Phrase du Jour: He's a "Tax-Raiser"
Most Ridiculous Assertion: Barack Obama went to great lengths to be in Washington DC instead of on the campaign trail, just so he could vote to raise taxes.
Best Obfuscated Fact: The trickle-down theory takes a long time to work...maybe forever.
On a conference call with Senior Economic Advisors Steven Forbes and Doug Holtz-Eakin Monday morning, the McCain camp spun out a series of attacks against Obama's Senate voting record on taxation. The phrase du jour was "Tax-Raiser," and folded into a ongoing attempt to paint Obama as a tax and spend liberal. Part two of the strategy painted Obama as an empty rhetorician, whose words don't matter and whose history of voting for tax hikes is evidence of his real plan: to steal the money of working americans who can afford it least. They made little if any effort to demonstrate specifically how Obama's record supported their claim, choosing instead to ambiguously tout a single vote as proof.
Charging that Obama's words are empty takes is particularly ironic in light of the representatives' claims that McCain would balance the budget by cutting discretionary spending and entitlement reform. Such a position is as untenable as its execution is unlikely. Discretionary spending generally includes essential social infrastructure like highway projects, military and defense spending - a traditional staple of Republican fiscal policy - and congressional earmarks which make up a measly 2% of the budget. Similarly, "reforming" entitlement programs such as social security in the middle of a recession is not just socially irresponsible, its economically unsound.
The sum of the above: the gaggle gabbled to draw working class support for tax policies that would ultimately benefit wealthier fiscal conservatives. For good measure, they threw in an ad hominem attempt to paint the presumptive Democratic nominee as inconsistent across the board - which has particular traction at the moment due to heavy media commentary on his ostensible shift towards the center in recent weeks.