Fact-Checking McSame's Speech

This was a strange speech, y'all ... it's not often that the Presidential nominee gets upstaged by his VP pick. But I think that happened tonight.

John "McSame" McCain claims that Obama believes he is the "anointed one" to save our country at our hour of need. Yet Senator Obama said last week that this campaign is not about him. It's about us. And pray tell, what did John McSame tell us tonight?

He told us that he's the better choice to be President because he was a prisoner of war. That being a prisoner of war made him love America more, which means he's the better man to be President than Barack Obama ever will be. I've never quite understood that logic, but I guess it's because I'm not a Republican.

McSame also LIED to us tonight. Not just once. Several times. I'll lay out some of the BIG ones for ya:

McSame told us that "I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can. My opponent will raise them."

REALITY: Obama Will Cut Taxes, McCain Will Raise Them

• "The Tax Policy Center, a research group run by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, has done the most detailed analysis of the Obama and McCain tax plans, and it has published a series of fascinating tables. For the bottom 80 percent of the population - those households making $118,000 or less - McCain's various tax cuts would mean a net savings of about $200 a year on average. Obama's proposals would bring $900 a year in savings. So for most people, Obama is the tax cutter in this campaign." NY Times, 8/24/08
• "Mr. Obama wants to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans and cut them substantially for low- and middle-income taxpayers. He would cut taxes for more households, and by a larger amount, than Mr. McCain, who would give the greatest benefits to wealthy households and corporations." Washington Post Editorial, 8/31/08
• McCain's Health Care Plan Would Raises Taxes On Families By $1,169 In 2013: According to a report by the Center for American Progress, the tax credit in McCain's health care plan would fall behind rising health premiums and would raise taxes for the average family by $1,169 in 2013. Center for American Progress, 7/2/08 (pdf alert)

McSame told us " "I will open new markets to our goods and services. My opponent will close them."

REALITY: Obama will negotiate trade deals with American workers in mind; McCain supported deals that cost Americans their jobs

• Obama: "I think that NAFTA and CAFTA did not reflect the interests of American workers but reflected the interests of the stock owners on Wall Street, because they did not contain the sorts of labor provisions and environmental provisions that should have been embedded and should have been enforceable in those agreements." Associated Press, 10/10/07
• McSame Supported NAFTA and CAFTA:
  During a GOP Debate last December, McSame told the audience that "I'm the biggest free marketer and free trader that you will ever see" despite estimates that NAFTA has contributed to the loss of ONE MILLION American jobs since 1994. NAFTA vote and CAFTA vote. GOP Debate 12/12/07

McSame told us "For workers in industries that have been hard hit, we'll help make up part of the difference in wages between their old job and a temporary, lower paid one while they receive retraining that will help them find secure new employment at a decent wage."

REALITY: McSame has REPEATEDLY opposed VITAL TRAINING for WORKERS in hard-hit industries.

• McCain Opposed $1 Million In Job Training Programs For Young People. In 2003, McCain sponsored an amendment to delete several provisions from the war supplemental spending bill, including $1 million for the Jobs for America's Graduates school-to-work program for at-risk young people for Training Employment Services. 2003 Senate Vote #118, 4/3/2003, McCain: Y
• McCain Voted Against a Pilot Program to Provide Low-Interest Loans to Workers in Job Training or Assistance Programs. In 2002, McCain voted to kill an amendment requiring the Labor Department to establish a pilot program providing low-interest loans to workers in job training or job assistance programs to enable workers to continue making their mortgage payments. 2002 Senate Vote #119, 5/21/2002 McCain: Y
• McCain Voted Against Providing Additional $4.1 Million For Job Training And Other Domestic Programs. In 1992, McCain voted against transferring $4.1 billion from defense to domestic programs, including Head Start, child immunization programs and the Job Corps program. 1992 Senate Vote #208, 9/16/1992, McCain: N
• McCain Voted Against Providing $1 Billion In Economic Assistance, Including Job Training. In 1992, McCain voted against providing $1 billion for various programs designed to help those struggling economically, including job training funding. 1992 Senate Vote #146, 7/2/1992, McCain: Y

McSame told us that "both parties and Senator Obama passed another corporate welfare bill for oil companies."

REALITY: That energy bill raised taxes on oil and gas industry, and McCain supports tax breaks for Big Oil

• The AP reported, "Clinton is on shakier ground when attacking Obama for supporting "Dick Cheney's energy bill," and not just because it's a stretch to assign the vice president name - red meat to Democrats - to the legislation. The 2005 act that she describes as packed with billions of dollars in oil industry breaks actually raised taxes on the oil and gas industry by about $300 million over 11 years, according to the Congressional Research Service. The nonpartisan analysis found $2.6 billion in tax cuts for the oil and gas industry and $2.9 billion in tax increases. The bulk of tax breaks went to other sources of energy, including alternative fuels favored by both Clinton and Obama." [AP, 2/15/08]
• McCain's Tax Plan Will Cut Taxes For Oil Companies by Nearly $4 Billion - Including $1.2 Billion for Exxon. A study by the Center for American Progress Action Fund noted that the corporate tax rate cut included in the McCain tax plan "would deliver a $3.8 billion tax cut to the five largest American oil companies" - ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Valero Energy, and Marathon. According to their analysis of Exxon's financial statements, the company would receive a tax savings of $1.2 billion under the McCain plan. Center for American Progress
• McCain Opposes A Bipartisan Compromise to Expand Domestic Oil Production Because of Provisions that Would End Tax Breaks for Oil Companies. "A spokesman for Sen. McCain said that while he 'applauds the bipartisan effort,' he wouldn't support the proposal because 'he cannot and will not support legislation that raises taxes.'" Wall Street Journal, 8/2/08

So, McSame told us some things tonight while his record says another. Now do y'all understand why I, along with Democrats in the know, call him McSame? Because John McCain ain't about change ... he's just more of the same.

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