Personality vs. Policy
Ron Ault,
President
Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO
I am a Vietnam veteran and I can tell you I have the greatest respect for John McCain’s service to our nation, just as I honor the service of my former commanding officer in the Navy, Commander Walter E. Wilber who was also a POW in the Hanoi “Hilton” along with McCain. When hostilities ceased in Vietnam, Commander Wilber, Lt. McCain and some 800 American POWs were returned by North Vietnam. All suffered extreme torture and mistreatment at the hands of their captors in violation of the Geneva Treaty. All are heroes and deserve the gratitude of our nation. However the experiences of those 800 brave Americans are not sufficient to qualify them as President, nor for any other political office for that matter.
While I respect John McCain’s military service, his Senate record is a clear indication of his bias in favor of oil, corporate, and investor interests; and a clear preference for foreign offshoring of U.S. jobs —including jobs of military supply manufacturers. John McCain has consistently voted to suppress worker’s rights, oppose all minimum wage raises, in favor of the privatization of Social Security, and in support of taxing your employer-provided health insurance benefits. He may claim to be a “maverick” willing to break with the Bush Administration, but his voting record reveals him as anything but. Over the pas eight years, McCain voted 95% in support of the Bush Administration. He even sided with President Bush against Senator Jim Webb’s bill to provide returning veterans better benefits, claiming such improvements might cause active duty military to leave the military to take advantage of these improved benefits. Incredible!
I work closely with several employer associations, including the American Shipbuilding Association and the Nuclear Energy Institute. (And these words are mine and I certainly don’t speak for any of these associations.) Senator McCain has an abysmal record on the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding program. He claims to be a strong “hawk” on defense issues, but his Senate record makes him look like a sparrow. Both in committee and on the floor, Senator McCain’s record is replete with votes against modern ship building programs. He has been the key proponent in the Senate seeking to hand the multi-billion dollar Air Force tanker program to the European Airbus consortium instead of Seattle based Boeing, undermining the jobs of tens of thousands of highly skilled U.S. defense workers.
John McCain has never met a trade treaty he hasn’t supported, regardless of how bad it is, including, NAFTA, CAFTA, and all the other –FTAs. He admits that these agreements will cost even more U.S. jobs, but that has not restrained support for free trade.
If you like the way things are headed today—go ahead and vote for John McCain, because he will continue George W. Bush’s economic and foreign policies. He’ll pick up on Bush’s energy policies, too. (And, you’ll see oil rigs on all the beaches in America, and in all the national parks.) We’ve seen a lot of propaganda from the oil companies claiming that more than 70% of all Americans support offshore drilling. Is anybody asking Exxon, BP, Shell, Conoco Phillips or Chevron why they’re not even drilling on the leases they already hold?
John McCain seems to think that voters have short memories. And, he’s right about that in a way. Few remember that McCain’s first friend in politics was Charles Keating, a man who donated more than $112,000 to McCain over the years, and provided McCain and his family with more than $13,000 worth of vacations—including transportation on Keating’s private jet. Keating would later go to prison for 10 years for his role in bilking 21,000 investors in his failed Lincoln Savings & Loan out of some $258 million.
I maintain that McCain never deserved the “maverick” reputation that he tried to cultivate. Lately, he has moved much closer to his right-wing Republican base. I won’t use the offensive term “flip-flops,” but McCain now says he no longer supports a woman’s freedom of choice—if he ever really did. He’s now bought into the tax breaks for the rich scheme that he says he initially opposed. He said he at one time he opposed torturing terrorism suspects, but now he doesn’t. He has reversed fields on just about any of the previous positions that earned him the “maverick” label that he coveted. As the presumed Republican candidate for President, Senator McCain is now in lockstep with George W. Bush.
If you ask any Republican running for elected office today they all now claim to be “mavericks” independent of President Bush and Vice President Cheney—except when they’re out trying to shake down their political base for contributions.
McCain has been a consistent vote for Bush—and in the process he’s been instrumental in creating the legislative gridlock that the Republicans are now using to bash Democrats. You hear commentators all repeating the slander that this is another “do-nothing” Congress. But, look a little deeper. Since 2006, Republicans have set a new and dubious record for the largest-ever number of filibusters—some news organizations project there will be 158 before Congress adjourns at year-end, three times the previous record.
Admire the man, if you must, honor his military service. But don’t fall for the political con he’s now pulling. He’s no straight talker. John McCain is a right-wing politician who fully supports all George Bush’s reprehensible policies that led America’s economy into a tailspin.
And, please, don’t buy into the racial prejudices, fear and smear tactics that McCain and his campaign are now poised to trot out. Barack Obama is not a Muslim, nor has he attended religious schools in Asia. He salutes the flag, wears one on his lapel and honors our nation. Statements to the contrary are the 2008 version of the Swift Boat lies that bogged down John Kerry’s campaign four years ago.
Yes, Barack Obama is the son of an African father and a white mother. If that bothers you, then all the logical and economic reasoning in the world won’t make much difference in how you cast your ballot.
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Metal Trades Department, AFL-CiO • 815 16th Street, NW •Washington, DC 20006
Phone: 202-508-3705 • Fax: 202-508-3706 • email: metaltradesweb@aol.com
