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McCain Draws Criticism For Shift on Tax Increases
Wall Street Journal ^ | July 29, 2008

Posted on 07/29/2008 2:10:35 PM PDT by djsherin

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain's signal that he may be open to a higher payroll tax for Social Security, despite previous vows not to raise taxes of any kind, is drawing sharp rebukes from conservatives.

Mr. McCain's shift has come in stages, catching some Republicans by surprise. Speaking with reporters on his campaign bus on July 9, he cited a need to shore up Social Security. "I cannot tell you what I would do, except to put everything on the table," he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: mccain; mccainlist; poorpoorrinos; socialsecurity; taxes
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To: djsherin

Being for higher taxes is not a winning issue.


41 posted on 07/29/2008 2:58:49 PM PDT by Always Right (Obama: more arrogant than Bill Clinton, more naive than Jimmy Carter, and more liberal than LBJ.)
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To: Always Right

It most certainly is not.

It’ll be very interesting to see how everything unfolds in the next few months.


42 posted on 07/29/2008 3:00:01 PM PDT by djsherin
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To: goldstategop
Raising payroll taxes AKA putting all the options on the table - won't fix what ails Social Security. We need to privatize it!

Bush 2 was going to fix SS. That was to be his major plank right after the 2004 elections.

He made one attempt and the Congress shot it down. He never tried again.

Had GW tried as much to get true SS reform as he tried to get amnesty for illegals passed, he might have a lasting legacy. Instead, he lost on both.
43 posted on 07/29/2008 3:02:27 PM PDT by TomGuy
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To: TheBattman

Why is that?

I am self-employed, do I pay double? Yikes.


44 posted on 07/29/2008 3:10:31 PM PDT by squarebarb
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To: TomGuy

McCain: Read my lips! “I cannot tell you what I would do ...”

But vote for me anyway, NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!


45 posted on 07/29/2008 3:37:42 PM PDT by doc
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To: djsherin

The danger with Mr. McCain is that he apparently gets all his news from the leftist press. And consequently, he has surrounded himself with leftist advisors that reflect the information he gets from the propaganda press.

I understand that he only recently discovered the alternate news on the web. Not good. McCain can’t remain a slave to the old media and expect to make judicious and fair decisions.

There can’t be any other reason that McCain supports illegal immigration and open borders - the man is brainwashed by the leftist press.

Not good. Not good at all.

We need to turn the man around and then we’ll get a good president.


46 posted on 07/29/2008 4:10:40 PM PDT by sergeantdave (We are entering the Age of the Idiot)
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To: Uncle Miltie

Ah, but that’s not a government payment now is it?


47 posted on 07/29/2008 4:19:01 PM PDT by misterrob (Obama-Does America Need Another Jimmy Carter?)
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To: djsherin

On Sunday, they tried to get him to say that he was for tax increases. He absolutely denied it.

This time, the question was designed to get him to look inflexible on Social Security. That way, it could be spun that he “won’t protect social security”, and that he is just a stubborn “Bush lite”, and “more of the same”; which is a key Dem talking point. It was an absurd trap either way.

I would have favored an answer to the effect that “taxes are high enough”, However, I really doubt that the obvious, dogged agenda of the interviewer would have allowed getting anywhere close to this as an answer without looking shifty and evasive; which of course, was the objective.

The MSM makes everything a lose lose for Republicans.


48 posted on 07/29/2008 4:52:06 PM PDT by Wiseghy ("You want to break this army? Then break your word to it.")
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To: misterrob
There is no way we can pay the money due to people without a tax increase or a major cut in benefits.

Sounds like a plan to me.

49 posted on 07/29/2008 6:18:36 PM PDT by Sloth (A domestic enemy of the Constitution will become POTUS on January 20, 2009.)
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To: squarebarb

If you don’t, then Mr Fed will soon .come to visit...

If you are a regular employee, you pay 6.2% of your income for SS, and 1.45% for Medicare.

If you are self employed, you pay 12.4% for SS, and 2.9% for Medicare.

All of this on up to $102,000


50 posted on 07/29/2008 6:33:17 PM PDT by TheBattman (Vote your conscience, or don't complain about RINOs!)
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To: tsowellfan

Yes , a real stupid thing on the part of McCain.


51 posted on 07/29/2008 6:53:49 PM PDT by RED SOUTH
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He didn’t say he would raise them, he just said nothing is off the table.

With regard to taxes, I never understood why candidates are forced to say they will never raise taxes anyway. I think taxes should be like the Iraq war: it depends on conditions on the ground. That being said, McCain is the candidate for lower taxes as compared to Obama. No comparison there.

So we need to be smarter than the divided left. McCain is 100 times better than Obama. That’s the main issue.


52 posted on 07/29/2008 6:53:51 PM PDT by db6969
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To: TomGuy
He made one attempt and the Congress shot it down. He never tried again.

But, look how hard he tried to get his amnesty passed.

Had GW tried as much to get true SS reform as he tried to get amnesty for illegals passed, he might have a lasting legacy. Instead, he lost on both.

Bush's only real accomplishment with SS was to get the Social Security Totalization Agreement with Mexico signed. And, he did that in June, 2004.

53 posted on 07/29/2008 8:02:02 PM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker (While the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power.)
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To: sergeantdave
There can’t be any other reason that McCain supports illegal immigration and open borders - the man is brainwashed by the leftist press.

Has Bush been brainwashed, too? He's for these issues since he took office in 2001.

54 posted on 07/29/2008 8:04:06 PM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker (While the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power.)
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To: DManA

Greatest generation? Who the heck do you think is sucking up all the goodies right now? They are the last generation that will get more out of SS than they put into it - not to mention the last generation to benefit from Medicare before it goes belly up.

Meanwhile their “ungrateful” children are paying a heavy load in taxes to keep the old folks in RV’s and on the golf course. These programs are ponzi schemes, and it’s the boomers who are going to be left holding the empty bag.


55 posted on 07/29/2008 8:51:39 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX
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To: djsherin

bttt


56 posted on 07/29/2008 10:24:28 PM PDT by Pagey (Horrible Hillary Clinton is Bad For America, Bad For Business and Bad For MY Stomach!)
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To: rightinthemiddle
Here's our choices... a douche bag or a turd sandwich....gawd, we're so SCREWED!

Photobucket

Photobucket

57 posted on 07/29/2008 11:01:06 PM PDT by Dick Vomer (liberals suck....... but it depends on what your definition of the word "suck" is.,)
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To: djsherin

McCain was against tax cuts before he was for them before he put them back on the table for negotiation. Now that’s what I call strength of character and committmment to conservatism. /s/


58 posted on 07/30/2008 10:50:03 AM PDT by TADSLOS (Cure CINOism- Write in proven conservatives at all levels on the ballot)
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To: Ol' Dan Tucker

“Has Bush been brainwashed, too? “

Possibly, Ol’ Dan, possibly.

I can’t explain this RINO/socialist/ marxist crap in the party of allegedly small government and individual freedom. Maybe they’re inhaling liberal tofu...

If you have better theory than stupid RINOs getting brainwashed, you have the floor, sir.


59 posted on 07/30/2008 3:38:13 PM PDT by sergeantdave (We are entering the Age of the Idiot)
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