We checked the accuracy of McCain’s speech accepting the Republican nomination and noted the following:
McCain claimed that Obama’s health care plan would “force small businesses to cut jobs” and would put “a bureaucrat … between you and your doctor.” In fact, the plan exempts small businesses, and those who have insurance now could keep the coverage they have.
McCain attacked Obama for voting for “corporate welfare” for oil companies. In fact, the bill Obama voted for raised taxes on oil companies by $300 million over 11 years while providing $5.8 billion in subsidies for renewable energy, energy efficiency and alternative fuels.
McCain said oil imports send “$700 billion a year to countries that don’t like us very much.” But the U.S. is on track to import a total of only $536 billion worth of oil at current prices, and close to a third of that comes from Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
He promised to increase use of “wind, tide [and] solar” energy, though his actual energy plan contains no new money for renewable energy. He has said elsewhere that renewable sources won’t produce as much as people think.
He called for “reducing government spending and getting rid of failed programs,” but as in the past failed to cite a single program that he would eliminate or reduce.
He said Obama would “close” markets to trade. In fact, Obama, though he once said he wanted to “renegotiate” the North American Free Trade Agreement, now says he simply wants to try to strengthen environmental and labor provisions in it.
Sarah Palin’s much-awaited speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night may have shown she could play the role of attack dog, but it also showed her to be short on facts when it came to touting her own record and going after Obama’s.
Palin may have said “Thanks, but no thanks” on the Bridge to Nowhere, though not until Congress had pretty much killed it already. But that was a sharp turnaround from the position she took during her gubernatorial campaign, and the town where she was mayor received lots of earmarks during her tenure.
Palin’s accusation that Obama hasn’t authored “a single major law or even a reform” in the U.S. Senate or the Illinois Senate is simply not a fair assessment. Obama has helped push through major ethics reforms in both bodies, for example.
The Alaska governor avoided some of McCain’s false claims about Obama’s tax program – but her attacks still failed to give the whole story.
Palin claimed to have stood up to Congress on the subject of the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere,” the Gravina Island bridge in Ketchikan, Alaska… This is not the first time Palin has cited her choice to kill the bridge in 2007 as an example of her anti-waste stance. When she was running for governor, however, Palin expressed a different position. In 2006, the Ketchikan Daily News quoted her expressing optimism and support for the bridge at a Ketchikan campaign stop.
The bridge reversal is not the only matter throwing doubt on Palin’s credentials as a government waste reformer. Watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense has reported that the small town of Wasilla, Alaska, which had not previously received significant federal funds, hauled in almost $27 million in earmarks while Palin was mayor.
I have to wonder, given what the current administration has done for the last eight years, five of those years with a Republican controlled Congress, what would the Republicans actually have to do to lose support? If misleading the American people into an endless war in Iraq, the abysmal response to Hurricane Katrina, soaring gas and food prices, a meltdown in the housing market, and exploding debt, and all the lies – oh the lies – aren’t enough, what would it take?
It doesn’t make me proud to be an American. These people do not represent American ideals at all. They may pander to Americans’ fears very effectively, but it’s absolutely unbelievable that it works. It certainly looks to me like the people supporting McCain are simply voting against Obama, which is just sad, given what they are voting for instead.
McCain is saying the EXACT SAME things that Bush said. Why is anybody believing it? Because they want to believe it. Well, those people can kiss my ass. They are not Americans. We do not belong in the same room. We do not fight for the same things. We do not belong to the same country, to the same culture, to the same community. This is the result that the “uniter not a divider” has produced.
This election year marks a turning point for me. If you can vote for these people, we can no longer agree to disagree. You are destroying my country, hurting my family and making us less safe. It’s now personal. The time to “give everyone their space” is past – not in my house. I can no longer grant you my hospitality. I assume you are intelligent and rational and therefore you must accept the cause and effect of your actions and the actions of those you support – yet you continue to support them. How are you not insulted with how stupid they must think you are to fall for their BS? You have made your choice and that choice means you intend to continue to cause me, my family, and my country harm – which means we cannot be friends.
John McCain
Sarah Palin