Posted on 11/03/2008 3:41:55 AM PST by Born Conservative
On the rise in statewide polls as Election Day looms, Republican presidential nominee John McCain repeatedly ripped Democratic nominee Barack Obama on Sunday for proposing tax hikes and lacking experience during what was probably the last local stop by a candidate on either presidential ticket.
Speaking to a wildly enthusiastic crowd at the University of Scranton, Mr. McCain used a 24-minute speech to repeatedly focus on Mr. Obamas tax plan, charging taxes wont increase only on the wealthy as the Democratic nominee says.
About 3,000 people packed the John J. Long Center to hear Mr. McCain speak, university spokesman Stan Zygmunt said.
Mr. McCain told listeners he would cut taxes and make America more competitive and create jobs.
He would double the child tax deduction for working families, cut capital gains and business taxes and help keep American businesses in America, he said.
Raising taxes makes a bad economy much worse. Keeping taxes low creates jobs, keeps money in your hands and strengthens your economy, he said. If Im elected president, I wont spend nearly a trillion dollars more of your money. Sen. Obama will. He cant do that without raising your taxes or taking us further into debt.
With the election two days away, Mr. McCain has shaved 6 percentage points off Mr. Obamas lead in Pennsylvania since Wednesday, according to the daily Muhlenberg College/Allentown Morning Call tracking poll. Mr. Obama, who had held a double-digit lead Oct. 3, led only 52 to 45 percent as of Saturday night.
The poll surveyed 599 likely voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Other polls also show the state race tightening.
The races intense nature spilled out onto the grounds outside the John J. Long Center after the rally. Groups of supporters on both sides shouted at each other as a Secret Service agent strolled casually between them to discourage the exchanges from going beyond words.
Yes, we can! Yes, we can! Yes, we can! the Obama backers chanted.
No, you cant! No, you cant! No, you cant! the McCain partisans yelled back.
Mr. McCain, who has bet on victory in Pennsylvania carrying him into the Oval Office, said he will win the state, which he called the heartland of America.
We will win it, he said, interrupted by cheers, and bring real change to Washington.
Mr. McCain said he would freeze government spending on all but the most important programs like defense, veterans care, Social Security and health care and veto pork-barrel spending.
If Im elected president, Ill fight to shake up Washington and take America in a new direction, he said. Im not afraid of the fight. Im ready for the fight.
Mr. Obama proposes increasing taxes on people who earn more than $250,000, and cutting taxes for most people below that income level.
But Mr. McCain said the threshold has been shifting lower as various Democratic surrogates address campaign audiences. He predicted, as he often does, that Mr. Obama would raise taxes on people earning as little as $42,000 a year.
The Arizona senator invoked Joe the Plumber, Ohioan Joe Wurzelbacher, who famously asked Mr. Obama whether Mr. Obamas tax plan would raise his taxes. When answering how his plan would benefit Mr. Wurzelbacher, Mr. Obama used the phrase spread the wealth, which Mr. McCain has transformed into a major theme of his campaign in the last two weeks.
Mr. Wurzelbacher, who has stumped with Mr. McCain, was not present Sunday. But the McCain campaign handed out stickers with the name Joe in the red-letter fashion of a name tag on a blue-collar workers uniform.
Sen. Obama is running to spread the wealth, Im running to create the wealth. Sen. Obama is running to punish the successful. Im running to make everybody successful, Mr. McCain said.
Mr. McCain also dropped the name of Democratic vice presidential nominee Joseph Biden, referring to him as Joe the Biden. He recalled how Mr. Biden recently said Mr. Obama would be tested by an international crisis early if elected.
Hes the gift that keeps on giving, Mr. McCain quipped of Mr. Biden.
My friends, I have been tested, Sen. Obama hasnt, he said.
Recalling his experience as a Navy pilot in a jet awaiting orders during the Cuban Missile Crisis, he said, I know how close we came to a nuclear war and I will not be a president who needs to be tested.
When hes president, Mr. McCain said, the country would win in Iraq and win in Afghanistan.
U-S-A, U-S-A, U-S-A, the crowd chanted.
The Obama campaign responded by issuing a statement from U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, who blasted Mr. McCain for favoring cuts to Medicare and privatizing Social Security.
No Casey Democrat would support a candidate who turns a blind eye to basic fairness and would give the average Fortune 500 CEO a $700,000 tax cut and not one cent in tax relief to 4.7 million working households here in Pennsylvania and 97 percent of all our seniors, Mr. Casey said.
During the rally, supporters held hundreds of typical campaign signs, but also hand-painted signs that said, You Had Me at War Hero and Jesuits for McCain, a reflection of the universitys roots.
Mr. McCain was accompanied by his wife, Cindy, daughter, Megan, former Gov. Tom Ridge, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, and North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr and his wife, Brooke. Mrs. McCain introduced Mr. Ridge, who introduced Mr. McCain.
State Attorney General Tom Corbett, who is seeking re-election, and Republican congressional candidate Chris Hackett both addressed the crowd before Mr. McCain arrived.
Afterward in the Long Center lobby, Sean Hogan, 22, a Plymouth Republican, said hes keeping the faith about Mr. McCain winning the state.
I think people are starting to realize that a vote for Obama would just be a big mistake at this point. We cant afford his economic policy in our economic crisis, Mr. Hogan said. I think hes a good speaker, but thats about it. I think hes very inexperienced.
Roseanne Daecher, 58, a police administrative support specialist from Lancaster County and a Republican, said Mr. McCains military service proves his dedication to his country.
He doesnt have to prove to me who he may become, she said. I think Obama has a lot to offer, but he needs to improve on his experiences. I think he needs to give himself time to learn more about our politics, our country and now that we know who Obama is ... let us get to know him better, too.
Outside, as partisans raged at each other, Joe Gorgone, 18, a sophomore English major at the university from Bergenfield, N.J., joined the Obama side with his face painted blue.
If we vote for McCain, then well have another four years of George W. Bush, Mr. Gorgone said. We do not need Bush, we need Obama ... We respect McCain, but we dont think hes what this country needs right now.
Mine baby Mine.
Obama is going to get “Keystoned”!
KEEP CHRISTMAS A NATIONAL HOLIDAY: VOTE McCAIN
That phrase has gotten the best response from hundreds if not thousands of people in my neighborhood as I campaigned door-to-door for McCain the past few months.
Even Democrats took pause, and said, “You’re right.”
I want to believe!...
McCain should have said, "Joe the MORONIC IDIOT!"
Voted absentee in PA (live in Philly suburbs)two weeks ago. Go McCain/Palin!!!
University of Scranton? Is that Michael Scott’s and Jim Halpert’s alma mater?
I’m pretty sure Dwight graduated from there.
IF the interview with BHO saying he would bankrupt the coal companies had come out earlier, that would be an EXCELLENT slogan!
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