McCain's 24 Hour Flip-Flop on the Bush Economy
Ever since Ronald Reagan famously asked Americans in 1980 if they were better off now than four years ago, answering the question has been a pre-requisite for aspiring White House hopefuls. This week, Republican nominee John McCain twice tried to supply a response when asked about the eight years of the Bush economy. His changing answers of "yes" and "no" on consecutive days set a new flip-flopping record, even for John McCain.
On April 17th, Senator McCain was interviewed on Bloomberg TV by Peter Cook. Cook posed Ronald Reagan's Carter-killing question to McCain, the self-proclaimed footsoldier in the Reagan revolution. And to be sure, John McCain was proud to declare "that there's been great progress economically" during the Bush presidency.
MR. COOK: I'm going to ask you a version of the Ronald Reagan question. You think if Americans were asked, are you better off today than you were before George Bush took office more than seven years ago, what answer would they give?
SEN. MCCAIN: [...] I think if you look at the overall record and millions of jobs have been created, et cetera, et cetera, you could make an argument that there's been great progress economically over that period of time. But that's no comfort. That's no comfort to families now that are facing these tremendous economic challenges.
But let me just add, Peter, the fundamentals of America's economy are strong. We're the greatest exporter, the greatest importer, the greatest innovator, the greatest producer, still the greatest economic engine in the world...
But within 24 hours, John McCain's answer to the "are you better off now" question underwent an extreme make-over. Facing the inescapable twin discomforts of an economy actually in recession and the downside of cozying up to George W. Bush, McCain reversed course in another Bloomberg TV appearance, this time with Al Hunt. As Bloomberg reported Friday, April 18:
John McCain distanced himself from President George W. Bush's economic policies, saying Americans are "hurting badly" and haven't fared well under this administration.
"Americans are not better off than they were eight years ago," McCain said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt," to be aired today.
In his defense, John McCain's academic record suggests he's never been a very good test taker. (McCain, after all, finished fifth from the bottom in a U.S. Naval Academy class of 899.) So the next time John McCain is asked, "are the American people better now than eight years ago when George W. Bush came to office?" the answer is no:
Oil and gas prices are at record levels, having tripled during President Bush's tenure. The nation is gripped by the twin crises of the housing market and the financial system. The unemployment rate is now higher than when Bush took office. The dollar is at all time lows versus the yen, the euro and other currencies. Most importantly, recent studies show the Bush economic expansion was the first since World War II in which median family income actually declined.
Not exactly John McCain's "great progress economically."
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Stimulus Package "Deja vu", Not really! As the brains of our economy continue to brainstorm how to get us out of the mess the real estate market first got us in and now high gas prices and a declining economy over all the easy way out seems to be again, an economic stimulus package. Not so fast, not again. First president bush opposes it. Second, according to the experts only 20 percent of the people who got stimulus package number one said the rebate led them to spend more and the rest, well it seems that the rest just took the money and put it into their savings account. Economic stimulus package number one was suppose to get our slow economy going, by then president bush had not heard of a 4 dollar a gallon of gasoline.By now that's old news and as he put it on he's own words "he's heard of it now". Well now mr president one gallon of gas almost hits the 5 dollar mark, have you heard of it? Anyhow, the 100 billion dollars in checks that circulated among many Americans (600.00 for singles, 1,200.00 for couples) apparently didn't help. The money went out on time and gas prices went up just on time as well. With gas prices, food prices also went up. Isn't that how it usually works? Gas prices go up everything goes up, after all business have to make up for the extra expenses and they just pass the check onto us.Here's an idea! How about lowering the tax on gasoline? Do we really know how much money we pay on gas taxes in the u.s? Aren't this taxes imposed by our government, well maybe our government can really give a stimulus to our morale and lower the taxes we pay on gas prices. A lower tax in gasoline prices will stimulate business and consumers, it's not rocket science!Source for this quote: Wikipedia "Fuel taxes in the United States vary by state. For the first quarter of 2008, the average state gasoline tax is 28.6 cents per US gallon, plus 18.4 cents per US gallon federal tax making the total 47 cents per US gallon"
Posted by yanni raz on July 23, 2008 10:17 AM