Is John McCain running against Barack Obama or Nancy Pelosi?
At two rallies in Virginia on Saturday, the Republican candidate slammed the House Speaker and other congressional Democrats almost as much as his rival for the White House. A President Obama would be unlikely to curb the excesses of a Congress likely to remain in Democratic hands, he warned.
“The answer to a slowing economy is not higher taxes, but that’s what’s going to happen when Democrats have total control of Washington,” McCain told several thousand supporters in Springfield. “We can’t let it happen, my friends.”
McCain hopes voters will opt for partisan gridlock over one-party rule.
Supporters at both Virginia rallies, in Springfield and Newport News, booed lustily at the mention of Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, the acerbic chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. McCain invoked the trio several times as he raised the specter of higher taxes.
“We know this Congress is planning all sorts of new taxes,” McCain said.
“I’m not going to let this Congress tax away your retirement,” he added later.
Analysts expect Democrats to pick up several seats in the House and Senate, firming their control of both chambers. Democrats have an outside chance of controlling 60 of the Senate’s 100 seats after Tuesday’s election, which would enable them to overcome Republican procedural roadblocks.
That would make life much less pleasant for McCain, no matter if he wins the election or loses and returns to his day job as an Arizona senator.
Click here for more Reuters 2008 campaign coverage.
- Photo credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder
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3 comments so far
There are too many Republicans in Washington in the back pocket of Wall Street, Big Oil, Big Pharma, and the Religious Right. Let’s vote out as many of them as possible and get America back on track!
- Posted by DaveSEMassNO JOHN, there are to many Bushes in Washington.
- Posted by Ed PatrickMcCain is grasping at any straw he can find. But this comment would, in my opinion, only serve to alienate any Democrat who might be thinking of voting for him. However, I don’t think that will happen. To say this to a bunch of Republicans is useless. That’s the way they feel to begin with. This is just the type of comment that John McCain has been making that makes me further think that John McCain as President is not a good thing for Americans at all.
- Posted by EmilyL