The ODP Hits McCain’s Economic Credentials
“I’ve got to give you some straight talk: Some of the jobs that have left the state of Michigan are not coming back. They are not. And I am sorry to tell you that.”– John McCain [Boston Globe, 1/14/08]
These are the words of the man Republican’s want to lead a nation on the verge of an economic recession. It’s disgusting, and I can honestly say that politics have nothing to do with my feelings on this.
Southeast Ohio has a lot in common with Michigan: mainly that we’re both industrial areas that have been hit hard over the last few years. We know too damn well that some of the jobs that have left aren’t coming back. For McCain to act like this shows just how out of touch he is with the working class.
I’m sorry if I seem a little agitated, but I view this as the equivalent to telling someone who’s house has just burned down that they have a broken window. And this is just one bullet point of the four pages that the Ohio Democratic Party has put together on McCain’s economic background.
I’ve attempted to embed the document after the jump for your viewing pleasure. If that doesn’t work, you can download it (PDF).
February 21st, 2008 at 7:29 am
I’m sorry that this agitated you. But way too many politicians are trying to tell people that it’s a shame the jobs were lost and it wouldn’t have happened if I had been in there.
When Edwards was still in the race, he made TONS of comments about the textile jobs leaving South Carolina. He talked as if he was going to bring those jobs back.
I haven’t listened to enough of the other presidential candidates to know what they’ve said. I do think this comment is right on track.
February 21st, 2008 at 7:41 am
Ok, I went and read the propaganda by the Ohio Democratic Party. I really think if you’re going to post notes like this, you should look at some less biased information.
I found particularly interesting the information that said that McCain skipped the economic stimulus vote. I looked at the website http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-5140 for details.
The piece of the propoganda quotes a date of 2/6, the actual vote took place on 2/7. McCain did vote in favor of the bill (which I disagreed with). There were three people that didn’t vote (not one as claimed). If you check out the above website, you’ll note that Sen Bob Nelson and two other presidential candidates did not vote.
“politics have nothing to do with my feelings” - if that’s true, use less biased articles as a reference and check out the facts.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:16 pm
The story here was supposed to be the ODP’s claims on McCain and the economy, not my personal claims. I admit I got a little mad and went way off on a tangent.
The ODP’s claim is that if McCain had been present on 2/6, a better version of the bill could have been passed. The bill was changed on 2/7 before it was passed.
My claim that politics didn’t influence me pertained only to my reaction to that single quote. My feelings still haven’t changed either. He should be focusing on what jobs we can bring back and what new jobs we can bring in to replace the rest of them. We aren’t complete idiots, we know that anyone that promises to magically make everything right again is full of it. But we also don’t want to here someone sound like they’ve given up hope on fixing things.
February 21st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I just double checked. There is nothing in the article that implies McCain missed an earlier vote. At the very least it’s misleading. It’s also very disigenuous, two of the senators that missed the real vote were Sen Clinton and Sen Obama.
I’ve sent a note to the ODP noting 3 seeming disrepancies in the article, just related to this one so-called-fact. I was very polite and asked for follow-up. I sent the note this morning, and no answer yet. I’ll be glad to share whatever news I get.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
The earlier vote was the one they refer to on 2/6. On 2/7 changes were made to the bill to gather enough support that the votes of Obama and Hillary weren’t needed for the bill to pass.
February 21st, 2008 at 4:12 pm
So, they get a bye for missing their votes and he gets creamed for missing his? How close was the vote on 2/6?
I’m taking your word on the 2/6 vote, the article has NOTHING about that.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:37 am
The vote referred to in the papers the ODP prepared (Senate vote #8 on 2/6/08, referred to on the top of page 2) was to invoke cloture on the Reid Amendment to the bill. The vote required a 3/5 majority and was voted down 58-41 with one person (McCain) not voting.
The vote you refer to passed by a vote of 81-16. The claim here is that McCain didn’t vote to extend the program to all the groups described in the ODP papers that the Reid Amendment hoped to cover.
February 24th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
If I understand this correctly, if McCain had voted for cloture, the vote would have been 59 to 41, still short of the 3/4 majority.
So McCain’s voting didn’t matter any more than Clinton or Obama’s vote the following day.
So why do they get a pass in this article?
February 25th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
I’ve heard that McCain was actually in Washington at the time of the vote he missed. There’s also, again, the margin of the vote to consider. McCain’s vote had serious potential to change the outcome, while the vote that Obama and Clinton missed was nowhere near as tight.