McCain vows to whip Obama's 'you know what'

ARLINGTON, Va. — Republican John McCain vowed Sunday to "whip" Democratic rival Barack Obama's "you-know-what" when the two presidential candidates meet Wednesday in their final televised debate.

McCain made that pledge as top advisers said he is weighing new economic proposals to help the nation weather the financial crisis. The Arizona senator refused to answer a reporter's question Sunday about what plans he might be considering.

Addressing several dozen volunteers at his campaign headquarters outside Washington, McCain promised some of his signature "straight talk" about the state of the race. National and many battleground state polls have shown him trailing Obama amid the deepening market crisis.

"We're a couple points down, OK, nationally, but we're right in this game," McCain said to cheers. "The economy has hurt us a little bit in the last week or two, but in the last few days we've seen it come back up because they want experience, they want knowledge and they want vision. We'll give that to America."

McCain said he and running mate Sarah Palin would continue campaigning hard in the three weeks left before Election Day, in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado. The two planned a joint appearance Monday in Virginia, a Republican stronghold turned battleground this time.

"We're going to spend a lot of time and after I whip his you-know-what in this debate, we're going to be going out 24/7," McCain said.

The two men will debate Wednesday at Hofstra University on Long Island, N.Y. CBS News anchor Bob Schieffer will moderate the 90-minute forum.

Still, McCain promised to run a "respectful" campaign in the weeks to come.

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"I respect Senator Obama, we will conduct a respectful race and be sure everyone else does too. But there are stark difference between us," McCain said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said McCain was considering policy proposals that would cut taxes on investments.

"I think it goes along the lines of now's the time to lower tax rates for investors, capital gains tax, dividend tax rates, to make sure that we can get the economy jump-started," Graham said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It will be a very comprehensive approach to jump-start the economy by allowing capital to be formed easier in America by lowering taxes."

McCain already has laid out proposals to address the crisis, including a $300 billion plan for the federal government to buy distressed mortgages and renegotiate them at a reduced price.

The Arizona senator has said his plan is necessary to get thousands of bad mortgages off the books in order to stabilize home values and open up credit. But critics said the plan would do little more than reward financial institutions that made the bad loans to in the first place.

On Friday, McCain called for legislation that suspends for one year the requirement that investors age 70 1/2 begin to liquidate their retirement accounts. The Arizona senator said it would be unfair to force seniors to sell their stocks when stock prices have tumbled so severely. Obama aides said the Illinois senator favors a similar effort.

Obama also has offered plans to address the fiscal crisis but nothing as sweeping or controversial as McCain's mortgage proposal. On Friday, the Illinois senator announced a $900 million plan to temporarily extend an expiring tax break that lets small businesses write off investments up to $250,000 immediately, rather than over the course of several years.

Aides said Obama also wants to extend the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program to help small businesses that cannot access other sources of capital, as well as eliminate fees on SBA loan guarantees and increase the size of loans that could be covered. They put the cost at $5 billion.

Both candidates voted for the $700 billion bailout proposal Congress passed and President Bush signed into law earlier this month.

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On the Net:

McCain: http://www.johnmccain.com

Obama: http://www.barackobama.com

Comments

[NicoloM]

Just like he can get bin Laden if we elect him president, he won't reveal his economic plans unless he gets to surprise us so we can't discuss them.
Politics first and let the country be damned is one of the reasons we are where we are.
Come on John, if you know how to get bin Laden, lets hear it, if you know what's wrong with the economy and how to fix it, lets hear it.
Every point the DOW drops until you get your political advantage, if your plan is good, is on you if you wait until the "debate".
This is intellectual dishonesty propped up by propaganda.

[DIMPLES]

OOPS * INVESTORS

[RussellfromPortland]

He can beat Obama if he can define what "victory" is in Iraq. How many more lives is that victory? How many more billions is that victory in Iraq? How many more years is that victory?

[Alexandro]

"We're going to spend a lot of time and after I whip his you-know-what in this debate, we're going to be going out 24/7," McCain said.

LMAO! Grandpa, what kept you from doing it in the past 2 debates? I'll tell you what: you are too slow, too old and too narrow minded in addition to being out of touch and not very well informed at all when it comes to details, important details. Your brain just doesn't work fast enough anymore (not sure if it ever did) to stand a chance against Barack. You hit him hard (wherever and whenever you want) and he hits you back, twice as fast and twice as hard.

If you gamble with your fortune - that's your thing, but if you gamble with our future, that's unacceptable!

[Noogie]

I'm sure "The Wanderer" has Obama shaking in his boots!

[Alexandro]

must be hard to find sleep with Rusty on your back;-)

[BuckeyeGal]

He's gambling with his *wife's* fortune.

[Alexandro]

she doesn't care as long as she has enough supply of her special M&Ms at hand!

[jsarets]

"A crisis caused by debt can't be solved by debt."

Phone it to the prompters, this is Obama's clinching soundbyte.

[greeniefromOH]

Didn't we hear this threat before the last debate? And instead, we saw Gollum stalking around the stage while Barack was talking.... I dunno.

[SurferKit]

Stalking around, looking for his precious.

[DIMPLES]

HUH ?? HOW MANY 75 YR OLD YOU NO ARE INFESTORS , TO ME THATS LOOKING OUT FOR THE HAVE'S WHAT ABOUT THE HAVE NOTS , ONCE AGAIN MCAIN DON'T GET IT .

[OB-GYN]

McCain Calls for Suspending Rule on Retirement Accounts

John McCain called for suspension of the requirement that retirees must begin liquidating their retirement accounts when they reach age 70 and a half, the latest economic policy rolled out by the Republican presidential candidate.

