McCain Spokesman: John McCain Doesn’t Know What He’s Talking About On Social Security

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/29/mccain-bounds-social-security/

McCain Spokesman: John McCain Doesn’t Know What He’s Talking About On Social Security


On Sunday, ABC’s George Stephanopoilos asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) about his plans to fix social security. McCain said repeatedly that “everything has to be on the table” regarding possible reforms — including a payroll tax increase:

STEPHANOPOULOS: So, that means payroll tax increases are on the table, as well?

MCCAIN: There is nothing that’s off the table.

The comments drew a “sharp rebuke” from the Club for Growth, who wrote McCain a letter calling the comments “shocking because you have been adamant in your opposition to raising taxes under any circumstances.” In fact, just last year McCain explicitly told the National Review that he refused to consider any sort of tax increase. He also told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, “No new taxes.”

Trying to stymie the conservative blow-back over his boss’s recent comments, McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds insisted to Fox News this morning that the senator hadn’t really been speaking for the campaign. When Fox host Megyn Kelly insisted Bounds stop “waffling” and answer whether a tax increase was “on the table,” Bounds replied, “No”:

KELLY: Might the Social Security tax go up? Is that on the table?

BOUNDS: No, Megyn, there is no imaginable circumstance where John McCain would raise payroll taxes. It’s absolutely out of the question.

Watch a compilation at link~

Kelly remarked that Bounds seemed to be promoting a different opinion from his candidate. When Bounds said that he agreed with Holtz-Eakin, Kelly interjected, “But you’re guy doesn’t agree with him.” “No,” Bounds seemed to admit.

As Igor Volsky documents in the Wonk Room, McCain has gone back and forth a number of times on the issue of increasing the payroll tax. The truth is that lifting the current cap is the fairest way to help shore up the finances of Social Security.

Update: This is the third time this week that the McCain's advisers has suggested that McCain himself isn't speaking for the campaign or doesn't understand his own policy.

He knows very little, parrots what he is told, but apparently forgets his "stance" on just about everything. Millions of people would make a better President than McMoron, however, that will not stop millions of morons from voting for this joker.

talk about any pertinent issues, just wants to bash Obama. Maybe because, when he does try to explain himself, he's so good at botching it up.

That's all they have is lies, nothing redeeming for our country, whatsoever.

He can't get through an idea without bumbling. He and his handlers know it. So, they go on the attack. His ads don't even feature him, only Obama.

Apparently, the only line he can get right is "I'm John Mccain and I approve this message". Even when his campaign doesn't.
:rofl:

every pertinent issue: he can only spill RW harangue and bash his opponent mostly through distortions and outright misinformation, if not out and out lies. :P

fess up.

I'm starting to hate him even more than McCain, if that's possible.

:wtf:
Which only begs the question: If "Straight Talk Express" & "Maverick" McCain is not speaking for HIS OWN CAMPAIGN then who the hell IS and why would we want a President who can't speak for himself? Is his spokesman acknowledging that other people are really running the show? (BTW: I can imagine that this could cause some really serious problems in the foreign policy arena).

Are they just saying the guy doesn't know anything, even his own positions? It's like he trips over himself every single time he opens his mouth.

"Phil Gram does not speak for me. I speak for me." ok.....

What kind of convoluted assault on logic and common sense are they going to pull out of their ass on this one?

no personal responsibility

Just what we need: another President who doesn't admit any mistakes nor takes any personal responsibility whatsoever for anything he does. NOT!!!!

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x162938

If you are a serious student of policy, the thought that a guy like John McCain could ever come this close to the presidency is appalling. He might no less about basic policy than Bush. McCain is troublingly ignorant of even the most basic concepts of policy, domestic and international. Sometimes he can sound good and look good, when he's scripted and has time to prepare or he's getting fed softballs, but if he is even a little out of those elements you can see the holes in his game.

I can't believe what he said about Social Security a few weeks ago. I still think he just didn't know how it worked. I don't think he's actually against Social Security, I think somehow it dawned on the guy that current younger workers pay for retirees, and, for some reason, he thought that it was different in the past, so he called it a "disgrace." I heard commentators say that he was attacking SS and he'd get nowhere talking about changing it totally etc. I don't think he meant to change the basic concept of it, I'm pretty sure he didn't know that's how it worked in the first place. That's simple 101 level policy stuff. Amazing that he doesn't grasp that.

I also think the reason he got his op-ed for the NY Times turned down is because it was poorly written and embarassing. McCain can't define victory. He doesn't even know what it is, his Iraq policy doesn't make sense. If John McCain took a beginner's level foreign policy class - I have- and he wrote a paper about invading Iraq, the pros and cons, and how the situation ended up how it is right now, the options that we now have, and then he had to define and articulate an endgame to the policy, if he wrote what he actually says on Iraq, he would be lucky to get a passing grade. Now why would any newspaper accept an op-ed that isn't even up to the snuff of a lower level foreign policy student's C paper?

feeling that McCain is just a play-dough figure until the real candidate enters stage left.

I sense a potentially devastating advertisement in the works.

"Do you really want a President who can't even speak for himself?"

Yeah. That would be a great ad. Take a few of his contradictory statements back to back.

Who is John McCain? What does he stand for?


At the end: John McCain doesn't know either.

*crickets*


To be fair, here's list of what McCain understands:

What makes Cindy mad.
What drugs Cindy scarfs up. (All of them)
Those neighbor kids better get off my lawn. I know who your parents are.

They're accustomed to Puke candidates being puppets, obviously.

Bake

With a loose cannon like McAnus, not so much.

Bake

I think it was Darryl Strawberry (baseball player). He hadn't really understood something that the ghostwriter put in the book. When the book was published, the statement drew criticism, and he disclaimed it.