The fear that Republican Presidential candidate will be soundly defeated by Obama in November has generated a massive barrage of outright lies and some very smelly BS. Some of the lies and BS come from the usual disreputable sources like Right Wing talk radio hosts, Republican bloggers, Ann Coulter clones and certain Fox News commentators. These are to be expected.
Right Wing Republican Congressional candidates have been using slash and burn campaigns and outright lies routinely since at least the 1994 election. The recent negative comments by Congresswoman Heather Wilson falsely smearing Obama are a prime example of this low road campaign style. Republican Congressman Charlie Dent has been trying to defend his close ties to the oil industry and the huge amount of money they have donated to his campaign by blaming his Democratic challenger Sam Bennett for high fuel prices. Wilson and Dent sound just like McCain. They are just frightened of the voters and trying to hide their roles in creating the current economic mess.
However, the Republican Presidential candidates usually have not been nearly as vicious or desperate as John McCain. McCain seems to have become as divorced from the truth or civil political discourse as Dick Cheney. Smears and attack lines cannot conceal the truth forever.
Only about a half dozen years ago, I remember talking about the respect I held then for John McCain, as an independent-minded Republican, on my talk radio show. While I respected the McCain of Bush’s first term and admired the soldier McCain of the Vietnam era, I have little respect for McCain’s behavior as a Presidential candidate in 2008.
I admit that I would not have voted for John McCain at any point in his political career because he has always been a political enemy of working Americans and a powerful tool of the Corporate forces crushing us as workers, taxpayers and consumers. Those differences were ones of policy.
The problem with McCain in 2008 is that his character has apparently been corrupted by his lust for the Presidency. His nasty tone and negative personal attacks on Obama show how much of a failure McCain has been as a Presidential candidate trying to defend on the failed policies of Bush Republicanism!
McCain has falsely blamed Obama for high gas prices. McCain has been receiving huge campaign donations from Big Oil. He has done absolutely nothing to promote more competition in the oil industry. He has opposed oil windfall taxes that would have been used to promote alternative energy development.
McCain has done nothing to pressure the oil industry to actually drill on the 68 million acres of offshore drilling rights leased from the federal government. He has only attacked Obama for not supporting more leases that would probably not be drilled on by Big Oil.
Why would the oil industry expand production when it would lessen their ability to price gouge the American public? They make huge profits by keeping oil production as low as possible and supplies tight. They have been buying out competitors and closing refineries ever since Bush and Cheney took control of the White House in 2001 just to drive up prices!
McCain has offered meaningless gimmicks like the temporary, dangerous proposal to suspend the federal fuel taxes this summer. The price gouging by the oil industry dwarfs the temporary relief of 18.4 to 22.4 cents per gallon. These fuel taxes are used for roads and bridges repairs, maintenance and safety. We all remember the Interstate bridge collapse in Minnesota when the Republican Governor cut the funding for safety inspections and needed repairs. We need a President willing to stand up for consumers against Big Oil instead of a Liar-in-Chief trying to sell us on Big Oil talking points.
The Iraq War is another example of McCain following in the unethical footsteps of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. The similarities are not just policy positions but also political ethics. The terrible mistakes of Bush, Cheney and McCain got us into this disaster of a war. It was launched based on lies told to the American public that they knew were lies.
We have wasted the lives of over 4,000 brave American soldiers and at least a trillion dollars of current and future taxpayers’ money in an unnecessary war. The oil did keep Iraqi oil off the world market and made worldwide price-gouging by Big Oil possible. It made it possible for Republicans to give no-bid contracts to the large corporations providing them with campaign donations.
If Bush, Cheney and McCain had not pushed us into invading Iraq, there would have been no need for a troop surge. Without this colossal failure of judgment by Bush, Cheney and McCain, we would not have over 4,000 dead American soldiers, trillions of wasted taxpayer dollars undermining the American economy and a likely post-War dominance of Iraq by Iran.
The invasion of Iraq has vastly increased the likelihood of Iran becoming a nuclear power. It has increased the appeal of Islamic terrorists on the Moslem street around the world. It has increased the chances of war with Iran. The Iraq policies of Bush, Cheney and McCain have undermined our real fight against the Bin Laden terrorist organization in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
These policies concerning war and terrorism demonstrated that McCain shares Bush’s serious character flaw of never admitting he has made a serious error of judgment even when the results have been a disaster. We had 8 years of dealing with this character flaw. We do not need 4 or 8 more years of the same. The past Liar-in-Chief lied to the American people and himself. I believe McCain will do the same.
It is time to cut through the bull droppings and spin of the McCain campaign and look at the facts. McCain falsely claims that Obama will increase taxes on most Americans. In truth, Obama will only slightly increase taxes on those have taxable incomes over $250,000 a year. The overall tax levels for most Americans will likely be slightly reduced.
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