Taxpayers For McCain…Interesting
Published May 3rd, 2007 in Uncategorized.Today the McCain Campaign announced that Don Weaver, president of the South Carolina Association of Taxpayers, endorsed Sen. John McCain in his bid for President. The press release attributed this comment to Weaver:
Weaver spoke to Senator John McCain’s record of fiscal conservatism. “Senator McCain has been a consistent and strong advocate for lower taxes for well over twenty years,” said Weaver. “And when it comes to standing up against special-interest, pork-barrel spending in Congress, John McCain has no peer. He doesn’t just talk the talk when it comes to protecting the American taxpayer - he walks the walk.”
It is interesting that Weaver uses the phrase “consistent and strong advocate for lower taxes for well of twenty years.†The reason I say this is because McCain was one of TWO Republicans to vote against the Bush Tax Cuts in 2001 and THREE Republicans to vote against the measure in 2003. The Bush Tax Cuts (over $674 billion annually) were arguably the largest tax cuts since the Reagan Administration, and McCain was a vocal opponent against these tax cuts. In my opinion Sen. McCain’s opposition to the critical Bush Tax Cuts makes him anything but “consistentâ€. As you may remember these tax cuts actually increased revenue for the Federal Government largely because they put money back into the taxpayer’s pocket. This allowed the economy to grow at a pace that increased the income of citizens to the point where tax revenue collect exceeded any previous year. McCain has recently changed his stance on the Bush Tax Cuts and is now in favor of making them permanent. Of course this comes at time when Republicans are no longer in control of Congress, and the Democrats are dead set on repealing the tax cuts. At this point McCain’s vote will really not matter; the Democrats are highly likely to pass a repeal of these tax cuts. Not to mention the fact this recent change of heart comes at a time when Sen. McCain is running for President.
McCain also has not signed the anti-tax increase pledge supported by the Americans for Tax Reform, which has been signed by every Republican presidential nominee since the implementation of the pledge in 1986.
It should be interesting to see how the 3,000 members of the South Carolina Association of Taxpayers react to Mr. Weaver’s endorsement of McCain. Almost of these members are extremely in tuned to any legislation regarding taxes both on the state and federal level. I’m certain many of them remember McCain’s vote against the Bush Tax Cuts, and many of them are probably unhappy with McCain’s “consistent record†and Weaver’s endorsement.   Â
For those of you who have any doubt about this see for yourself:
McCain wont sing the pledge and McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts because he is not for tax relief. Period. How’s that for straight talk.
McCain is an absolute loose cannon. He has bounced from wall to wall on numerous topics including going against his own party on several occasions. In my opinion he would be a scary individual to have as president. We would never know which way he might swing and we could never count on him to hold down taxes!—Kilkenney
I assume that Mr. Weaver knows all about the tax system. Why then would he endorse any candidate who will adjust or tweak the current system?
At the GOP Presidential debate two candidates came out for the FairTax. Mike Huckabee said we need the FairTax and then Tom Tancredo seconded him and added that we must also appeal the 16th Amendment.
Politicians want to keep the current system because it gives them more power. My first thought on hearing that Mr. Weaver endorses McCain was, “What did McCain promise him in return”. This is one reason we need to abolish the current system. It creates dishonesty. I don’t mean to say that Mr. Weaver is dishonest but he should know better. Think of all the lobbys and questionable perks to politicians that would be eliminated under the FairTax.
With the FairTax, we the taxpayer would not be paying the entire cost of medical care, prisons, welfare, etc. for illegal aliens. It looks like the Federal government isn’t going to do anything about them so this would at least allow them to bear some of the expense of their upkeep.
No, I can not begin to understand Mr. Weaver’s endorsement of McCain. I’ll be looking at Tom Tancredo and Mike Huckabee.
Saying McCain has been a consistent and strong advocte for lower taxes over the past twenty is like saying Bill Clinton was a consistent and strong advocate of prayer in schools.