- Oct 16, 1999
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I don't know if this is posted anywhere yet, they are showing clips on CNN now. McCain is acting like an absolute ass on some of these questions. The full transcripts are up but it doesn't do the man's assitude justice, particularly in this part they just aired.
Edit: Here's a video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...FhQ-cA&feature=related
The social security exchange starts around the 3:45 mark.
Full transcript here:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITI...x.html?eref=rss_latest
Edit: Here's a video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...FhQ-cA&feature=related
The social security exchange starts around the 3:45 mark.
BLITZER: All right. We have another question from a viewer, Frederic Lumiere of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He says he's an Independent.
He normally says he votes Republican, but he says you lost his vote this time because of what he called negative campaigning.
Here's his question.
MCCAIN: You got anybody who says they've changed their mind and they support me? You got a question from them, Wolf? I'd just love to hear that.
BLITZER: Yes, sir.
Here's his question. He says, "My question to you is about tax cuts.
How can you explain to the American people that tax cuts are going to solve our economic crisis, whether it might be for the rich or for the poor, whoever it's for, when they really haven't worked for the last eight years?"
MCCAIN: All I can say to him is that, look at history. Look at history.
You raise taxes during an economic crisis time, as we did in -- back in the time of Herbert Hoover, you send the country into a depression. I'm not going to do that.
We have a fundamental difference of opinion. Some people thing you've got to spread the wealth around, you've got to raise taxes. As I said, Barney Frank and others have said we're going to get those rich people and we're going to take their money from them. Fine, if that's what they want to do.
And I can hardly -- it's incredible to think of Speaker Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama with the tax-and-spend policies that they did in the past and that they espouse now and might happen in the future. It invigorates me to keep my campaign going and going hard. I don't want that to happen to America.
BLITZER: Social Security, it's a potential problem out there for our children and grandchildren.
MCCAIN: Sure.
BLITZER: And you've said nothing is off the table as far as coming up with some solutions, long-term solutions to Social...
MCCAIN: You know, that's funny. That's the way you negotiate, and that's the way you negotiate and get solutions.
BLITZER: Right now there's a cap at $102,000 for Social Security payroll withholding tax. Are you open, as part of an effort to save Social Security, to letting that cap go up?
MCCAIN: I'm obviously against it. And I want to tell you again, the way you succeed in negotiations -- and I've done it many times across the aisle, whether it be Ted Kennedy or Russ Feingold or Joe Lieberman or anybody else, is you sit down and you negotiate.
You go in with your negotiating positions. I'll go in with my negotiating positions.
My position is that I won't raise taxes on anybody.
BLITZER: What about increasing the retirement age from 65?
MCCAIN: I will have things on the table, we will negotiate. Ronald Reagan, Tip O'Neill, 1983, went in, negotiated, and came out and saved Social Security. Guess what? That's what the American people want from us.
That's what I've done all the time I've been in the Congress of the United States. And so for me to say anything but I'm going to do what I saw two great leaders, Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan, do is just foolishness.
BLITZER: So raising the retirement age?
MCCAIN: The Democrats -- the reason why we couldn't get agreement in
2005 is because the Democrats insisted as a precondition that we raise taxes. So guess what? We never sat down at the table together.
The Americans want us to sit down together, Wolf. And so all I can tell you is I'll sit down with them. I've worked with them before. I'll sit across the table from them.
I'm against tax increases. I'm against a lot of the bad things that a lot of the people support. But I'll get a result, and we'll save Social Security.
BLITZER: And how do you feel about raising the retirement age?
MCCAIN: I feel very strongly that I'll sit down with the Democrats and we'll negotiate out something that will save Social Security, because that's our obligation to future generations of Americans. And you can ask me, you know, for the next half-hour if you'd like -- I mean, it would be kind of fun -- and my answer is going to be the same. I will sit down and negotiate the way I have done in the past, which Senator Obama has never done, whether it be in judicial nominations or whether it be in immigration reform or ethics or lobbying reform. He always went home to the Democrat leadership.
BLITZER: Let's talk a little bit about your support -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- you did support President Bush's plan to overhaul Social Security and allow Social Security recipients to use about 10 percent of their Social Security savings in the stock market. That collapsed, obviously. It didn't go forward.
Knowing what we know now about the volatility of the stock market, is that still a good idea?
MCCAIN: The reason why the talks collapsed is because the Democrats insisted on agreeing to tax increases before we sat down. So let's understand history.
BLITZER: What about Social Security investments...
(CROSSTALK)
MCCAIN: That's what they wanted to do. And all this other stuff was worth negotiating. And I will protect as president of the United States the Social Security benefits of retirees and future retirees. I will protect those benefits, and I'll do whatever's necessary to protect those benefits, and I've said that time over time.
Every even-numbered year Democrats run out, scare the senior citizens, say they're going to raise your taxes, they're going to destroy Social Security. Same old stuff. I've seen it for more years than I can count.
I'm not scaring any senior. I'm going to preserve their -- protect their Social Security benefits, despite what ads may be run. And the senior citizens, as well as all citizens in this country...
BLITZER: And the notion of using 10 percent in the stock market?
MCCAIN: ... they know about how I'm going to fix Social Security. And I'm going to make their Social Security the best I can, and we'll preserve the benefits that they have, and I'll protect Social Security.
BLITZER: And the 10 percent?
MCCAIN: And I'll protect Social Security, and I'll sit down at the table with the Democrats. And by the way, we can keep -- you know, this is -- I'll give you -- I'm telling...
BLITZER: This is an important issue.
MCCAIN: ... I'm going to protect Social Security, and that's what I've done my entire career. And I will do what Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill did, and that is save Social Security and make Americans aware that, unfortunately, present-day retirees have -- working Americans today are not going to receive the same benefits as present-day retirees unless we fix it. And I think I can convince the American people that we'll sit down together.
Full transcript here:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITI...x.html?eref=rss_latest
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