Club for Growth Gives McCain Poor Marks
by Ryan Sager
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 at 1:38 AM
updated Tue, 13 Mar 2007 at 1:40 AM
Right after news comes out that Senator McCain will be staying away from the Club for Growth's winter pow-wow, the group has posted its white paper on the senator's fiscal record.
The bottom line: "Senator McCain's outspoken pursuit of anti-growth and anti-free-market policies in the realms of taxes, regulation, and campaign finance reveals a philosophical ambivalence, if not hostility, about limited government and personal freedom. ... The evidence of his record and the virulence of his rhetoric suggest that American taxpayers cannot expect consistently strong economic policies from a McCain administration."
Not a surprising conclusion, but still harmful to Mr. McCain's efforts to court conservatives. Now, let's break it down by category...
Taxes: "When the most important pro-growth tax cuts in a generation were proposed by President Bush in 2001 and 2003, Senator McCain vigorously opposed them. The depth of this opposition goes a long way towards tarnishing the Senator's fiscal credentials."
Spending: "Despite his poor record on tax cuts, Senator McCain's zealous effort against wasteful spending deserves praise. Over his twenty years in the Senate, he has been at the forefront of the battle to eliminate wasteful projects and inject greater discipline and transparency into the appropriations process, often by introducing a slew of cost-cutting amendments. While many of these measures did not pass, they served an important role in shining a glaring light on congressional profligacy."
Free trade: "John McCain has been a strong proponent of free trade in the U.S. Senate. He has voted for many bills that broke down trade barriers and increased competition and choice for consumers."
Entitlement reform: "Senator McCain's record on entitlement reform is mixed. On the one hand, Senator McCain cast a very admirable vote against the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, which drastically expanded a broken entitlement program, costing over $400 billion over ten years and totaling 1,162 pages in new regulations. This positive stance on personal accounts though, is marred by his willingness to raise Social Security taxes as part of a package that would include personal accounts."
Regulation: "His anti-growth votes are exacerbated by his characteristic vociferousness in cases like the Patients' Bill of Rights and the Climate Stewardship Act. His occasional eagerness to support and encourage increased government regulation suggests a troublesome mistrust of the free market."
School choice: "John McCain's record on school choice is very good."
Political speech: "Nowhere is Senator McCain's record on pro-growth issues more appalling than on the important issue of protecting political speech. Senator McCain was the driving force behind the ultimate passage of the McCain-Feingold Act, a bill that imposed grossly unconstitutional restrictions on citizen participation in the political process."
Tort reform: "Senator McCain's record on tort reform is generally positive."
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