A Blog Called Hope

McCain backtracks on support of Iraq war and President Bush, in direct conflict with past assertions

Given the length of the conflict, and slumping position in world affairs, there are few things the American people are more concerned about than ending the war in Iraq and bringing our brave men and women home.

Sensing this ever-present reality, John McCain’s camp has ramped up the anti-Bush/Iraq war machine.

On Meet the Press this past weekend, McCain Victory ‘08 Chair Carly Fiorina sidestepped from McCain’s history of support of President Bush and his war on Iraq.

“To say John McCain was aligned with President Bush on the prosecution of the war in Iraq is to change history.” -Carly Fiorina, July 13, 2008.

The only persons hoping to alter history is the McCain camp. The truth of the matter is that John McCain was one of the leading proponents of the war in Iraq, and even when the battle began to go array, McCain steadfastly supported the President’s decision to go to war and strategies implemented during the war.

“I think the President has led with great clarity and I think he’s done a great job leading the country.” -John McCain, April 23, 2003.

“We’ve got to stay the course.” -John McCain, June 29, 2005.

McCain and his supporters continue to feed the American public what they want to hear, all the while leaving the truth behind a smokescreen of lies. McCain’s history is one of prolonged Bush and Iraq war support coupled with public double-talk and political deceit.

McCain and adviser Gramm proclaim America’s economic troubles are merely “psychological”, and that we should all stop “whining”

McCain campaign co-chair Phil Gramm recently ruffled voters’ feathers when he asserted that we, as a nation, are merely a bunch of “whiners” and have merely conjured up our economic struggles.

Realizing that the comments were both insensitive and ill-informed, McCain quickly sidestepped from Gramm’s comments at a recent appearance. However, McCain did echo that economic struggles are just a figment of our collective imagination.

“I think, psychologically — and a lot of our problems today, as you know, are psychological …A little psychological boost. Lets have some straight talk. Its not a huge amount of money… a little psychological boost, that’s what I think it would help.” -John McCain

Straight talk huh? Downplaying the exorbitant gas prices and devastating mortgage crisis makes you a ’straight-shooter’?…

In the video below, John McCain condemns Gramm’s comments while mirroring those assertions in one of his own speeches. This is yet another example of the desperate double-talk the American people are seeing from the McCain camp on a regular basis.

The Obama camp has released the newest campaign advertisement featuring the Democratic Presidential candidate.

The ad called “Dignity”, which airs in eighteen states, highlights Senator Obama’s decision to bypass big money jobs and help lift neighborhoods stung by job loss. It also illustrates Senator Obama’s record of working hard to move people from welfare to work, passing tax cuts for workers and providing healthcare for children.

McCain surrogates launch personal assault on Obama; McCain stays mum

Unfortunately, it appears the gloves are off.

After months of spirited political debate on the Primary and Presidential trails, the McCain camp has commenced what is certain to be a series of attacks on Senator Obama’s character.

“Sen. John McCain’s allies have seized on a new and aggressive line of attack against Sen. Barack Obama, casting the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee as an opportunistic and self-obsesses politician who will do and say anything to get elected. McCain typically leaves the sharpened criticism to others, in the hope of being able to claim the high ground of conducting a ‘respectful’ campaign. But the abrupt shift in tone among his paid staff members, volunteer surrogates and other Republican staples of the cable news circuit is unmistakable, and it resembles the unified message the GOP used to paint the 2004 Democratic candidate, Sen. John F. Kerry, as a flip-flopper.” -Washington Post, June 30. 2008.

McCain likely will continue the charade that he is conducting a respectful and honorable campaign against Senator Obama, but the bottom line is his minions are not acting in such a manner.

These are the same people that responded with seething disgust when retired General Wesley Clark asserted McCain’s war record had nothing to do with McCain’s aptitude to serve as President; which is quite striking considering only four years ago GOP surrogates levied a callous assault on Senator Kerry’s (D-MA) decorated service record in order to blow a hole in his candidacy.

