The Club for Growth, taking a break from bashing Mike Huckabee, has posted this video of Sen. John McCain apparently flip-flopping on yet another position — this time on the estate tax.
The video has two parts. In the first, at a campaign stop earlier this year, McCain calls for a $10 million exemption with a 15 percent tax on estates larger than that. In the second, during an appearance on CNBC on Tuesday, McCain agrees with actress Whoopi Goldberg that the estate tax should be repealed entirely.
That's curious because on Tuesday evening — possibly as McCain was speaking on CNBC — I was talking with his policy adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the former director of the Congressional Budget Office, who told me that McCain still wants the $10 million/15 percent solution.
With the rest of the Republican field calling for a total repeal of the estate tax — they argue it's a matter of fairness and double-taxation — McCain is under pressure to come into line with them, and maybe that's what prompted his glib new position.
But the back and forth is more than the Club for Growth can stand.
"Make up your mind, dude," said Club's communications director, Nachama Soloveichik.
— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times
Comments (10)
Stephen,
Thanks for bringing this "True McCainism" to our attention. It rings of the "Teddy Bell", or smell.
Great work!
- Harvey Apple
Posted by Harvey Apple | December 20, 2007 9:16 PM
Good old McCain. Never disappoints. Maybe he needs to check with the New York Times to see what position he needs to take on this one.
Posted by J. | December 21, 2007 5:03 PM
After the compromise for the gang of 14 which brought us back to the same relative position we started at with judicial nominees I can see labeling him circular reference McCain.
Posted by Larry Stone | December 23, 2007 9:36 AM
Remember, McCain is not from out west. He's a carpetbagger of the first order and he is not a conservative. He says conservative things but he doesn't fight for them.
Posted by sully | December 25, 2007 5:03 PM
Senator McCain should be the candidate to beat: Vietnam War POW, long-serving senator, somewhat of a maverick politically versus political ideologue- but he isn't. Why? He hasn't figured out how modern politics works. This kind of double-talk worked fine in 1997 (just ask Clinton and Co.), before the internet and cable news changed everything. In 2007, it makes him look more like the Republican's equivalent of Hillary each day. He's never recovered from the immigration-reform fiasco, which exposed him for the back-room insider and Gang of 14 member he really is. He just can't help himself! I really miss Reagan these days!
Posted by Tim Curtin | December 27, 2007 10:10 AM
Personally, I find the tone of the McCain criticisms above a bit offensive. McCain's policies are fair game, and anyone has the right to question them, vote against him, and campaign against him. But, I would hope that he has earned the respect of all Americans by virtue of his tireless and selfless service to this country, most notably taking an additional 5 years of voluntary torture in Vietnam rather than receive a preferential early departure by virtue of his father's senior status in the military. Most "carpetbaggers" of the "first order" would have sought to come home early. Nor would they have a 19 year old son in Iraq as McCain does.
All of our military veterans on all sides of the political spectrum deserve our respect.
Posted by Charles Curran | December 28, 2007 12:09 AM
Suppose McCain is undecided on the exact formula? So what? At least he is in the ballpark, unlike the Dem candidates. I paid $240 K to the IRS when my mom died, thanks to Dem Franklin Rosevelts death tax.
By the way, McCain is by far the best foreign policy qualified in this dangerous time. He is also the most passionate fiscal fighter.
Posted by Rod Hug | December 28, 2007 3:51 AM
Again, regarding international issues, McCain is the far-seeing, clear minded Winston Churchill of our time. It would be a great waste, in the futile pursuit of canditorial perfection, to not tap his service over paltry points of relative insignifigance.
Posted by Rod Hug | December 28, 2007 6:03 PM
McCain lost me when he sold out our First Amendment rights for so-called campaign finance reform. Now the Incumbent Rights Law.
He has no real core values. How sad from one who suffered so much and even so nobly for his country. He shoulda been Son of Reagan.
Instead, he's the Nowhere Man.
Adios, John! From a Vietnam Veteran attorney.
Posted by James | December 30, 2007 7:43 AM
Rush Limbaugh often criticizes McCain chiefly for co-authoring McCain / Feingold campaign finance reform. Other mentioned faults include the gang of 14 deal and a road to citizenship for illegal immigrants. McCain thinks that excess money spent on campaigns corrupts absolutely, whereas Rush places the emphasis on the ideal free wheeling of private action. The gang of 14 was a McCain and others invention to get our Supreme Court nominee without ratcheting up long term partisan bitterness. At the time the Republicans had the power, with Chaney's help, to shut off debate and force our nominee. In the end we got our nominee while preserving partisan courtesy. While some see McCain's work as party treasonous, others see it as creative statesmanship, reflecting the fact that Democrats and Republicans are all Americans. Ours is a republic, and as such, we must guard against out-party estrangement more than is necessary in a parliamentary system. As I recall McCain favors controls on immigration, including building a border fence, but he also is willing to openly face the fact that most of the immigrants already here will never be deported. He recognizes that to leave these people in limbo is likely to raise serious problematic issues in the long term.
McCain takes a risk when confronting these hard issues. In so doing he has demonstrated over and over that he is a straight talker and a man of courage and selflessness. Is that not refreshing when considering some of the choices Americans now have?
Any Senator worth his salt, having been in office for many years, is bound to have made decisions unpopular with his constituents. Perhaps that is why it is rare for a Senator with longevity to be elected President.
The natural and human thing sometimes is to focus on what one considers minor faults and overlook major strengths. McCain has at least two major strengths, which should be put in the proper priority, going for him. One, he rises well above the other candidates on international experience and leadership. The other, as I said before, is that he has had a long term passion to control spending.
Posted by Rod Hug | December 30, 2007 9:29 PM