Tuesday, March 4, 2008

McCain Retracts "No New Taxes" Pledge After Two Weeks



In the above video, when the interviewer asks John McCain if he's a "read my lips candidate, no new taxes, no matter what," John McCain responds, "No new taxes."

However, he took the pledge back just two weeks later, as Think Progress describes, quoting from and ABC News interview and citing the Wall Street Journal:

Q: On ABC’s “This Week” on Feb. 17, in response to a question, “Are you a ‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes?” you replied, “No new taxes.” Did you mean that literally?

McCAIN: I’m not making a “read my lips” statement in that I will not raise taxes. But I’m not saying I can envision a scenario where I would, OK? But I’m not making it a centerpiece in my campaign. Think Progress

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm....
I guessed it dawned on him (or his lobbyists) that if he wants "More wars" and "other wars" he's gonna need more taxes to pay for it.

Wars don't pay for themselves, even with Paul Wolfowitz says it does.

Today's hot tip comes from Prospect.org.
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=02&year=2008&base_name=the_pete_rose_of_politics&20
They have the section of McCain's loan with states in black and white that if he did not win the next vote (New Hampshire I think) he would be required to stay in the race until he could obtain enough matching funds to pay back the loan.
But, as Howard Dean and DNC have stated, once you apply for public funds, you can't go back.
(there were many links, but this one has a lot of McCain quotes and comes straight from DNC HQ.)
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/dnc-mccains-constitutional-hypocrisy,296837.shtml
The Washington Post reveals that if he loses this decision, he is stuck at the 54 mill cap until September, and he has already spent 49 mill.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/27/ST2008022700110.html

Anonymous said...

Oops, almost forgot. PoliticalLore.com has some info (2nd to last paragraph) on what McCanned's options are. And they all either make him look bad or make him face a judge.
http://www.politicallore.com/presidential-candidates/john-mccain/not-so-fast-mccains-lingering-fec-problem/174

Anonymous said...

Off-topic:

This is a bit old, but you may want to look at SB 10003. McCain was apparently the sponsor of a bill to forcibly relocate thousands of Navajo (specifically the Dineh) on lands which are purportedly under Hopi control.

Here is a better write-up on the issue, from a slightly more neutral source.

And here is some information about this from the U.N.

Selected quotes from the last source:

A delegation of NGOs traveled to Black Mesa to witness the historic meeting between the traditional Dineh and Hopi people and Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Mr. Amor traveled to Black Mesa in early February 1998 to investigate charges of human rights violations by the U.S. government. This is the first time the U.S. is being formally investigated by the United Nations for violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief. It is the hope of the Dineh people that the UN will cite the U.S. for violations of International Human Rights law.

"The forcible relocation of over 10,000 Navajo people is a tragedy of genocide and injustice that will be a blot on the conscience of this country for many generations."

-- Leon Berger, Executive Director, Navajo-Hopi Indian Relocation Commission upon resignation.

"I feel that in relocating these elderly people, we are as bad as the Nazis that ran the concentration camps in World War II."

-- Roger Lewis, federally appointed Relocation Commissioner upon resignation

"I believe that the forced relocation of Navajo and Hopi people that followed from the passage in 1974 of Public Law 93-531 is a major violation of these people's human rights. Indeed this forced relocation of over 12,000 Native Americans is one of the worst cases of involuntary community resettlement that I have studied throughout the world over the past 40 years."

-- Thayer Scudder, Professor of Anthropology, California Institute of Technology in a letter to Mr. Abdelfattah Amor, UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance

And a more biased site.

Francis Holland said...

Thanks for this information, Agent X and Zimbel!