Apparently, Senator McCain has decided that the infamous “no new taxes” strategy that helped George H. W. Bush secure the White House in 1988 is worth emulating. He uttered the same phrase on ABC’s This Week.
Unfortunately for Bush, he was forced to renege on his campaign pledge during his first term. The result? It was his only term as president.
McCain’s statements are drawing sharp criticisms from conservatives and moderates alike. Conservatives view this last pitch as an insincere effort to woo them over since he voted against President Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts – and had refused to take a “no new taxes” pledge last year. And moderates wonder why he wants to make those cuts permanent after previously going on record as saying that they were not good economic sense.
Sounds like he’s settling right in, no?