tax on oil to go along with the new taxes he also plans for coal and natural gas."

Mc-Spamming

MC-SPAM POINTS

John McCain is giving points for Mc-Spaming.

QUOTE Spread The Word
Help spread the word about John McCain on news and blog sites. Your efforts to help get the message out about John McCain's policies and plan for the future is one of the most valuable things you can do for this campaign. You know why John McCain should be the next President of the United States and we need you to tell others why.

Select from the numerous web, blog and news sites listed here, go there, and make your opinions supporting John McCain known. Once you’ve commented on a post, video or news story, report the details of your comment by clicking the button below. After your comments are verified, you will be awarded points through the McCain Online Action Center. END QUOTE

You are given "featured blogs" to Mc-Spam, and easy copy/paste Mc-Spam talking points. Would you like some Mc-Koolaid to go with that?

John McCain vs John McCain

Fear and Smear

The Republicans and their allies have two tools in their tool box - Fear and Smear. As the Presidential Campaigns heat up over the next few months watch them use both tools.

Senator Obama has established Fight the Smears

Current Smears circulating:

Michelle Obama Says “Whitey” On a Tape
Barack Obama's birth certificate
Barack Obama is a Muslim
Obama's Books Contain Racially Incendiary Remarks
Barack Obama Won't Say The Pledge of Allegiance/Won't Put His Hand Over His Heart

If you Like the Bush Prices

Jan 2000 Oil: $28/barrel
Jun 2008 Oil: $138/barrel.
Increase of 400%

You're going to LOVE the McCain Prices.






McCain on Oil:
1999: During his 2000 run, MSNBC debate, Dec. 14, 1999: "I'm here to tell you that I'm going to tell you the things that you don't want to hear, as well as the things you want to hear, and one of those is ethanol. Ethanol is not worth it. It does not help the consumer."

More: "Those ethanol subsidies should be phased out, and everybody here on this stage, if it wasn't for the fact that Iowa is the first caucus state, would share my view that we don't need ethanol subsidies. It doesn't help anybody.”

2003: Here's McCain’s language in November 2003 against ethanol…"Ethanol is a product that would not exist if Congress didn't create an artificial market for it. No one would be willing to buy it. Yet thanks to agricultural subsidies and ethanol producer subsidies, it is now a very big business -- tens of billions of dollars that have enriched a handful of corporate interests -- primarily one big corporation, ADM. Ethanol does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality."

Public pressure on oil industry to invest in alternatives:

Q: Should the oil industry be required to use some of their profits to help solve our energy problems?

McCain: I would hope that they would use those profits to further the cause of alternate energy, nuclear power, a lot of other ways that we have to employ in order to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.

Q: Do you support drilling/exploration off the coasts of Florida and California?

McCain: I wouldn't drill off the coast of Florida unless the people of Florida wanted to. And I wouldn't drill off the coast of California unless the people of California wanted to, and I wouldn't drill in the Grand Canyon unless the people in Arizona wanted to.

Q: But you wouldn't require the oil industry to use its profits to help pursue alternative energy?

McCain: I would not require them to. But I think that public pressure and a lot of other things, including a national security requirement that we reduce and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil.

FLIP-FLOPS:
In 2003, McCain said that ethanol "does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality." Campaigning in Iowa in August 2006, he described ethanol as a "vital alternative energy source, not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse reduction effects." Yesterday, in Massachusetts, he reverted to his anti-ethanol position.

Is this Change?

Bush Policies:

• Trickle Down economic policy - Tax cuts for wealthy, Cut the Corporate Tax Rate,
  Lower trade barriers
• Energy Policy - More Drilling, more Nuke plants
• Privatize Social Security
• Healthcare - Benefits insurance companies, drug companies, medical industry
• Supports Warrentless Wire Tapping
• General Foreign Policy - Shoot First
• Iraq - "making progress"
• Iran - Saber Rattling
• Osama Bin-Laden / Al-Qeada - Not a concern except to raise fear levels
• Veteran Benefits - cut funding

McCain Supports:

• Trickle Down economic policy - Tax cuts for wealthy, Cut the Corporate Tax Rate,
  Lower trade barriers
• Energy Policy - More Drilling, more Nuke plants
• Privatize Social Security
• Healthcare - Benefits insurance companies, drug companies, medical industry
• Supports Warrentless Wire Tapping
• General Foreign Policy - Shoot First
• Iraq - "making progress"
• Iran - "Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran"
• Osama Bin-Laden/Al-Qaeda - Silence, except to use as rhetoric for raising fear levels
• Veteran Benefits - Voted against restoring/increasing Veteran Benefits

Insanity is defined as repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Need I say more?

