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"Homeowners are the innocent bystanders in a drive-by shooting by Wall Street and Washington," Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Wednesday. Sen. John McCain says he will consider a second economic stimulus package if he is elected president. "It never should have happened," he said of the mortgage crisis that has shaken financial markets, and it would not have happened if he had been president, he said. McCain defended his vote in favor of the government's $700 billion plan to prop up the lending industry, despite his insistence that as president he would cut spending. "Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary actions,"...

Some of McCain's economic proposals he outlined in Pennsylvania today: * Suspend rules mandating that investors must begin to sell off their IRAs and 401(k)s when they reach 70 1/2 years old. * Cut the tax rate for retirement-account withdrawals to 10%. * Reduce the tax rate on capital gains to 7.5%. * Reduce the reduce the federal business tax rate from 35% to 25%. * Eliminate taxes on unemployment benefits. As for rhetoric, this passage stands out: This weekend, a plumber concerned that Senator Obama was going to raise his taxes asked him directly about his plan. The response...

I can’t underscore enough what a rotten idea John McCain’s ACORN-like government mortgage buy-up is. I said it during my liveblog. And I’ll say it again: “HE WANTS TO EXPAND THE BAILOUT. He wants to do what ACORN wants to do. We’re Screwed ‘08.” This was his supposed “game-changer.” This was the very first thing out of his mouth during the debate tonight — his big pitch right off the bat. The McCain campaign immediately sent out this fact sheet on the proposal, which will cost at least $300 billion. The proposal involves directing the Treasury Secretary to “purchase mortgages...

Americans and Europeans share a common goal – to build an enduring peace based on free­dom. Our democracies today are strong and vibrant. Together we can tackle the diverse challenges we face, whether radical religious fanatics who use terror as their weapon of choice, the disturbing turn towards autocracy in Russia or the looming threats of climate change and the degradation of our planet. But the key word is “together”. We need to renew and revitalise our democratic solidarity. We need to strengthen our transatlantic alliance as the core of a new global compact – a League of Democracies –...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) would emphasize public-private research and development grants to encourage the government's application of technology and establish a nationwide public safety network for first responders by the end of his first term, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee has said. In general, McCain would also make more government information available online. McCain announced his government information technology plans as part of his overall technology platform that was published on his campaign’s Web site Aug. 14. In addition to encouraging the government’s use of IT, much of the platform focuses on the premise that with lower taxes, freer trade,...

Under fire for being a technophobe, John McCain will unveil a technology agenda that bundles previously announced pro-business proposals with continued support for a hands-off approach to regulation. The plan, dubbed "John McCain and American Innovation," is set to be released Thursday on the Republican presidential candidate's campaign Web site. It will call for a 10% tax credit on wages paid to all research-and-development employees. At the same time, it will reiterate Sen. McCain's opposition to Internet taxes and new laws guaranteeing net neutrality, the idea that Internet providers must treat all legal Internet traffic equally.

The day before John McCain's third domestic policy speech in as many weeks, his senior policy adviser sat down with reporters in Tampa, Fla., to preview McCain's health care proposals and try once again to dispel the persistent storyline that McCain's success in November hinges on Iraq. Health care isn't exactly a bread-and-butter topic for the presumptive Republican nominee. While campaigning in Iowa last December on his support for the surge, McCain told a reporter from the Boston Globe, "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should." Whether or not that now-infamous quote was...