Monday, February 11, 2008

I'm Getting Enthusiastic for McCain

...because he's right on my most important topics. He'll win the war, he'll appoint (moderately?) constructionist judges and he will control spending. Dig this article from the recently Romney-besotted NRO.
Despite his myriad apostasies ... the Arizona Republican could do for fiscal responsibility what Ronald Reagan did for tax relief...

“Reagan had a Democratic House to contend with, so anything he achieved was to the good,” Tanner explains. “The elder president Bush was sort of a non-event. Clinton and a Republican Congress represented the most fiscally conservative period. And this President Bush and a Republican Congress were a disaster.

McCain largely has refused to be led into temptation. He supported 2001’s $143.4 billion No Child Left Behind Act, but fought 2002’s $180 billion farm bailout, 2003’s $558 billion Medicare drug entitlement, and 2005’s $286.4 billion highway bill, which contained 6,371 earmarks worth $24 billion.

“Those were the four biggest budget-busting bills of the Bush presidency,” notes Heritage Foundation fiscal analyst Brian Riedl. “And McCain voted against three of them.”...

McCain has stayed tightfisted on the hustings. According to a January National Taxpayers Union study of presidential candidates’ promises, McCain wants $6.9 billion in new spending. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee advocates $54.2 billion in government-funded initiatives. Huckabee’s folksy profligacy should worry taxpayers.

“You would not have to look hard for reasons to dislike McCain,” says Cato’s Michael Tanner. “But if spending is what you care about, he is far more conservative than either Romney or Huckabee."
Now that's a candidate to vote for with enthusiasm!

4 comments:

Justin said...

So he fought against the highway bill. Has he said anything about a plan to fix our crumbling infrastructure? If he has I hadn't heard it.

As congested as the highways are here that's the only thing I can think of where I'd welcome WAY MORE spending. I'd even accept a hike in the gas tax to pay for it, which is a hell of a lot better than (here's looing at you TxDOT) building a ton of toll roads.

I really should do a post on transportation when I get back...

K T Cat said...

Justin, I wasn't aware of that. I'd love to read it. Here in San Diego, our city water system is a disaster. I don't think spending is the problem overall, it's where we're putting the dollars that's the problem.

How much do we spend per pupil these days for public education?

Kelly the little black dog said...

Thats a good question. Check out the Census Bureau data. The national average per pupil in 2003-2004 is $8287. California came out as $7748. The high was in New Jersey $12981.

K T Cat said...

Kelly, what blows my mind is California's continuing fiscal crisis. I know this is slightly off topic from the Federal budget, but to me, the prinicples are the same. In the case of California, you can't say that the state is poor or the military is eating all the money. The Democratic legislature and a squishy governor are just blowing all our cash.

It's crazy.