These are the same people that see terrorist attacks on our country as beneficial to McCain’s pursuit of the Presidency.

McCain appears to forget that ‘you’re only as good as the company you keep.’ McCain is surrounded by cold and calculated political personnel. It’s hard to imagine a way McCain could work so closely with such individuals without being either cognizant, or downright supportive, of the positions they present.

If McCain genuinely wishes to conduct an honorable campaign he must take appropriate steps to curb the wave of personal attacks and ignorant and insensitive declarations perpetrated by his supporters.

Despite Senator McCain’s recent efforts to paint himself as the energy-savvy candidate, a further look at his record exposes the truth of his environmental ineptitude

In recent weeks, Senator John McCain has shifted his campaign focus to energy; presumably a response to public concerns over rising gas prices and global warming.

One must agree that the Senator from Arizona has indeed put on a good show. Though, a series of entertaining rants is all Senator McCain has devolved into. He has thrown around a $300 million figure to possibly motivate inventors to help resolve our dependence on oil. He has discussed the development of nuclear energy facilities in Nevada (despite the fact 3/4 of Nevada voters oppose such a move).

The reality is that Senator McCain has repeatedly voted against legislation to create “green” jobs and in favor of increasing nuclear waste in the state of Nevada.

In 2002, John McCain voted to approve a site at Yucca Mountain as a repository for nuclear and radioactive waste. After the vote, McCain said that storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain would answer “one of the most important environmental, health and public safety issues for the American people.” In 2000, McCain voted to override the presidential veto of legislation that would establish a permanent nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. In 1997, McCain similarly voted to establish a repository at the Mountain. McCain voted yes on a similar bill in 1996. [2002 Senate Vote #167, 7/9/2002; The Arizona Republic, 7/10/2002; 2000 Senate Vote #88, 5/2/2000; 1998 Senate Vote #148, 6/2/1998; 1997 Senate Vote #42, 4/15/1997; 1996 Senate Vote #259, 7/31/1996; 1996 Senate Vote #256, 7/31/1996]

When coupled with the fact that Senator McCain has consistently voted against the creation of “green” jobs, it is easy to see the inherent contradiction of his policy on energy.

John McCain supported the filibuster of the 2007 energy bill that included an extension of the production tax credit to 2011. While McCain missed the vote to on the bill, according to his staff he did, in fact, support the continuing the filibuster, which eventually killed the bill. In its place, Congress passed another version of the legislation that did not include an extension of the tax credit. A 2008 economic study by Navigant Consulting found that “over 116,000 U.S. jobs and nearly $19 billion in U.S. investment could be lost in just one year if renewable energy tax credits are not renewed by Congress… The study concluded that over 76,000 jobs are put at risk in the wind industry, and approximately 40,000 jobs in the solar industry.” [HR 6, Vote 425, 12/13/07, Failed 59-40: R 9-39 D 48-1 I 2-0; Forbes, 12/13/07; U.S. News & World Report, 12/14/07; American Wind Energy Association and the Solar Energy Industries Association press release, 2/4/08]

For a man who claims he has taken up the cause of trying to find alternative energy resources in order to salvage Americans from swelling gas prices, it has become clear that McCain has been wholly inconsistent when it comes to energy. The only constant on energy when it comes to McCain is that he talks a good game to appease the American public but makes decisions behind closed doors that push us further from resolving the energy crisis.

Senator Barack Obama thanks his campain donors and discusses the importance of declaring independence from the “broken system” of relying on Washington lobbyists and special interest PACs as a means for campaign finance, which Senator McCain’s campagin continues to benefit from.

In New Mexico, Senator Obama promises he will ‘live up to the hype’ that surrounds him

It all began with Senator Obama’s rousing speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. And since that moment, Obama has captured the eyes, the minds, and hearts of much of the American public. His popularity has only continued to grow as Obama eyes the United States Presidency.

