Erratic And Creaky Old McCranky Has A New Old Message: Obama Is A Socialist

Since Barack Obama's polling numbers keep rising and more and more states have been slipping out of McCain's clammy grasp, something tells me the red scare isn't exactly scaring anyone. We dealt with this silliness when he started babbling incoherently about Obama wanting to-- God Forbid-- share the wealth after the last debate. But, as Colin Powell, patiently explained as he left Meet the Press yesterday, one way or another, tax policy addresses who gets what in terms of "the wealth."

During this last, rapidly extinguishing, Republican era, the rich got a lot richer, and, inevitably, the rest of us got royally screwed for not paying better attention and bending over when they said, "Bend over and enjoy your $300 tax rebate."



Yesterday's NY Times termed the idea of "spreading the wealth," both accusation and prescription, the former for McCain's campaign and the reactionaries it's appealing to, the latter for the rest of us. And it isn't quote so straight forward this special last year-- this culmination of 8 years of Republican corporate rule.

In any other year, it would seem routine. Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee for president, is spending the final weeks before the election painting his Democratic rival, Senator Barack Obama, as a quasi socialist who wants “to redistribute wealth” and whose tax cuts are a “government giveaway.”

But it can be a complicated argument in this topsy-turvy year of financial collapse, when the government, from the Republican president on down, has seemed to be in the giveaway business and the wealth-spreading business an awful lot of late.

There have been taxpayer-financed bailouts of individual businesses and broader interventions like the $700 billion bailout of the financial system-- which both Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama supported-- not to mention the Bush administration’s move to buy a $250 billion stake in the nation’s banks. In the wake of the financial crisis, everyone seems to like some state-directed form of wealth redistribution, including Mr. McCain, who wants to use taxpayer money to buy distressed mortgages and sell them back to homeowners at more affordable rates.

“I’m going to spend a lot of money to bring relief to you,” Mr. McCain pledged to cheers at a rally here Sunday, just a few minutes after criticizing Mr. Obama for wanting to “spread the wealth around.”

McCain has veered-- or at least has had Palin's speech writers veer-- from insinuating Obama is a Muslim, a terrorist, an elitist, a crook, the antichrist and now seems to have settled-- at least for a few days-- on the sobriquet "socialist." Yesterday they had her, appropriately enough, in a hangar in Roswell, New Mexico, where she demonstrated her great knowledge of economic theory-- she must have picked up something besides clap in one of these five colleges she went to-- by chirping ominously that “Senator Obama said the wants to ‘spread the wealth.’ What that means is he wants government to take your money and dole it out however a politician sees fit.” Her supporters are as brainless and manipulated as she is. they cheered. But even the Dallas Morning News, one of the only newspapers in a city with over 75,000 people to have endorsed McCain, acknowledged that the socialism changes are... a stretch.

Both Mr. McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin, have criticized Mr. Obama's proposal to raise taxes on high earners and require that businesses provide health insurance. Ms. Palin referred to the plan as "a little bit like socialism."
And in a radio address Saturday, Mr. McCain said: "At least in Europe, the socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are upfront about their objectives."

Mr. Obama hit back Saturday, saying that Mr. McCain is "out of touch with the struggles" of many Americans.

William Wallace, a former vice president and chief operating officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said the country's progressive tax code, which Mr. McCain does not propose abolishing, is "socialist in nature.

"It's a term that gets people's attention, and therefore I understand why a political candidate might want to use it," said Dr. Wallace, a professor at the University of North Texas. "But to say we are headed toward socialism is a vast overstatement in my book."

...Both candidates have proposed a mix of tax credits and exemptions that would reduce overall tax bills for many households.

According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, Mr. Obama's plan would reduce taxes for 80 percent of households, while raising them for 10 percent. Mr. McCain's plan would lower taxes for 60 percent of households, and raise them for 1 percent.

And the paper pointed out that despite McCain basing much of his campaign this weekend on "Joe the Plumber, "Independent analysts have concluded that Mr. Wurzelbacher would likely see a tax cut under Mr. Obama's plan."