McCain says Bush policy on economy is wrong

AP ^ | 27 Oct 2008 | Mike Glover

[BGHater]

Republican John McCain promised Monday to break with President Bush's policies on the economy and put a tight lid on government spending.

Flanked by some of his economic advisers, the Republican presidential candidate bashed Democratic rival Barack Obama, but also made clear he would steer a different course than the current GOP administration.

"We both disagree with President Bush on economic policies," McCain said. "My approach is to get spending under control. The difference between us is he thinks taxes have been too low, and I think that spending has been too high."

Before he spoke, McCain met with economic advisers including former rival Mitt Romney and former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp. The event was designed to focus his message on the economic meltdown that has dominated the campaign and left him on the defensive. The economic downturn has helped boost Obama to a lead in the polls, both nationally and in key battleground states like Ohio.

"My plan will create millions of jobs in America, and Americans are beginning to figure that out," McCain said. "I will protect your savings and stock market account and get the stock market rising again."

"The difference between myself and Sen. Obama is my plan will create jobs, it's a difference of millions of jobs in America," he said.

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton responded, "A day after John McCain said that he agreed with George Bush's economic philosophy, he continued to parrot the same failed policies that give billions to billionaires and big corporations while providing no relief at all to more than 100 million middle-class Americans."

[FFranco]

In my opinion, McCain should knock off criticizing Pres. Bush so much. A lot of Americans (and not just Republicans) think GW Bush is a Pretty Great President. I believe GW Bush is at least in the second tier of great presidents, with Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

Let the Democrats criticize Pres. Bush. If McCain can’t say anything good about our President, he should keep quiet about him.

[wny]

If McCain criticized Obama as much as he criticizes Bush, maybe he wouldn’t be losing. But he won’t go after Obie because he wants to run an honorable campaign. But he has no problem smacking the President. What a loser. He makes Dole’s campaign look good.

[af_vet_rr]

Let the Democrats criticize Pres. Bush. If McCain can’t say anything good about our President, he should keep quiet about him.

If we hold back simply because he's our guy, then we are no better than the Democrats.

If anything, we should hold our people to a much higher standard and shouldn't be afraid to criticize them.

Personally, I think McCain should have been doing this from the start. We knew that whoever won on the left would make this election about Bush, and they certainly did everything possibly to try and keep Bush associated with McCain and McCain with Bush.