McCain does not speak for his own campaign

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On This Week with George Stephanopoulos this past Sunday, John McCain was asked about his plans to fix Social Security – a program McCain has called "an absolute disgrace" even though he continues to cash his monthly Social Security checks (C’mon John, Social Security may be an entitlement program, but you have the option to decline payments.  Leave something for people who are truly in need.)

Stephanopoulos: So that means payroll tax increases are on the table as well?

McCain: There is nothing that’s off the table.

Well, the insane folks over at the Club for Growth went ballistic over his statement.  McCain had violated their iron-clad "no new taxes" pledge. Club for Growth goes after McCain – First Read – msnbc.com

"We listened with concern yesterday to your interview with George Stephanopoulos on Social Security," the club’s president Pat Toomey writes in a letter to McCain. "When asked if you would be open to raising the payroll tax, you refused to rule out a tax increase, saying ‘There is nothing that’s off the table.’ This statement was particularly shocking because you have been adamant in your opposition to raising taxes under any circumstances."

Kelly: Might the social security tax go up?  Is that on the table?

Bounds: No Megyn.  There is no imaginable circumstance where John McCain would raise payroll taxes.  It’s absolutely out of the question.

By Tuesday, McCain was back out on the stump forced to reassure an unconvinced conservative base still suspicious of him that he does support the "no new taxes" pledge – wink, wink.  So which time were you lying, senator?

Bounds is not the first McCain campaign spokesman to imply that McCain does not speak for his own campaign.  When McCain has described his economic policies in recent weeks in town hall meetings he has strayed from his campaign’s "official" policies.  Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s chief economic adviser, told Slate, “[McCain] has certainly I’m sure said things in town halls that don’t jibe perfectly with his written plan. But that doesn’t mean it’s official.”  McCain may not speak for the McCain campaign – The Carpetbagger Report  "Got that? If we want to better understand John McCain’s economic policies, we should overlook what John McCain says about his economic policies. McCain’s ‘official’ positions don’t come from McCain."

As Douglas Holtz-Eakin himself has said, only “Senator McCain speaks for Senator McCain.”  Shame on us if we are foolish enough to believe him.

After eight years of President Dick Cheney playing Edgar Bergen to George Bush’s wooden-headed Charlie McCarthy, the American people have the right to demand to know who will actually be in charge if they are foolish enough to cast their vote for John McCain.  Who will be the manipulator of presidential power behind this easily impressionable and possibly senile old man?