Why in the name of God do Republicans hate veterans so damned much? It's time for McCain to make the leap. Yeah, I know his views on abortion. Where his heart falls on most everything else more than makes up for it. I'll trade a press hog hypocrite jackass like Zell Miller for McCain in a heartbeat.
Speaker Gets Riled Up Over McCain's Caution on Tax CutsOne more kick in the nuts by the GOP, and you can start putting money on a Kerry-McCain ticket.
Senator John McCain is getting under the skin of some of his fellow Republicans, particularly in the House.
There has been grumbling in some quarters that Mr. McCain, the high-profile Arizona Republican, has not exactly been spouting the party line during his numerous talk-show appearances as he discusses problems in Iraq and the need to get to the bottom of the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal. Then there is the constant chatter about the possibility of his joining his buddy John Kerry on the Democratic ticket.
Today, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert was asked about Mr. McCain's view that Congress should not enact tax cuts during wartime because it keeps the public from developing the sense of shared sacrifice that war requires. Mr. Hastert, who was discussing tax cuts, the Republican budget and $50 billion for the war in Iraq, had had enough.
"Who?" asked Mr. Hastert as he heard Mr. McCain's name. "Where is he from? Is he a Republican?"
Then Mr. Hastert really unloaded on Mr. McCain, who sustained lifelong injuries as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
"John McCain ought to visit our young men and women at Walter Reed and Bethesda," Mr. Hastert said. "There is the sacrifice in this country. We are trying to make sure they have the ability to fight this war, that they have the wherewithal to do it. At the same time we have to react to keep this country strong not only militarily, but economically. We have to have the flexibility to do it. That is my answer to John McCain."
Mr. McCain's response was equally pointed. "The speaker is correct in that nothing we are called upon to do comes close to matching the heroism of our troops,'' he said in a statement issued through his office. "All we are called upon to do is not spend our nation into bankruptcy while our soldiers risk their lives. I fondly remember a time when real Republicans stood for fiscal responsibility. Apparently those days are long gone for some in our party."
