Posted on 03/13/2008 11:35:34 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
CHICAGO - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama said Thursday that Sen. John McCain reversed his position on President Bush's deep tax cuts in order to win the Republican presidential nomination, one of his sharpest criticisms yet of the Arizona senator he hopes to face this fall.
Criticizing GOP efforts to extend major tax cuts from Bush's first term and to eliminate the estate tax, Obama said: "These are all steps that John McCain rightly said were irresponsible when they first came up."
"He made a decision to reverse himself on that," Obama told reporters as he flew from Chicago to Washington for a series of Senate votes on budget issues.
"That was how, I guess, you got your ticket punched to be the Republican nominee," he said of McCain. "But he was right then, and he's wrong now."
McCain has said he supports extending the tax cuts, which he initially voted against, because the economy is struggling and tax reductions offer some stimulus.
McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said in a statement that if Obama is nominated, "the American people will have a clear choice: John McCain will cut taxes while Senator Obama will raise them, hurting our economy and costing jobs for hardworking Americans."
Obama has proposed an array of subsidies for higher education, health care and other costs hitting middle-class families. He said he believes he can pay for such plans by closing tax loopholes, placing a new tax on carbon emissions, phasing out the Iraq war and ending the Bush tax cuts for the nation's highest earners.
"We have identified the cuts that we think are available, or the changes in our tax code that are available to pay for our middle-class tax cut as well as our proposals to fund higher education and so on," the Illinois senator said.
He said, however, "There will be a lot of special interests and lobbyists that will resist the kinds of changes that I've proposed."
Asked if he would scale back his agenda if some of his proposed tax increases fail, Obama said, "I am a strong believer in pay-go," a term for avoiding new deficits by paying as you go. "So adhering to pay-go means that if I couldn't find the revenues or reduce spending in other areas, then I couldn't pay for my proposals."
Guess I’d rather someone flip-flop to the right side of an issue than always be on the wrong side.
Well Mr. Obama, given that from 2003 to 2006 the Bush tax cuts rose federal revenue by 47%, anyone with sense would change their mind to being for the tax cuts... you Democrat moron!
Is this supposed to hurt McCain?
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Yes if the dems and media can make it fly, but will it? Likely not,, but the irony is rich as well, imo..
Here we have the ap and a dem candidate trying to make hay out of a flop that shouldn’t be necessary in the first place.
Suggestion: An Obama/McCain ticket. What the heck? They’re both libs.
*Suggestion: An Obama/McCain ticket. What the heck? They’re both libs.*
Suggestion: give it up. We’ve all seen this same basic comment about 9 million times since McCain took a big lead in delegates. You’re not offering anything constructive.
well the fact that McCain just voted to extend the tax cuts while Obama voted against and critized McCain for it just raised McCains value in my book
Barry Hussein Osama Obama YoMama is clueless about economics, taxes, and pretty much everything else.
When Ronald Reagan took office on January 20, 1981, the IRS was raking in $500 billion per year. When he left office 8 years later, the IRS took in $950 billion on a per capita basis. Tax cuts MORE than pay for themselves.
Likewise, when the Republican Congress twisted Bill Clinton’s arm and convinced him to agree to a cut in the capital gains tax to 15%, money flowed into federal coffers at a dizzying pace.
Blacks should stop blaming white people for their problems and take that chip off their shoulders.
Having babies, when you’re a teenager, with no husband, is a sure-fire way to poverty, irregardless of race.
you are correct my friend
if Bama or Hill get in there they are going to muck up this country in ways we have yet to imagine
True, though voting against a tax cut isn't the same as voting to raise taxes, which is the issue here. I think McCain's votes were a mistake, but he was right on the issue of tying cuts to spending cuts. On pork, Obama's a loser.
Yeah, if you can believe he actually flopped. McCain used heavy class warfare rhetoric against Mitt. That tells me he has no interest across the board cuts.
“On pork, Obama’s a loser.”
Most muslims are. ;-)
“Barry Hussein Osama Obama YoMama is clueless about economics, taxes, and pretty much everything else.”
He is damn good at pandering!
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