McCain Adviser Holtz-Eakin On Deficits: ‘You Have To Pay For That Somehow Or You’re George Bush III’
"McCain Adviser Holtz-Eakin On Deficits: ‘You Have To Pay For That Somehow Or You’re George Bush III’"
In an appearance on CNN’s Late Edition this weekend, Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) top economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin dug into Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) spending plan, claiming it would expand deficits:
Senator Obama’s plan is Washington in action. It’s $2 trillion more spending by the federal government. You have to pay for that somehow or you are George Bush III.
Earth to Holtz-Eakin: McCain’s proposed Bush-style tax cuts for corporations and the super-rich are far more fiscally reckless than anything proposed by either Democratic candidate. McCain’s plan would effectively double Bush’s tax cuts and create the largest deficits in 25 years and the largest debt since World War 2. As the New York Times wrote:
Fiscal monitors…estimate that, even taking into account that there are some differences between the proposals by Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, the impact of either on the deficit would be less than one-third that of the McCain plan.
Holtz-Eakin would have a leg to stand on if McCain had given any credible explanation of which programs he’d slash to balance his budget.
But he hasn’t.
The FactChecker at the Washington Post gave McCain’s plan to pay for his doubling of the Bush tax cuts by eliminating $100 billion in earmarks “Four Pinocchios” (the highest rating for deceit), calling it “largely fantasy” and “voodoo economics.”
So, in this case, we agree with Holtz-Eakin. Senator McCain, “you have to pay for that somehow or you are George Bush III.”