John McCain's Deceitful RNC Speech

Excerpts from the package of lies that was john McCain’s speech before the Republican National Convention and my corrections

“We lost their trust when instead of freeing ourselves from a dangerous dependence on foreign oil, both parties and Senator Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies. We lost their trust, when we valued our power over our principles.”
In truth, Obama voted for a measure that included money for renewable energy, and sought to strip the measure of tax breaks for the oil companies after Bush vetoed the renewable energy funding in 2005.

“We believe in low taxes; spending discipline, and open markets. We believe in rewarding hard work and risk takers and letting people keep the fruits of their labor.”
McCain’s tax reform plan provides substantial tax relief only for the wealthiest 5% of Americans- check my blog. Spending discipline is an interesting posit from the heir apparent to an administration that took a budget surplus and transformed it into the largest deficit ever- in only eight years. Open markets to the Republicans, and John McCain, mean unregulated markets, the chief cause of the collapsed housing market. Hard work and risk-takers rewarded applies to the upper economic echelons. The Republican-controlled Fed bailed out the criminal organizations, I mean lenders, in the housing market collapse, but left the hard working homeowners, who took a risk in trusting these deceptive lenders, to fend for themselves, losing the fruits of their labor in many instances. Furthermore, more Americans, real numbers and per capita, have slipped into poverty than at any time in our history; so much for rewarding hard work.

“We believe in a strong defense, work, faith, service, a culture of life, personal responsibility, the rule of law, and judges who dispense justice impartially and don't legislate from the bench.”
The Republican-led government has drastically injured America’s defense by committing hundreds of thousands of troops to an unnecessary and illegal war in Iraq while largely ignoring the home turf of al-Qaida in Afghanistan. This has allowed al-Qaida leadership to go uncaptured and free to plan, re-build, re-organize, and recruit. It has also alienated once moderate Muslims who have come to correctly see the U.S. as interested more in its corporate profit motive than its own defense. Additionally, the war in Iraq has locked in troops that are necessary for response in the event of any true threat to the U.S. Allies and enemies alike have begun to see opportunity in the American inability to respond. As for personal responsibility, the Republicans, including John McCain, have consistently sought to empower the Executive branch to shield the President and his office from accountability from any rule of law, so that no one will be held personally responsible for the misdeeds of this, or any future, Republican administration. The rule of law extends to military operations and intelligence gathering, in which the predecessor to McCain’s aspiration has shown little regard, while McCain has rightly protested the use of torture. Unfortunately, John McCain has otherwise walked to Bush’s drumbeat. In speaking of legislating from the bench, McCain intends to criticize the rulings of Supreme Court and other justices who have ruled against the administration and republicans. These rulings have, in general, not been episodes of “legislating from the bench”; they have been, surprisingly, by and large, the result of proper reading and interpretation of the Constitution, as most jurists will attest. Strangely, when the judges ruled in favor of nine of the Amendments in the Bill of Rights, in various matters, many relating to the detentions and trials in Guantanamo, these conservatives, including McCain, cried foul. Yet they had nothing but praise for the correct interpretation of the Second Amend Right of American citizens to own firearms.

“I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can. My opponent will raise them. I will open new markets to our goods and services. My opponent will close them. I will cut government spending. He will increase it.”
McCain’s tax plan, again, calls for insignificant tax breaks, less than 1%, for the majority of Americans, while giving greater relief, up to 30%, to those individuals and corporations in the top 5% of income brackets. Obama’s plan will raise taxes, but only for those making over $250,000/year. Those that will experience tax increases currently, through various Republican-sponsored devices, actually pay only what the lowest income bracket pays, 18%. Additionally, over two-thirds of American corporations effectively, through the intervention of incentives and breaks, pay no taxes. John McCain deliberately misrepresents Obama’s plan in order to perpetuate the American federal income dependence upon the shrinking middle class, for the benefit of less than 10% of Americans. By opening new markets, the Republicans mean new places for American jobs to be shipped out, while the corporations doing the outsourcing will benefit from a further reduction in their taxes. I don’t believe, McCain’s half-hearted attempts at reform to the contrary, that any Republican can legitimately make the claim to cut spending, except on social programs for Americans.

“Keeping taxes low helps small businesses grow and create new jobs. Cutting the second highest business tax rate in the world will help American companies compete and keep jobs from moving overseas.”
Second highest business taxes in the world, McCain says. At 15%-30%, all factors included, American businesses pay lower taxes than most citizens, and are among the lowest in the world. I don’t know where the McCain campaign gets it figures, but it can’t be from the federal government or any accepted economists. Perhaps the source is the same one that the Bush administration uses to claim greenhouse gasses are not contributing to global warming.

The next several items in his speech point to jobs lost and jobs to be lost and then education. McCain has not presented anything more than talking points, let alone workable plans, on these issues. He says that he will fix these, but there is no indication of any plan to do more than talk about them.

“My fellow Americans, when I'm President, we're going to embark on the most ambitious national project in decades. We are going to stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us very much. We will attack the problem on every front. We will produce more energy at home. We will drill new wells offshore, and we'll drill them now. We will build more nuclear power plants. We will develop clean coal technology. We will increase the use of wind, tide, solar and natural gas. We will encourage the development and use of flex fuel, hybrid and electric automobiles.”
This comment is interesting in that McCain proposes to do essentially the same as the Democrats have been discussing for years, with one caveat: McCain puts the most dangerous and least progressive proposals at the head of his list. While an improvement on the standard Republican energy talk, it still leaves much room for the continuing influence of Big Oil.

“Senator Obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power. But Americans know better than that.”
Actually, Obama has seen the necessity of increasing domestic oil production and called for it long before the Republicans. What he doesn’t see is the need for expanding exploration into fragile ecosystems already damaged by human development. Another point is the observance in most Western states of idle derricks. These pumps, wells and derricks are not dry; they are simply idle. So long as we have tapped resources not being utilized, there is no reason to seek new drilling. As for Nuclear power, the French and others have had great success, but why not instead invest in the future of both our needs and the needs of the environment?
Speaking of recent events on Russia’s border in Georgia, McCain said, “But we can't turn a blind eye to aggression and international lawlessness that threatens the peace and stability of the world and the security of the American people.” Unless, of course, that aggression and lawlessness is American.

That largely sums up the factual misrepresentations of John McCain’s speech before the Republican National Convention. The remainder resolves to story-telling and motivational rhetoric. John McCain is a national hero, but, so too, is John Kerry; not only did John Kerry fight for this country in Vietnam with distinction and honor- the Swift Boat Veterans were unapologetic liars, and proven to be so- but he stood up against his country’s misguided policies upon his return. That is courage and heroism. Still, John Kerry lost out to a man with zero credentials in service or foreign policy; let us pray that happens again.