Matt Yglesias

Oct 22nd, 2008 at 4:27 pm

John McCain, Socialist

Eight years ago when John McCain was less crazy, he offered a full-throated defense of the progressive income tax, specifically acknowledged that people with no income tax liability nonetheless deserve tax cuts, and denied that any of this was socialism:

But desperate times call for something something.

Filed under: mccain, taxes,





28 Responses to “John McCain, Socialist”

  1. Andrew Says:

    Obviously the real explanation is that the first answer wasn’t popular enough with Republicans, but at a deeper level, he seems to have never cared enough to reconcile the important differences between his heroes Teddy Roosevelt and Reagan. To the extent that he’s capable of having a serious opinion on a policy issue, I suppose he agrees with Roosevelt. But who can really say?

  2. Jake Says:

    Don’t you owe John Stewart and TDS a hat tip for this one? They aired clips in their show just last night.

  3. Bresq Says:

    This should be on actual news shows, not just the Daily Show. Old McCain basically spends almost three minutes defending Obama’s tax plan against New McCain’s attacks. He even talks about tax cuts for working families. It’s pretty amazing.

  4. Rum raisin Says:

    When he does it, its not socialism – its called being a maverick. McCain is fast becoming (if not already become) a joke.

  5. bobbo Says:

    Wow. I really like this guy. Probably wouldn’t so much if I knew more about him.

  6. asl Says:

    The effective tax rate comparison of all taxes is the right answer to the fairness of raising taxes on higher-income people. The really right answer is that a lower share for lower-income people is better economic stimulus.

  7. El Cid Says:

    Desperate Republicans calls for desperate idiocies.

  8. The Real JR Says:

    Wouldn’t that be “sumthin sumthin”?

    Great, now I have that song in my head.

  9. slag Says:

    Too…Many…John…McCains…

  10. Rob Says:

    This was the real John McCain who said what he thought and didn’t give a damn if it appealed to the GOP base. A lot of Americans, even Democrats like myself, miss that politician. What’s unfortunate for McCain is at the end of the day, that McCain likely would have had a much better chance defeating Obama than the current, sad version.

  11. 24AheadDotCom Says:

    ~~~ POLL ~~~

    What’s it going to take for MattY to acknowledge the difference between even progressive taxation and BHO’s contention that “When you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody”?

    1. A hot date with Andrea Mitchell.
    2. A new Brooks Brothers hiking outfit.
    3. A stern warning from the president of the Harvard Alumni Association regarding making that august institution look foolish.

  12. glockenspiel Says:

    Can we please retire “full throated”?

    please?

  13. glockenspiel Says:

    Can we please retire “full throated”?

    please?

  14. Oscar Says:

    “..there are some countries, like Sweden, where it doesn’t pay at all to work more than six months…”

    WTF does he even mean by that?

    The top marginal rate in Sweden is about 55%, very high indeed but how do you figure that it doesn’t pay to work more than six months? There’s no Swedish “july-and-forward-100%-marginal-tax-rate”. If you have an extremely high income you could end up paying up towards those 55% as your average rate but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t pay to work.

    i dunno, am i being to literal here?

  15. Bresq Says:

    Let’s all hyper-analyze every off the cuff, informal statement you make 24Ahead, and see how well you fare. It may be inelegant and imprecise, but I don’t think “spreading the wealth around” is an inaccurate description of a progressive tax code.

  16. The Fool Says:

    What a cooze that spoiled little cunt who asks the question is.

  17. Grumpy Says:

    Not only was this video on The Daily Show, but the Colbert Report had a video of McCain praising ACORN. In 2006.

  18. DJ Says:

    Wow…not only was he making sense, he was so much more in his prime then.

    So Repugs chucked this guy in the trash, genuine war hero and all, for Dubya but are now outraged that this other Americans won’t vote for this All-American True-Blue Patriot.

  19. hermano Says:

    obama can do a better job with his ads just by using mccains words. use mccain’s words and ask, what happened to the old john mccain. that will really hit the spot.

  20. Brent Says:

    This clip shows John McCain supporting, endorsing and defending the very tax policies he currently criticises Barack Obama for. Everyone needs to see this, so that they may see McCain for the outright hypocrite that he is. Barack Obama’s tax plan seeks to give relief and opportunity to those who are struggling, to those who need it most. We can clearly see from this clip that John McCain fully understands and agrees with Senator Obama’s perspective, but with his back against the wall in this election, the Republican senator resorts to the lowbrow tactics of misrepresenting Obama’s tax plan as socialist and deliberately attempting to instil division and fear into the American public… but hey, I guess that’s what you do when you’re out of touch, out of ideas and running out of time!

    Please everyone, spread the word of this clip, it needs to all over the media.

    Vote Barack Obama.

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