Posted on 02/17/2010 6:21:39 AM PST by rabscuttle385
The conversation ranged widely.
Topics included job creation, helping Main Street and not Wall Street, overcoming congressional gridlock and reminding residents that he's still the same maverick politician he has been for nearly 24 years.
U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., was in Flagstaff Tuesday on the heels of former U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth's announcement to run against McCain in the Republican primary in August. He sat down with the Arizona Daily Sun editorial board before giving remarks at the Coconino County Lincoln Day Dinner at the Radisson Woodlands Hotel.
During the 75-minute question-and-answer session, he reiterated that his positions haven't changed:
He's still a fiscal conservative who opposes "earmarks" or allocations to pet projects that don't go through a competitive process.
He still believes in the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the country's dependence on foreign oil, but that it will require nuclear power to help accomplish it.
He still believes in immigration reform, but it has to include tighter border security up front.
NO BANK TOO BIG TO FAIL
McCain started by saying that Arizona's economy is hurting the worst it has in its history. Jobs are scarce. The housing market is in a tailspin.
While in Flagstaff recently, McCain said he was approached by a local appliance store owner who said that after years of having a good credit line with his bank, the bank took it away.
"Our economy may be recovering in some sense," McCain said. "But you can't convince Main Street of that."
Although he voted for the TARP bank bailout package -- primarily because he thought it would help the housing industry -- McCain said giving money to prop up big banks too big to fail was a mistake.
Instead of lending out the money, the banks used it to shore up their capital reserves while continuing to make large profits and pay big bonuses.
"A lot of people are mad as hell about it, and I don't blame them," McCain said.
Homes went into foreclosure when all it would have taken was a program like the one the federal government instituted during the Great Depression designed to keep people in their homes and pay mortgages they could afford until their financial situations improved.
And stimulus money sent to the states wasn't to create jobs, but rather to save jobs. The biggest job generators -- small business -- would have been able to help the economy with tax credits and decreases in taxes.
BLAME DEMS FOR GRIDLOCK
Editorial board members wanted to know what McCain, as a senior member of the Senate, could do to break the gridlock crippling Congress on major issues like health care.
Acknowledging that major issues are not going to be resolved in the short term, McCain said that the Democratic majority have made "disgraceful" deals involving earmark projects and favorable treatment in the health care reform bill that have been deal-breakers.
Face-to-face negotiations where concessions are made to reach consensus no longer happen, McCain said. As a result, he added, 60 percent of the American public recently polled want Congress to start over on health care reform.
McCain said he is a proponent of reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the use of more nuclear power and recycling nuclear fuel, but the Democrats don't want to discuss the issue. And the multibillion-dollar Yucca Mountain nuclear storage facility has been closed down because of the influence of Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada.
IMMIGRATION REFORM
To keep drug violence in Mexico from spilling into Arizona, McCain stressed the United States must secure its borders.
By doing so, the flow of illegal immigrants coming into the country would slow. He added that one "silver lining" to the recession is that the scarcity of jobs has led to many undocumented immigrants going back to their country of origin.
McCain said that a legal, temporary worker program, where people from other countries can come to the U.S. and work for a year before returning home, needs to be developed. And comprehensive immigration reform needs to be addressed by Congress.
Other matters discussed:
-- On reinstating a draft: McCain said that because the military in the U.S. is all volunteer, highly professional, highly equipped and trained, reinstituting a draft of short-term service wouldn't be a good fit.
-- Rio de Flag flood-control project: McCain said he is attempting to have the project formally authorized by the Army Corps of Engineers, thus guaranteeing funding until it is completed rather than the uncertainty of annual earmarked appropriations.
-- International issues: McCain said he supports the offensive currently under way in Afghanistan to rid the entrenched Taliban fighters. He acknowledged casualties will likely be high initially, but the country can't be allowed to serve as a base for attacks against the U.S.
McCain heads to Yuma today to speak at another Lincoln Day Dinner.
Larry Hendricks can be reached at 556-2262 or lhendricks@azdailysun.com.
Up yours, Juan McCain!
“Maverick” - not a reliable conservative voice, by any means. And by pitching amnesty in his home state of Arizona, he is playing with dynamite, and a very unpredictable form of it as well.
Maverick was a sort of crap car when Ford was building them, too.
Main Street McCain the Soros puppet.
“McCain said that a legal, temporary worker program, where people from other countries can come to the U.S. and work for a year before returning home, needs to be developed. “
Yeah, by gum, they all go home......
ROTFLMAO!!
These positions seem to be saying “Hayworth’s no more conservative than I am, so re-elect me so I can spend 30 years as a Senator and bigshot. I deserve it, right?”
If Americans wanted third world status, they could do it on their own without importing the players.
Worshiping a manufactured crisis is likewise non sensical. "Let's invent a doomsday scenario and spread the misery world-wide."
It just doesn't have a ring to it...
McPain better accept the fact that his ship has come nad went.
Sorry Sarah, but your RINO pal has to go.
Freepers in AZ, please vote this RINO out!
Bump.
McCain in his 6-year reelection make-over.
But the “straight talk express” will be back after the election, with the same old “bring them out of the shadows” amnesty, cap and tax, and reaching across the aisle that we are so accustomed to from this fraud.
Definitely an EARMARK project there, Juan, and probably one of the more expensive ones around. Oh, I see, if you can get these big pork projects formally authorized, then you don't have admit they're the same thing as the earmarks you love to harp about on and on and on and on.
Juan and his constant carping and harping about earmarks is one of the most hypocritical political stunts now running.
As bad as Obama is, I still have no doubt that had McCain been elected president, we would have had amnesty passed, we would have a mandatory national health care system, and possibly even the same person appointed to the Supreme Court.
Sen. McCain should start considering representing the people of Arizona some day, and representing their interests, rather than the people and interests of Washington DC and Mexico City.
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NO more RINOS |
I keep getting email from Juan asking for money. I keep responding that I will not donate to a RINO.
RINOs out in November!
just change “member” to “guest” in the link if you can’t get in
That's the same misdirection Juan used to deflect the amnesty issue during the Republican primary debates. So, I'm sure Juan has spent every week the Senate has been in session during 2009 fighting to secure our borders.
Right, Juan? Maybe you can provide us with a list of all the tough border enforcement only legislation you've introduced and/or supported this year? Have you insisted that the real, physical fence required by the Secure Fence Act be completed, Juan?
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