In the debate, McCain rattled off some conservative talking points on government spending and talked about a spending freeze. Dave Sirota fact-checks:
MCCAIN CLAIM: "We have to do is get spending under control in Washington...How about a spending freeze on everything but defense, veteran affairs and entitlement programs"
FACT: Non-defense discretionary spending is at its lowest levels as a share of GDP in a generation, and are projected to be the lowest since the Hoover administration in coming years.
MCCAIN CLAIM: "We need very badly to understand that defense spending is very important and vital, particularly in the new challenges we face in the world, but we have to get a lot of the cost overruns under control."
FACT: Minutes later he said we need "a spending freeze on EVERYTHING BUT DEFENSE, veteran affairs and entitlement programs."
Matt Yglesais has some pertinent thoughts:
It's worth really focusing in on the fact that John McCain's campaign was running around - proudly! - boasting about the fact that they intend to follow up a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street and $800 billion in tax cuts for the rich with an across-the-board spending freeze. That means, in real terms, less money for your local police department. Less money for the FBI. Less money for Head Start. Less money for Pell Grants. Less money for infrastructure. Less money for everything except failed banks and endless wars.
It's no accident that Matt ends with that line. McCain represents the great hope for the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned about. Now I have no illusions that any Democratic president, including Obama, will do anything to end the dominance of the military (and that includes contractors) in the US budget.
But let's be clear, McCain is running on the conservative philosophy, handed down from Reagan to Bush I to Bush II, that by opening the Treasury to the likes of KBR, Blackwater, Lockheed Martin - and now AIG, Goldmann-Sachs and JP Morgan, the government can run up a deficit and use this as an excuse to starve off social programs. This is what Tom Frank calls the conservative wrecking crew at work. If you follow that link, there's a (non-embeddable) video where Frank drives around the lavish DC suburbs in Northern Virignia, giving a vivid illustration of how much cash is flowing from our government, through lobbyists and Congress, to these companies. By having his campaign run by lobbyists, McCain has sent a clear signal that this culture will live on even in a failing economy, despite his attempt to self-brand as a reformer. I don't think the public will buy this. If Obama makes good on his promise to make Republicans own their record of failure, McCain has a much tougher road ahead of him. |
MLN is powered by