The Arizona senator announced the plan at a rally Friday morning in La Crosse, Wis. Buried a third of the way through his typical stump speech, McCain said his priority was to “protect investors – especially those relying on their investments for retirement.”

“Current rules mandate that investors must beginning to sell off their IRAs and 401Ks when they reach age 70 and a half,” he said. “To spare investors from being forced to sell their stocks at just the time when the market is hurting the most, those rules should be suspended.”

Dallas Salisbury, president of Employee Benefit Research Institute, says similar proposals have been put in front of Congress over the years but have not passed because it would help only a portion of the retired population. “The vast majority of individuals have relatively small account balances,” he said. “So for more individuals, they would have had to started taking the money out long before (age) 70 ½.”

McCain’s proposed suspension is aimed at wealthy retirees, individuals who have enough other forms of savings that they do not need the money in those retirement accounts.

Suspending that part of the tax code would benefit “high pension or high-net-worth individuals."

[BuckeyeGal]

For people with Roth IRAs, it's already a reality. No requirement to start distributions at ANY age. And, you can still contribute no matter how old you are!

[SeanHannity4Obama]

Funny, "cut taxes on investments"! How many Americans have investments that will need tax cuts. Well, it's again the very rich 3%. MCEconomics...

[brenner21]

Quotes from Teddy Roosevelt, a _real_ Maverick: ...cont'd....

"Those who oppose all reform will do well to remember that ruin in its worst form is inevitable if our national life brings us nothing better than swollen fortunes for the few and the triumph in both politics and business of a sordid and selfish materialism."
– Theodore Roosevelt

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
"Unrestrained greed means the ruin of the great woods and the drying up of the sources of the rivers."

"It is essential that there should be organization of labor. This is an era of organization. Capital organizes and therefore labor must organize."

"To waste, to destroy, our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed."

"There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains. To put an end to it will be neither a short nor an easy task, but it can be done ... Corporate expenditures for political purposes, and especially such expenditures by public-service corporations, have supplied one of the principal sources of corruption in our political affairs."

[brenner21]

McCain says his hero is Teddy Roosevelt above all others. So here's Teddy's best economic advice. Who knows, if you adopt it John, you may even pull out an upset win. That is, if you have the balls to listen to your mentor and be a _real_ Maverick:

"I believe that the officers, and, especially, the directors, of corporations should be held personally responsible when any corporation breaks the law." - Theodore Roosevelt

"A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues."

"If I were an employee, a working man ... or a wage-earner of any sort, I undoubtedly would join a union of my trade... I believe in the union and I believe that all men are morally bound to help to the extent of their powers in the common interests advanced by the union."

“We wish to control big business so as to secure good wages ... Wherever the prosperity of the business man is obtained by lowering the wages of his workmen and charging an excessive price to the consumers we wish to interfere and stop such practices. We will not submit to that kind of prosperity any more than we will submit to prosperity obtained by swindling investors or getting unfair advantages over business rivals.”

"Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. "

"A stream cannot rise larger than its source."

[PALinda]

I can see in bits ' n pieces where McCain reveres Roosevelt. But to my knowledge he has never articulated this well. Were he a good communicator, or had he chosen a running mate who could articulate such policies well, then a maverick he perhaps could have been.

For McCain to pull a win based on his ECONOMIC plan ~ he who is a self-proclaimed neophyte in this arena ~ requires quite a suspension of disbelief.

[brenner21]

all the GOP requires are enough _believers_ and not the other way round ...

[SeanHannity4Obama]

Erratic again. Why not push ahead with the morgage buy-out plan at face value?! Laughable.

[ronnierayjenkins]

Hey, how many economic plans for him this week? Three? Seems they forgot about this one.

http://www.ronnierayjenkins.com/topics/deathinappalachia/Empty_Chairs/

[UCSD101]

Thank you I was thinking about commenting on the same thing.

He is very tiresome....I cannot even imagine him as President. Aiyaiyaiy!!!

[PS4OBAMA]

Remember the smart remark McCain stated at the last debate re: Obama - "well, if we wait around a bit he'll change his mind as he has had many economic plans". I believe that remark should be attributed to McCain. Obama has stated his economy recovery plan over and over and over.....

AGAIN MCCAIN/PALIN DO NOT GET IT. THEY'VE RUN A DIRTY CAMPAIGN AND THEY THREW THE RACE CARD!!! THE POW CARD ISN'T GOING TO WORK ANY MORE JOHN. THAT WAS 40 YEARS AGO......

[ZellaBee]

Oh no! Another plan. Quick .....get my notebook.

[Dandywalker]

To the batcave

[ZellaBee]

Definitely. Should we fire up the Batmobile? But first..... do you have some money for gas?
The BatCard is maxed.

[lisaintexas]

McCain's going tough huh. Wow, is he on new medication? I don't understand all this tough talk. He's certainly raising expectations. I doubt he'll say much of what he's threatened too. Especially as all is 'respectful' suddenly. Except for Palin, the ads and the surrogates of course. I would like to hear Obama with 'Enough!' again. If McCain starts trying to link Michelle with Ayers he'll likely hear that and more. He's very like Bush in that nothing that's bad in the campaign has anything to do with him. It sort of runs along without him and gosh darn he's just not responsible. I get dizzy just trying to follow his line of thinking.

[Enid]

he is specking out to baby boomer and aged a very large group.
my own democratic cousin voted for GW just because of the inheritance tax change plagued by Bush.