8-19-08, 11:35 am

John McCain wants you to think he's a maverick. He isn't, and his record after nearly 30 years in Washington proves it. From Social Security to energy policy, the economy, the war, and veterans issues, John McCain is out of touch with the views and needs of Americans.

Social Security

Even though at a campaign stop in early July John McCain called Social Security 'an absolute disgrace' that he'd like to 'fix' by privatizing, most people, including most of his supporters, probably don't even know that he collects nearly $2,000 a month in Social Security benefits.

McCain's Social Security privatization plan is to give something like $5 trillion in taxpayer money to private investment companies to create private accounts – the same investment companies that are responsible for the dot.com bubble, Enron-style fiascos, the subprime mortgage crisis, and massive oil speculation that has pushed up gas prices.

McCain's goal is to end guaranteed Social Security after retirement and to massively cut benefits to pay for new Bush-style tax cuts he wants to give to Big Oil and the richest Americans.

Why would Americans want to risk their retirement futures on schemes conjured up on Wall Street?

On energy policy

Have you seen the latest McCain ad? In it McCain talks about how he will take on Big Oil and fight for energy independence. There are even whirling wind power generators in the background.

Nice, right? Except it's a lie. McCain hasn't fought Big Oil since coming to Washington 26 years ago. Recent federal spending bills that included subsidies for wind power didn't get McCain's vote. In fact, McCain specifically opposed those measures for two reasons. One because he really doesn't support wind power, and two, those measures would have eliminated new tax breaks for Big Oil McCain wants to see pass.

This past week, Federico Peña, the former Secretary of Transportation and Secretary of Energy for the Clinton administration, stated that by idly standing by in Congress for the past 26 years, John McCain has actually contributed to the creation of the energy crisis and high gas prices that he now blames Washington for creating. Here's Peña:

'Sen. McCain is not going to solve our energy crisis,because, frankly, he helped create it. He blamed our dependence on foreign oil on the inaction of politicians in Washington, but he's been there for the last 26 years, and he did very little as a Congressman and as a Senator to help resolve this oil challenge. He was there when we saw the ups and downs of world crude oil over many, many years.'

The economy

Now turning to the economic crisis. During the presidential primaries, John McCain sat on the platform at a Republican debate and with a straight face told us that we are better off now than we were eight years ago.

But in one of his latest misleading TV commercials, we hear the narrator claiming that we're worse off than we were four years ago. John McCain has his timeline confused, and he needs to decide if the Bush economy, which he has voted for in lock step with the White House, has hurt working Americans, and whether he has real solutions for the crisis.

McCain even told the Wall Street Journal that he doesn't really understand economics. Perhaps that's why he continues to say the economy is fundamentally sound some times and at other times seems to agree there are some problems.

Most Americans aren't as confused about the economy as McCain seems to be. Celinda Lake, president of the polling firm Lake Research Partners, recently discussed new polling data that shows Americans understand that there are fundamental problems with the economy and are angry about it. And John McCain just doesn't get it.

'The economy is by far the number one issue. It is a very deep concern that people have. There is economic pessimism out there. People worry about their own situation; they worry about their children's situation,' Lake said in a teleconference with reporters recently.

'Women and people of color are particularly pessimistic about the economy, but no one is optimistic about the economy,' she added. 'Voters think that the economy is in recession. And that frame of being in a recession and having Washington do nothing about their problems is one of the most powerful ways to articulate a desire for change.'

Voters are more and more inclined to see John McCain as siding with Big Business and continuing the economic policies of the Bush administration rather than representing a new direction.

Health care and taxes

Over the past few months Americans have consistently listed their concerns about the broken health care system among their top three concerns along with the economy and the war.

A close look at John's Mccain's health care proposal shows that he is out of touch on this basic issue.

McCain is calling for a new health care tax that would give employers an incentive to end health care benefits, raise the cost of health care, and instead of covering the uninsured would make sure that people who currently have affordable coverage would find it more difficult to pay for insurance.

Jason Berman, an economic adviser for the Obama campaign, recently described McCain's proposed new health care tax.

'While Barack Obama would not raise taxes (for middle class families),' Berman noted, 'Sen. McCain cannot make a similar promise for his tax plan, because for the first time in history, he would make families pay taxes on the health insurance they get from their employers. That would be a $3.6 trillion tax increase on middle-class families.'

Even with proposed tax credits, many working families would see their tax burden go up under the McCain plan, Berman added. This $3.6 trillion tax increase would be paid out to investment companies who are now financing McCain's campaign.

Iraq and Veterans

Seven in 10 Americans want the war in Iraq to end, and the overwhelming majority of them agree with Barack Obama that there should be a timetable for bringing the troops home and ending the war.

Again John McCain has missed the boat. He told one crowd that maybe we could stay there a hundred years. He seems to be confused about when the war should end.

Based on various statements he has made since 2003, John McCain has pegged the war to end sometime between 2003 and 2108.

His incoherent position on the war has angered many veterans. On a recent teleconference with reporters, former infantry officer and Iraq war veteran Drew Sloan suggested McCain has as a simplistic 'Cold War mentality' that casts world problems in terms of black and white.

'I see Senator Obama as a president that can move beyond partisan politics to build a national movement for change on foreign policy, energy independence, the environment, and all the other interconnected issues that will shape the 21st century strategic environment,' he said. 'I think the threats that are facing us are diverse, they're complex, and a Cold War mentality is not the place to look for the answers.'

Veterans more and more are turning to Barack Obama. Iraq and Afghanistan vet and Purple Heart recipient Christopher McGurk talked about Obama's work on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and is work supporting veterans issues.

'I support Senator Obama because he's supporting us,' McGurk said. 'In the Senate when we needed him, he fought for more funding for PTSD, more funding for traumatic brain injuries. He was an early supporter of the new GI Bill.'

McGurk said the new GI Bill will give him opportunities he did not have before, adding, 'I believe in Senator Obama's integrity. I think he has the character it takes to lead the armed forces as the next commander-in-chief.'

A recent article in Time magazine revealed that on veterans issues, John McCain has only voted 30 percent of the time with veterans, even opposing the recent 21st Century GI Bill.

Barack Obama supported the new GI Bill and has voted with veterans 90 percent of the time.