John McCain Blessed by Bush [The McSame Video]
McSame as Bush: The war in Iraq,
responding to the global threat of what
McCain calls "transcendent radical Islamic extremism,"
making the Bush tax cuts permanent,
opposing universal health care or appointing
ultra-conservatives to the Supreme Court
"Hi, everybody. I work for McWarmongers"
McCain: McSame As Bush
John McCain arrived at the White House today for lunch with Bush -- and for his formal blessing.
The Arizona senator, who hopes to succeed him in the White House, mathematically clinched the Republican nomination by sweeping Tuesday's primaries.
But McCain faces a delicate dance.
He has tied himself to key Bush administration policy, including on the Iraq war and on extending tax cuts.
But both the Democratic contenders are already warning that a McCain presidency would be equivalent to a third Bush term, when polls show that voters want change.
A Democratic group is already launching a TV ad campaign -- independent from the candidates -- that says that McCain would be the "McSame."
The ad shows McCain in a thumbs-up pose, but then puts the head of Bush on the body, and the heads of Bush and McCain alternate as the narrator says they hold the same position on Iraq, the economy, healthcare, and energy policy.
"Tell John McCain we need a new direction," the announcer concludes.
The Curse of Bush
John McCain almost certainly isn't the Republican that President Bush and Vice President Cheney would have hand-picked to succeed them -- but a McCain victory in November now represents their only hope of preventing all they have wrought from coming undone.
So, with McCain having sewn up the Republican nomination last night, Bush is welcoming his would-be successor to the White House today like royalty.
First comes the ceremonial red-carpet reception in the North Portico. Then lunch in Bush's private dining room. Then the formal embrace in the Rose Garden.
Sure, there's been a fair amount of bad blood over the years between McCain and the Bush team, most notably during the bitter Republican primary in 2000. But now that all feels like ancient history.
On a personal level, McCain has put a lot of effort into ingratiating himself to Bush and his base. And he has virtually abandoned any major policy differences, choosing to hew a line nearly identical to Bush's on the most seminal political issues of the day.
When it comes to the war in Iraq, responding to the global threat of what McCain calls "transcendent radical Islamic extremism," making the Bush tax cuts permanent, opposing universal health care or appointing ultra-conservatives to the Supreme Court...
McCain -- unlike whoever ends up with the Democratic nomination -- doesn't threaten to roll back the most consequential elements of the Bush presidency.
Quite the contrary.
But polls show that 79 percent of Americans say the next president should set the nation on a new course rather than follow the direction in which Bush has been leading.
So for McCain, today's embrace with Bush is the classic double-edged sword. On the one hand, there is something undeniably compelling about the symbolism of one Republican standard-bearer handing the torch to another, surrounded by the pomp and power of the White House.
It will also help McCain with Bush's core supporters. But on the other hand, Bush is damaged goods, deeply unpopular not just with Democrats but also independents, and the walking embodiment of what Americans evidently are eager to put behind them.
McCain's Freakonomics: In Lockstep with Bush
"The Straight Talker", who warned us he was weak on economics, blew a big hole in his presidential vessel the other day by talking straight on the subject with the Wall Street Journal.
John McCain has already embraced George Bush's Hundred Year War in Iraq. Now McCain says he also wants to revive Bush's plan to privatize Social Security.
And he wants to cut the corporate income tax by one-third, though it has already been eviscerated by Republican loop holes.
And the Senator's goal for tax reform includes a "fairer, flatter tax" which can only mean more regressive tax-cutting in the Reagan tradition.
The country and campaign reporters are presently fixated on fine-print arguments between Obama and Clinton, but John McCain's bold declarations to the Journal's Bob Davis provide devastating material for the fall campaign.
On one level, the Republican nominee seems to be correcting the record, getting his policy positions even more closely aligned with Bush and the Grover Norquist school of perennial tax-cutting.
Deliver more boodle to the corporates and high-end incomes, so the federal government will be starved for revenue.
This is meant to reassure the money guys expected to finance his campaign, but it ought to alarm anyone who still sees McCain as a level-headed moderate who thinks independently.
The media truth squad should have fun trying to make sense of the McCain agenda. His remarks will provide content for multiple sharp-edged attack ads.
Consider Social Security. The right's long-running campaign to dismantle the Social Security system by shipping its funds to Wall Street as "individual accounts" turned out to be George Bush's political Waterloo.
The plan failed miserably because people figured out the implications. Now McCain says he still backs Bush's blueprint and will revive it as president.
Davis was confused because there is a very different Social Security reform plan posted on McCain's own website that would not divert any Social Security funds to private investment firms. Asked about this contradiction, McCain said he would change the website.
"As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are part of it--along the lines that President Bush proposed," McCain affirmed.
McCain's economic aide, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, poured a little more oil on the fire by explaining that Social Security benefits must be cut to keep the system solvent.
"You can't keep promises made to retirees," Holtz-Eakin said. "But you can pay future retirees more than current retirees."
Does that sound like Straight Talk? Actually, it sounds just like the right-wing double-talk that finally caught up with Bush.
When the fall campaign gets underway, McCain will doubtless be asked about his economics. I suspect he will straight-talk his way into deeper trouble.