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A Look at John McCain and a Bye, Bye to Rudy |
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In last night’s Florida Republican primary, Arizona Sen. John McCain won with 36 percent of the vote. But although McCain has been in the national eye for nearly a decade, since his first failed presidential run in 2000, most people still know little about his positions—except that he wants to commit the United States to seemingly endless years of war in Iraq.
In a time of economic uncertainty, McCain told the Chicago Tribune that managing the economy isn’t his strong suit.
The issue of economics is something that I’ve really never understood as well as I should.
Later confronted with his own quote about his weakness on economic issues, he denied and evaded ever saying it.
MSNBC’s conservative commentator Joe Scarborough pithily summed up McCain’s platform last night as: “Less jobs and more wars.”
McCain’s support for “trickle-down” economics emphasizes the best fix for the economy is cutting taxes for the richest and letting the benefits “trickle down” to the rest of us. He’s made factually false claims in support of this ideology. And despite his rhetoric describing himself as an “outsider” and a “maverick,’ he’s deeply connected to wealthy special interests and lobbyists that have run Washington for years.
McCain’s lack of understanding of economic realities shows in three decades in Congress. When it comes to the interests of America’s workers, a look at McCain’s voting record shows he’s opposed efforts to expand health care and protect workers while voting for unbalanced trade treaties like the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). He joined the filibuster of the Employee Free Choice Act in 2007, blocking labor law reform that would give millions of workers the freedom to form unions.
Check out these details on McCain’s record on trade, health care and good jobs:
- In 2004, McCain voted against protecting workers’ overtime rights.
- In 2003, McCain voted against a temporary extension of unemployment benefits.
- In 2005, McCain voted for CAFTA and trade agreements with Singapore and Chile in 2003—all of which have no enforceable labor standards.
- In 2005, McCain voted to disqualify 10 million workers from minimum wage, overtime and equal pay protections.
- In 2004, McCain voted against an amendment prohibiting overseas outsourcing of federal contracts.
- In 2007, McCain voted against collective bargaining rights for federal employees.
- In 2006, McCain voted against an amendment to prevent privatization of federal jobs.
- In 2007, McCain voted against an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
- In 2007, McCain voted to filibuster a bill to allow Medicare to negotiate for fair drug prices.
McCain won a tight race with former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.), who won 31 percent of the vote. The Florida Republican primary also saw the final implosion of Rudy Giuliani’s campaign for president. Giuliani came in third with 15 percent, while former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) finished with 14 percent.
The former mayor of New York dropped out of the race after being thoroughly repudiated by voters. Was it his dishonesty? His lack of compassion? His exploitation of the Sept. 11 tragedy? His arrogant insistence that everything was going just fine with his sputtering campaign? Or the fervent opposition he inspired from Fire Fighters and first responders after the 9/11 attacks?
Whatever the reason, the more voters got to know Giuliani, the less they liked him. Giuliani’s distant third in Florida was his highest finish in any primary.
(If you live in the New York City area, the progressive group Drinking Liberally is holding a Rudy retirement party at—where else?—Rudy’s. Join the group tomorrow night from 7:30 on. Find out more here.)
6 Comments
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Seth,
Great article. It is important for the Rank-in-File to see what an Anti-Union slime ball McCain is.
Thank You
John McCain is pro-illegal. Enough said!
What is Mitt Romney’s voting record on pro-union and pro-worker issues? Overtime rights, unemployment, CAFTA and other trade agreements, minimum wage, outsourcing, collective bargaining, childrens health insurance and other issues that McCain voted against.
Bye Bye Republicans!! period!
McCain is a Bush clone and very dangerous. He’s the Republican’s newest puppet, for he would like nothing better than to continue Bush’s legacy of corruption and exploitation. If you listen to him talk, you realize he has NOTHING to say, and he contradicts himself, in spite of that anyway.
If you look at the Republican candidates for president you really have to wonder how in the world did these people, THESE people get nominated, or is it possible that there are no good Republicans left in the party.
From my own point of view, Senator McCain is a dangerous man. Like George W. Bush who is obsessed with 911 and ElQuada, McCain is obsessed by his imprisonment back in North Vietnam. As a result, the United States will stay on any war (Iraq) until it has achieved a victory like in WWII so as to preserve honor for veterans like him, even at the cost of bringing economic ruin to this country the way of the Soviet Union.
This is also a man whose family generations have always been with the military. No wonder why he has always been a strong supporter of HUGE military spending at the expenses of social, human, and health programs. He is strongly critical of Dr. Ron Paul’s stand on the Iraq war because Ron Paul stands for domestic issues and humanity. The question for American voters in November is this. It is now clear that the United States is heading for an economic decline in the 21st century, can this country allow another George W. Bush heir to control the White House?