Critics Agree: McCain Fails

For Immediate Release: April 16, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - John McCain's major speech on the economy yesterday made it clear he still doesn't get it, and he's still the wrong choice for Florida's future.

A Wall Street Journal editorial declared "his pudding still has no theme" and noted that after backtracking from his hands-off speech last month, McCain "had almost nothing to say about prices and inflation, yet both are among the major concerns of voters in the polls." [Wall Street Journal, 4/16/08]

In its own editorial, the Boston Globe wrote that "under a McCain presidency, the national debt would soar as it has under Bush," highlighting how McCain's commitment to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy coupled with the "continued US involvement in Iraq that he favors" runs counter to his promise to balance the federal budget. The editorial's brutal assessment was that "McCain acknowledged that he didn't know much about economics a few weeks ago, and this shortcoming manifested itself yesterday when he unveiled his fiscal platform." [Boston Globe, 4/16/08]

And as the Washington Post reported, "much of what he detailed was a corporate special pleader's dream," rather than help for average Americans. [Washington Post, 4/15/08]

A scathing Miami Herald editorial today analyzed the Republican-controlled legislature's new budget, saying "the overall impact is clear: Dramatic spending cuts disproportionately will hurt the state's most vulnerable people and intensify the pain of the current economic downturn. The Legislature's leaders -- namely House Speaker Marco Rubio and Senate President Ken Pruitt -- are shortchanging Florida's people and future." [Miami Herald, 4/16/08]

As ground zero for the subprime mortgage crisis, Florida is paying the price for a decade of Republican mismanagement.

"Our next President needs to be ready to tackle the economic challenges facing our nation and our state. John McCain's half-hearted, out-of-touch attempts at fiscal damage control keep falling flat. He is simply incapable of getting the country out of this Republican recession," Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski said. "Against the Bush tax cuts before he was for them and against dealing with the mortgage crisis before he was for it - John McCain, by his own admission, just doesn't understand the economy and the challenges that Florida's families face everyday."