The other day at a political rally Senator John McCain said "there's no place I'd rather be than here with the working men and women of Ohio."
It's good that John McCain enjoys standing with working people on a stage but he has never stood with them when it mattered.
In fact, John McCain has a 26 year record of standing against working men and women:
•He has supported President Bush over 90% of the time and wants to make his tax cuts to the wealthiest 1 percent permanent.
•His health care proposal would tax employer provided benefits as income and force those without plans into the market, on their own, where they can expect high prices and limited coverage
•He supports short term gimmicks that won't impact gas prices over innovative solutions that get us off foreign energy and create jobs for a new green economy.
•He supports privatizing social security although the idea has been thoroughly rebuked by the instability on Wall Street.
•He continuously votes against minimum wage increases.
•He voted against curbs on predatory lending and opposed reforms to help keep people in their homes despite now suggesting that he supports regulation.
•He opposes building America and calls the projects that create jobs, keep us safe and moving, our economy growing and commerce running and that we all depend on "wasteful."
•He supports policies that send jobs in the manufacturing and technology industries overseas.
•He consistently votes against American workers and their right to choose a union and have a voice at work.
Now John McCain says he stands with working people and will bring change to Washington. But John McCain doesn't have a message of change; he just has a changed messaged.
And even with his changed message, he still doesn't get it. John McCain continues to go around, like some sort of Herbert Hoover, declaring the "fundamentals of our economy are strong" (that's after he said America made "great progress economically" during the Bush administration and his top economic advisor called struggling Americans a "nation of whiners").
He explained his clearly out of touch comment by saying he meant that American workers are strong. Well, you are right Senator McCain. American workers are strong, but the Bush policies you have supported and the ones that you will continue if elected are putting American workers and our economy in a weakened position.
Pretending to be a champion of working people after 26 years of standing against them is sham politics. Working Americans know the difference between a message of change and a changed message.