This needs to get out (hat tip to Flopping Aces):
In 2001, with the bitter primary battle still fresh, Mr. McCain voted against the final Bush tax-cut package. Why would he deviate from a pro-growth, tax-cutting position, built up over 17 years in Congress and dozens of votes, even after running on a tax-cut plan himself in 2000? Mr. McCain’s protest that he wanted spending cuts to accompany the Bush tax cuts has persuaded few conservatives. But what is not remembered is that, two weeks earlier, Mr. McCain voted to approve the final version of the Budget Resolution — the blueprint used by congressional committees for spending and tax bills — which included $1.35 trillion in tax cuts (the Bush proposal) coupled with a $661 billion cap on discretionary spending. When the promised spending cap never materialized, Mr. McCain denounced the wasteful earmarks and pork-barrel spending that he felt jeopardized the budget, and lodged the now famous protest vote against the tax cuts.
And Wordsmith says:
On the economy, I believe that Senator McCain is to the right of President Bush.
Well to the right.
Joubert Conlon says:
Snap. I just posted about this too and remarked that Bush did not veto any earmarks for seven years and disappointed a lot of us fiscal cons. A true fiscal conservative does not borrow money to spend beyond his means but rather cuts the suit to fit the cloth and that means spending caps to balance tax cuts as McCain insisted.
February 15, 2008, 3:01 pm