"[John McCain's] new position is that he's for making the Bush tax cuts permanent simply because he never wants to vote for a tax increase. But if these tax cuts were a bad idea, why should they be continued?"
--E.J. Dionne
For good or bad, I think a lot of people have planned their futures on the implicit assumption that tax rates would stay what they are. If we're going to be all bleeding-heart about people who couldn't understand the fine print on their mortgage contracts, then we have to give a lot of benefit of doubt about how rational that assumption actually is.
The rest of Dionne's column is precious.
The three examples he gives of "all the issues on which they disagree with McCain" are "his commitment to continuing the occupation of Iraq indefinitely," the aforementioned tax cuts, and "his opposition to government-sponsored universal health coverage."
If those are the litmus test points then -- 3 for 3! -- I am decidedly not a liberal.
(How many presidents in a row have committed to continuing the occupations of Germany, South Korea, et al, indefinitely?)
And am I supposed to have heard of that anti-Catholic guy? It strikes me that a lot more people have at least heard of Louis Farrakhan, and know exactly how he feels about Jews.
Posted by Matt Bruce at March 11, 2008 03:29 PMWhether or not Hagee is a household name, he is important enough for McCain to actively seek out his endorsement and then fly to Texas to accept it at a media event. The guy's clearly got a following.
Posted by: M.S. at March 11, 2008 05:57 PM(How many presidents in a row have committed to continuing the occupations of Germany, South Korea, et al, indefinitely?)
If no American soldiers were dying in Iraq, as there were essentially no violent deaths in Germany or South Korea following the end of the fighting, this wouldn't be controversial. People have to acknowledge that Iraq's still being chaotic with the U.S. conducting patrols against an enemy is why people don't accept the comparison to West Germany, 1946.
I recognize that McCain is thinking that within a few years we'd be at S. Korea/W. Germany levels of violence when he says "100 years," but that's a leap of faith many Americans are unwilling to take, for many reasons.
Posted by: M.S. at March 12, 2008 05:56 AMI've heard of Hagee, and vaguely knew about his anti-Catholic sentiment. I assume conservative Catholic voters know more about him, which could be a problem for McCain up here or in the Rust Belt (more the latter, I'd think).
Posted by: Mark at March 12, 2008 08:33 AM