HOW TO HELP LOW-INCOME AMERICANS
McCain: Obama’s insensitive to the poor
GOP candidate cites rival’s opposition to suspension of fuel tax
RASHA MADKOUR
Associated Press

CORAL GABLES, Fla. –Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Sunday called Democratic rival Barack Obama insensitive to poor people and out of touch on economic issues.

The presumed GOP nominee rapped his Democratic rival for opposing his idea to suspend the tax on fuel during the summer, a proposal that McCain believes will particularly help low-income people who usually have older cars that guzzle more gas.

“I noticed again today that Sen. Obama repeated his opposition to giving low-income Americans a tax break, a little bit of relief so they can travel a little further and a little longer, and maybe have a little bit of money left over to enjoy some other things in their lives,” McCain said. “Obviously Sen. Obama does not understand that this would be a nice thing for Americans, and the special interests should not be dictating this policy.”

How does gamecock’s claim smell of bullshit? Let us count the ways:

1. The Gas Tax is 18.4 cents per Gallon: The average car has a gas tank that holds between 10 and 15 gallons of fuel (even the old, broke down gas guzzlers that McCain claims the are driven by the poor). That means, that on a single tank of gas, the McCain proposal will save the consumer between $1.84, and $2.76. Yes, that’s real money, but when we’re looking at gas prices that are about $1.50 more per gallon than they were in April 2007 (when the price was around $2.60/gal), consumers are paying somewhere between $14 and $21 more per tank than they were last year. McCain’s “holiday” reduces this increase to something between $12 and $18 per tank. I suspect that making gas $18/tank more expensive than it was last year isn’t really “a nice thing for Americans” as McCain claims.
2. Republicans Have A Shitty “Sensitivity” Track Record : Republican policies under George W. Bush have been anything but sensitive to the poor, and John McCain, who supports the same wrong-headed policies gets to share in their moral bankruptcy. What happened to the poor in Darfur? What about the poor in New Orleans? Where do Republicans stand on the minimum wage, or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, or other public funding that would assist the poor? Last year, rich white elderly guy’s guy John McCain voted, along with 27 other sensitive Republicans and zero Democrats, to abolish the minimum wage standard. Now McCain is holding up this “holiday” as a shining beacon of his sensitivity to the poor? Pardon me if I don’t buy that particular snake oil.
3. Giving Insignificant Breaks On Taxes That Disproportionately Affect the Poor Isn’t Sensitive: McCain himself said that the tax holiday wouldn’t do very much, but that there might be some psychological benefit of seeing your gas bill go down a little. That may be true, but the notion of this being a sensitive to the poor ignores the fact that any tax will disproportionately impact low-income families since they are the ones with the least ability to afford paying them. The same case can be made for retail taxes on groceries, pharmaceuticals, or utilities. NOBODY likes paying taxes, and Republicans are always keen on telling us how they want to keep Americans from paying new taxes, but their righteous anti-tax indignation is somehow absent every time a proposal is raised to eliminate taxes on low-income families. If you make $10 Billion/year, you pay the same at the pump as someone who makes only $10,000. Who do you think that 18 cents really hits, anyway? Retail taxes are the poor man’s burden, and making those burdens insignificantly lighter is disingenuous – especially if we crow about how “sensitive” we are. Instead, we should strive to eliminate retail taxes on basic necessities like food, energy, and health-care products altogether.

OK – 3. There are at least 3 ways that gamecock was full of crap.

According to Diane Francis of the Canadian National Post, there are good reasons for the Barak Obama phenomenon:

The point is, if Bush policies worked for the majority, McCain would be ahead. Instead, there is a large, and growing, “third-world country” inside the United States that consists of unhealthy, damaged and disenfranchised people victimized by lousy education in poor neighbourhoods, little or no medical care or war injuries that are not compensated for properly. African-Americans have been damaged for centuries and there is no help for America’s “downstairs” — the millions of illegals, exploited as nannies, delivery “boys” or orange and avocado pickers — who cater to America’s wealthy “upstairs” elite.

Moreover, she claims that Obama’s vision for America would make us look a whole lot like our good neighbors to the north. You know – poor Americans would have access to the same healthcare options as our government officials, children of poor families would have the same educational opportunities as children of richer families, and the US would take a more multi-lateral approach to global security than it does today.

That certainly doesn’t sound so bad, but I suspect that many Americans don’t want to consider becoming more Canadian (or is that Canadian-ish?). My guess is that US right wingers will take the prospective Canuckification of America as a sign that Obama’s wrong for the job – all the while missing the clue train along the way. Clearly, the US would be better off if we didn’t have a knee-jerk attitude about Canadian ideas and solutions that essentially asked, “If an idea occurred to a Canadian, and no American was around to ridicule it, would it still be stupid?”

Sadly, there are some things I fear a President Obama could never do. Here in Alabama, I doubt we’ll ever get hockey on TV without paying through the nose for it.

“A few weeks ago the White House announced plans to sell $20 billion in weapons to the Saudi royal family. Boom! Balance of power restored. Trust me, you don’t have to worry about billions of dollars in weapons being sent to a country like that — may I remind you, a full 20% of the 9/11 hijackers were not from there…”

• Ricky Bobby: If you ain’t first, you’re last!
• Ricky Bobby: Well, I’m the best there is. Plain and simple, when I wake up in the morning I piss excellence.
• Texas Ranger: Old man, I’m gonna come at you like a spider monkey!
• Texas Ranger: Old man, I’m gonna scissor kick you in the back of the head!
• Jean Girard: Hakuna Matata, bitches!
• Cal Naughton, Jr.: I like to think of Jesus as a mischievous badger.
• Ricky Bobby: Dear Lord baby Jesus, we thank you so much for this bountiful harvest of Dominos, KFC, and the always delicious Taco Bell. I just want to take time to say thank you for my family. My two sons, Walker, and Texas Ranger, or TR as we call him. And of course my red hot smokin’ wife Carley, who is a stone cold fox.
• Ricky Bobby: From now on, it’s Magic Man and El Diablo.
  Cal Naughton, Jr.: What does El Diablo mean?
  Ricky Bobby: It’s like Spanish for like a fighting chicken.
• Ricky Bobby: I wanna thank little baby Jesus, who’s sittin’ in his crib watchin the Baby Einstein videos, learnin’ ’bout shapes and colors.
• Herschell: Yeah? Well we invented the missionary position… You’re welcome.
• Jean Girard: My husband Gregory and I want what any couple wants. To retire to Stockholm and develop a currency for dogs and cats to use.
• Texas Ranger: The teacher asked me what the capitol of North Carolina was. I said, “Washington DC.” She said, “You’re wrong.” I said, “You have a lumpy butt.”
• Cal Naughton, Jr.: I like to think of Jesus as an Ice Dancer, dressed in an all-white jumpsuit, and doing an interpretive dance of my life.
• Cal Naughton, Jr.: I like to think of Jesus like with giant eagles wings, and singin’ lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an angel band and I’m in the front row and I’m hammered drunk!