From the summer 2008 issue of the IBEW Journal
John McCain: The Maverick Myth
 Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has carefully cultivated a reputation as a political maverick, known for his straight talk and his willingness to buck party orthodoxy. But a study of his record shows that when it comes to issues of concern to working families, he has stood with President Bush and the congressional GOP all the way, voting with Bush 95 percent of the time, the most of any senator. In contrast, right-wing Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn supported Bush 89 percent of the time, while Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky backed Bush 86 percent of the time. (Congressional Quarterly)
“Working families can’t afford another four years of George Bush, and that’s what we would get with a McCain presidency,” said International President Edwin D. Hill.
Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user Image Editor
McCain has been a committed supporter of the kind of trade deals that have sent good paying jobs overseas and devastated the manufacturing core of our country. He has voted for every bad trade agreement, including NAFTA and CAFTA as well as fast track, which gives the president the authority to negotiate trade agreements without consulting with Congress. While campaigning in Iowa last year, McCain told the Des Moines Register that “NAFTA was a good idea. It has created millions of jobs and has helped the economies of all three of these nations.”
Most recently, McCain personally intervened to steer a $35 billion Air Force contract away from the Washington state-based Boeing and to Airbus, a European aircraft company, a deal that would have cost more than 44,000 new and existing American jobs. The decision by the Air Force to award Airbus the contract was reversed by the Government Accountability Office in June.
McCain has never been a supporter of the labor movement or of the right of workers to organize and collectively bargain. He voted against the Employee Free Choice Act, which would remove barriers to joining a union, while opposing a bill that would bar employers from hiring permanent replacements for striking workers. He also supported Bush when he stripped collective bargaining rights from federal airport screeners.
The bridge collapse in Minnesota that killed 13 people last year made clear the costs of our decaying industrial infrastructure. But for McCain, the problem wasn’t caused by reduced federal funding for our roads, bridges and electrical infrastructure, but by “pork barrel” spending, instead saying that government has been spending too much. He voted against $1.6 billion in school construction funding to help school districts repair their most dilapidated public school buildings and against a six-year reauthorization of the federal highway and transit program that would create 1 million jobs protected by Davis-Bacon prevailing wage standards. (AFL-CIO)
 McCain himself admitted he doesn’t know a lot about the economy and it shows. Despite the economy entering what looks to be a severe recession, McCain told Bloomberg TV in April: “I think if you look at the overall record and millions of jobs that have been created … you can make an argument that there’s been great progress economically.”
Despite initially opposing President Bush’s tax cuts, McCain now supports extending those same cuts. Under his plan, nearly 60 percent of the $225 billion in proposed tax cuts will go to the top 1 percent of taxpayers, while the corporate tax rate would drop from 35 percent to 25 percent. (Wall Street Journal) McCain’s tax cuts would shrink federal revenues by a quarter over 10 years, driving the deficit up by $2 trillion. (American Prospect-Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)
In response to the mortgage crisis, McCain voted against a measure to discourage predatory lending practices and failed to vote on a bill that would overhaul the mortgage lending practices of the Federal Housing Administration (AFL-CIO). McCain’s response is not surprising, as one of his top advisers is former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, whose efforts to deregulate the banking and financial services industry helped set the stage for the current crisis. (Washington Post)
And despite declining wages, McCain joined with his GOP colleges in opposing raising the federal minimum wage.
Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user marcn
McCain voted for Bush's Social Security privatization plan and says the only solution to fixing Social Security is through private accounts, telling the Wall Street Journal in April: “As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it – along the lines that President Bush proposed.” (AFL-CIO) McCain also voted to raise the eligibility age for Medicare and against a measure to provide temporary health insurance assistance to retirees of bankrupt steel companies.
While claiming to support green jobs, his emphasis on tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans make federal investment in green job creation nearly impossible. McCain also missed an opportunity to end big oil tax breaks to invest in clean energy in 2007 when he helped defeat a bill to close $13 billion in tax breaks for major oil and gas companies to invest in new clean energy technologies such as wind and solar. (Center for American Progress)
 With the exception of his time as a prisoner of war, McCain has been covered from birth by government-run health insurance – an option he doesn’t want the rest of country to have. “I am convinced that the wrong way to go is to turn over your lives to the government and hope it will all be fine,” he said. (American Prospect-Klein).
McCain’s health care plan would shift the burden of health care from employers by encouraging them to push their workers off company plans into an unregulated private insurance market. Those like McCain, a skin cancer survivor, with preexisting conditions would likely be weeded out by insurance companies as a bad financial risk.
McCain also joined with Bush to oppose the expansion of State Children’s Health Insurance Program which would have provided health insurance coverage to more than 4 million more children.
Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user marcn |