Many conservatives, who continue to grasp at straws, cling to the hopes that Obama’s appealing platforms ring hollow. They bank on the fact that Senator Obama cannot be genuine about the sweeping changes he plans to make.

However, Senator Barack Obama has been swift to respond to his detractors; ensuring the public that the popularity that surrounds him is not merely hype, but a promising reality that the American people can believe in.

Senator Jack Reed continues to be a catalyst for rescuing struggling homeowners

As mentioned last week, Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) has been working extremely hard to salvage homeowners from the current mortgage crisis.

In yesterday’s Providence Journal, John Mulligan detailed the work that Senator Reed has been doing on Capitol Hill. As a member of the Senate Banking and Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, Reed has worked to craft a revenue producing fee on leading lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The money from these fees would help create a federal housing fund that would go to finance federally backed mortgage insurance to alleviate the financial burden on indebted homeowners.
Senator Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Banking Committee, believes this new bill would raise roughly $500 million that would help stave off foreclosure for as many as 500,000 families.

The bill itself is built to adapt to the changing economic culture. The “rescue” function of the bill will eventually phase out and the new housing fund will remain to provide a source of subsidies for low-cost housing for the poor.

“Good housing is essential to families, not just for shelter but for whether they have a chance to live decently, whether they can hold a job, how they can hold a job with a permanent address, whether the kids can do well in school. It’s hard if you go to two or three different schools moving house to house.” -Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)

Despite McCain throwing adviser under the bus, McCain himself has a history of using tragedy to further his campaign

In yesterday’s Fortune Magazine, John McCain’s chief strategist, Charlie Black, was quoted as saying that another terrorist attack on our country would “be a big advantage” to McCain’s campaign.

Today, McCain, sensing the overwhelming public outrage, sidestepped from the comments. When pressed about the outrageous assertions made by Black, McCain quickly asserted he knew nothing of them, “I cannot imagine why he would say it,” McCain proclaimed.

Maintaining the stance that he did not know of the remarks by Clark, McCain claimed that IF they had been made that he “strenuously disagreed” with Clark.

However, this is not the first time that McCain’s camp has used the fear produced by terrorist attacks as a launching pad for their campaign.

Back in January, soon after the horrific attack that killed Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, Clark again saw the tragedy as a positive for McCain’s candidacy. Black observed that the assassination of Bhutto would put the American public back on notice and hone the focus in on McCain’s supposed strong point, the War on Terror.

It is unfortunate that McCain’s campaign continues to utilize terrorist tragedies for their own selfish political gain. To spin such an unspeakable act of savagery into a positive for your political aspirations is both insensitive and downright despicable.

There must come a time that either McCain disavows himself from Clark (which in and of itself assumes McCain truly disagrees with Clark’s ludicrous declarations), or the American people come to realize the truth that McCain’s campaign is solely based off of the same fear-mongering we have been subjected to for eight long years.

Congressman Langevin officially files for re-election in second Congressional District

Today, Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) formally filed for re-election, seeking to serve his fifth term as Representative of the Second Congressional District of Rhode Island.

Here is the press release from the Congressman’s office:

Congressman Jim Langevin today filed with the Secretary of State’s Office to run for his fifth term as the Representative from Rhode Island’s Second Congressional District. Langevin released the following statement after filing:

“It has been an honor for me to serve the constituents of the Second Congressional District for nearly eight years. While the Democrats, under the leadership of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have made great strides to move this country in a new direction after 12 years of Republican leadership, more still needs to be done.

“I look forward to continuing my travels throughout the district in the coming months to hear the concerns of my constituents and reassure them that their voices are being heard in Washington.

“As I campaign for my fifth term, I pledge to work to get our economy back on track, advocate for an end to our military involvement in Iraq and last, but certainly not least, solve our nation’s health care crisis. These issues, among many others, will be my priorities once re-elected.”