MORE-OF-THE-SAME-MCCAIN

I don't understand why McCain would even suggest the idea of town hall meetings. This is not a good venue for him to highlight his strong points, and near impossible for his handlers to stage, stack and script the audience.

When I heard that Obama agreed, I wondered what question I would ask if they came to my area and and I was able to attend.

I settled on asking McCain about his economic policy:

In 1981 when Reagan cut taxes and began deregulating industries we were promised there would be a "trickle down effect", 8 years later Bush-1 continued the practice for another 4 years and promised a "trickle down effect". Bush-2 picked up where Reagan-Bush left off by cutting taxes and promising a "trickle down effect". Over the past 28 years, we've had 20 years of promises of a "trickle down"

Your proposal is to cut taxes and deregulate with the promise of a "trickle down effect" - How are your policy propsals NOT the SAME as Reagan-Bush-Bush? Or to put it more simply - WHERE'S THE TRICKLE?

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If you notice - I would frame the question not how would it be DIFFERENT - but rather how it's not the SAME. Might seem to be just semantics - but it forces the mind to focus on what is the same, thus linking McCain=more of the same.

I would suggest when talking to people, writting Letters-to-the-editor etc that phrasing a McCain policy position be stated as "How is it NOT the SAME as bush's". This emphasizes the similarities in people's minds as opposed to highlighting what little differences there may be.

Whenever possible - always throw bush's name into the question to force mccain to defend his answer against "bush" as opposed to obama. this further strengthens the McCain=Bush equation.

Regarding national defense/Iraq - this is percieved as mccain's strong suit - a few suggestions on questions to ask him:

1. How is your foreign policy not the same as bush's?

2. We are currently BORROWING $x billions of dollars from China, Mexico and other foreign sources to fund the Iraq occupation - would you continue the bush practice of borrowing money from foreign sources to continue the Iraq occupation? If not, how would you fund the occupation when you want to cut taxes?

3. Would you continue the bush practice of no-bid contracts in the privatizing of the Iraq Occupation?

McCain - Boggart or Dementor?

Transcript: John McCain Speech on the General Election Race
by FOXNews.com
Tuesday, June 3, 2008

(sorry the link is to faux-spews - but it was the only place I place I could find his entire speech this morning....)

My first impressions of McCain's Speech on the General Election Race:

The image of Professor Umbridge standing in the great hall and giving a speech to students popped into my head. (Sadly I failed in my attempts of the "Ridiculous" spell and picturing McCain in a pink dress surrounded by kitten plates or McCain isn't just a boggart)



Professor Umbridge, notes she is not in favour of change for change’s sake, but that some changes will result in a “new era of effectiveness, and accountability" (And what's up with his grinning and chuckling? seemed forced. If it was more of a giggle then I would say he was Umbridge in drag.)

McCain is "framing" the debate as "right change" and "wrong change". He agrees that change is needed, yet the "changes" he proposes are the same bush policies in a new package design.

He talks about taxcuts and deregulation. We've had that and the "trickle" that was suppose to come down as a result of this hasn't trickle down, instead we've been "tinkled on".

Regarding his view of "government" I was waiting for him to repeat Reagan's line about "...I'm from the government and here to help you..."

He's also trying to repackage himself as the "maverick" he may have once been and ignore his compliance with the bush policies. Maybe we need to ask "who is the real mccain?".

McCain brushed off "special interests" as "This is the game Washington plays. Both parties play it, as do the special interests that support each side."

Overall, his "talking points" are all tied to one theme "keeping america safe", booga booga.