More Lies From Senator McCain

Social Security – In a campaign event in New Hampshire, Senator McCain said:

“I’m not for, quote, privatizing Social Security. I never have been. I never will be.”

However, in 2004, Senator McCain said:

“Without privatization, I don’t see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits.”

This means that either:

A.) McCain has changed his tune but doesn’t want to admit it.

B.) McCain isn’t for it and wants Social Security to fail.

C.) McCain simply forgot his earlier position.

I would think it is in all likelihood A or B given that he has to realize that being seen as a “flip-flopper” would be damaging for him politically(due to his image as a man who takes principled stands on the issues) and Republicans have long opposed Socail Security.

Defense Spending – In 2007, Senator McCain wrote that America should spend more money in the military-industrial complex:

“We can partially offset some of this additional investment by cutting wasteful spending. But we can also afford to spend more on national defense, which currently consumes less than four cents of every dollar that our economy generates — far less than what we spent during the Cold War.”

However, as Forbes noted, Senator McCain now wants to cut national security spending.

A Balanced Budget By The End Of His First Term – On February 16, 2008, Senator McCain promised that if he is elected President, he will balance the budget by the end of his first term. However, by February 19, 2008 that had become a pledge to balance the budget by the end of his second term.

Domestic Spying - When asked about domestic spying on December 20, 2007, Senator McCain said:

“There are some areas where the statutes don’t apply, such as in the surveillance of overseas communications. Where they do apply, however, I think that presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is.

He was asked a follow-up about whether or not the existing statutes were to be obeyed:

“I don’t think the president has the right to disobey any law.”

And as I mentioned earlier, Senator McCain’s advisor told the National Review:

“neither the administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most people, except for the A.C.L.U. and trial lawyers, understand were constitutional and appropriate in the wake of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001,”

When confronted with this inconsistancy on June 6th, Senator McCain said:

“It’s ambiguous as to whether the president acted within his authority or not, I’m not interested in going back. I’m interested in addressing the challenge we face to day of trying to do everything we can to counter organizations and individuals that want to destroy this country. So there’s ambiguity about it. Let’s move forward.’’

So now, Senator McCain’s view on something as basic as warrantless wiretapping is unclear.

Corporate Immunity – Senator McCain’s view on whether or not the telecom corporations which complied with Bush’s order to spy on Americans should get immunity is similarly ambigous. On May 21, 2008, Chuck Fish, a McCain surrogate said that unless there were “revealing Congressional hearings” and “heartfelt repentance from those telephone and internet companies” Senator McCain would oppose giving them immunity. However, by May 23, 2008, Senator McCain had changed his position and fully supported telecom amnesty.

Job Loss In Michigan – While Senator McCain campaigned before the Michigan primary he said that it:

“wasn’t government’s job to protect buggy factories and haberdashers when cars replaced carriages and men stopped wearing hats.”

and that he didn’t want to raise:

“false hopes that somehow we can bring back lost jobs,”

However, now he says:

“new jobs are coming.”

“How Can I Be Proud Of My Country?”

That was the question asked of Senator McCain at a recent fundraiser. It seems like it was a joke about Michelle Obama’s earlier gaffe about it being the first time she was proud of her country(which she later expounded upon and clarified.) However, Senator McCain didn’t pick up the reference and gave a more sincere answer than might have been expected:

“I’ll admit to you that it’s tough, it’s tough in some respects,”

He continued to explain that part of why the questioner should be proud of America is all of the sacrifices that Americans have made over the years and:

“because of you and what you’ve been able to achieve and accomplish.”

I’m surprised that McCain didn’t take the easy way out on this question and simply mock Michelle’s gaffe to further use patriotism as a political point and I have to give him credit for that. I’m sure that he’ll use it again eventually and when he does I’ll call him on it, but on this specific point I’m actually impressed.

Inspired by this article on Politico.

Here’s the audio of the “I’ll admit to you that it’s tough, it’s tough in some respects,” portion of his statements.