A m e r i c a n P o s t – G a z e t t e

Distributed by C O M M O N S E N S E , in Arizona

Friday, August 6, 2010

McCain is Group’s #1 Candidate to Remove in 2010
McCain is more of a Democrat than a Republican

In spite of the continually-mounting evidence that the theory of man-made global warming is politically-driven junk science, McCain continues to promote the theory of man-made global warming and has been an outspoken advocate of the imposition of so-called ‘cap and trade’ taxes to stop it. (SOURCE)

In McCain’s campaign for the presidency in 2000, he supported a federal ban on offshore drilling for oil.  In June 2008, in the midst of a tough election campaign, McCain reversed his longstanding objection to offshore drilling. (SOURCE)
McCain has generally opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. (SOURCE)

JOHN MCCAIN SUPPORTED THE WALL STREET BAILOUTS:

While claiming to be a champion of fiscal discipline, John McCain supported, against strong public opposition:

The $700 Billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) Wall Street bailout (SOURCE)

A $300 Billion mortgage entitlement bailout (SOURCE)

An $85 Billion AIG bailout (SOURCE)

A $25 Billion auto bailout (SOURCE)

John McCain’s record on immigration issues can only be described as abysmal. NumbersUSA gives McCain lifetime rating of D. (SOURCE)

McCain’s recent ratings from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) are in a similar range: 0%, 0%, 15%, 44%, respectively. (SOURCE)

In 2004, McCain actively campaigned against Proposition 200, an Arizona state initiative intended to prevent illegal immigrants from voting or receiving welfare benefits, and requiring state agencies to report illegals to the federal government. McCain strongly opposed Prop 200, arguing it would be overly expensive to execute, that it would be ineffectual, and that immigration regulation falls only under the purview of the federal government. (SOURCE)

In 2007, John McCain teamed up with Sen. Edward Kennedy, Sen. Harry Reid, and Sen. Lindsey Graham to push for The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, more popularly known as the ‘McCain-Kennedy’ bill.  The bill would have provided legal status and a path to citizenship for approximately 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants residing in the United States. The bill also created a new class of visa, known as the “Z visa”, available to anyone living without a valid visa in the United States on Jan. 1, 2008.  The Z visa would give its holder the legal right to remain in the United States on a renewable, perpetual basis, and access to a Social Security number. The bill provided that a Z visa would be provided to an applicant automatically within 24 hours of a request. (SOURCE)

Critics of the McCain-Kennedy bill fought the bill based on several objections, including:

Completion of background checks would not be required for Z Visa legalized status.

Payment of back taxes would not be required for Z Visa legalized status.

Gang members, absconders, deportees, aliens with terrorism connections and child molesters would all be eligible for Z Visa legalized status

Aliens holding Z Visa legalized status would be immune from deportation.

Aliens holding Z Visa legalized status would be entitled to taxpayer funded legal counsel and arbitration, in-state tuition, student loans, and the earned income tax credit.

Altogether, benefits to illegal aliens under McCain-Kennedy were estimated to cost taxpayers

billions of dollars:
(SOURCE)

Ultimately, McCain was unsuccessful in overcoming the overwhelming public opposition to the bill, and the bill failed to achieve cloture in the Senate.  McCain continues to advocate for what he calls ‘regularization’ although his campaign has declined to define what the term means. (SOURCE)

While McCain has repeatedly touted his votes opposing certain gun control bills in support of his claim to support the Second Amendment, McCain’s record in public office tells a very different story.

McCain has received fair to poor ratings on gun issues from the National Rifle Association, often garnering C ratings on a scale from A to F.  McCain’s GOA rating went from a “C-” in 2000 to an “F-” in 2006. (SOURCE)

In 1999, McCain told the Associated Press that he was in support of outlawing ‘cheaply made handguns,’ also known as ‘Saturday night specials.’ (SOURCE).

The same year, he told the Los Angeles Times that he was ‘open to voting for an assault weapon ban.’ (SOURCE)

In 2000, McCain served as a spokesman for a gun control organization known asAmericans for Gun Safety, a group advocating licensing and registering all gun owners.  The group ran advertisements featuring McCain supporting ballot initiatives in Colorado and Oregon imposing new and unprecedented restrictions on gun shows. (SOURCE)
In 2001, John McCain, Joseph Lieberman, Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton came together in co-sponsorship of S.890, the ‘Gun Show Loophole Closing and Gun Law Enforcement Act of 2001,’ also known as ‘McCain-Lieberman.’  Dave Kopel described the bill as follows:

[T]he McCain-Lieberman bill consumes many pages. Within these pages are numerous complications and loopholes, which give federal officials the ability to shut down gun shows entirely, to register people who attend gun shows, and to impose many other gun controls which have nothing to do with background checks on purchases. In short, a “gun show loophole” bill could be short indeed; McCain-Lieberman is long because its hidden agenda is so long. (SOURCE)

On March 2, 2004, John McCain sponsored an amendment to S. 1805 that would have effectively outlawed the private sale of firearms at gun shows. (SOURCE)

McCain publicly reiterated his opposition to private sales of firearms as recently as 2008. (SOURCE)

“for McCain to argue this week that he is reliably pro-gun relies on conservatives having very short memories.” – John Lott, May 2006 (SOURCE)

In 2002, John McCain teamed up with far-left Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin to enact the “Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002,” also known as ‘McCain-Feingold.’  The law provided for severe criminal sanctions, including steep fines and imprisonment, for those found to have violated its new speech restrictions. (SOURCE)

The bill was opposed by a broad coalition, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Right to Life Committee, the National Ass`n of Manufacturers and the National Rifle Association, among many others.   They argued, correctly, that McCain’s law ran completely counter to the First Amendment’s guarantee that “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” (SOURCE) (SOURCE)

In one case after another, the courts have ruled that the McCain-Feingold law directly contravenes the freedom of speech guarantees set forth in the Constitution.  Earlier this year, the United States Supreme Court again stuck down major provisions of McCain’s speech regulations as being in direct violation of the First Amendment’s guarantees:

“The First Amendment prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for engaging in political speech…

When Government seeks to use its full power, including the criminal law, to command where a person may get his or her information or what distrusted source he or she may not hear, it uses censorship to control thought. This is unlawful. The First Amendment confirms the freedom to think for ourselves…

The regulatory mechanism here, based on speech, contravenes the First Amendment.”

(SOURCE)

I

n the 2010 Florida primary for Senate, McCain originally endorsed left-wing Republican Charlie Crist against Marco Rubio.  (SOURCE)  McCain recently withdrew his endorsement.

In the 2010 Illinois primary for Senate, McCain endorsed anti-gun left-winger Mark Kirk. (SOURCE)

For years, McCain refused to sign the Americans for Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge to not add any new taxes or increase existing taxes.  (SOURCE)  McCain finally agreed to sign the pledge for the 2010 election cycle.  (SOURCE)

Despite his claim to support limited government and the free market, McCain voted against the economy-spurring tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, denouncing them as “tax breaks for the wealthiest citizens of this country.” (SOURCE)

John McCain is one of four U.S. Senators in The Republican Main Street Partnership, a group of self-described ‘moderate’ Republicans, most of whom are pro-choice. The other three Senators are Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and George Voinovich.  (SOURCE)

Amidst an ever-worsening budget crisis and despite the fact that the most promising research on stem cells has come from adult stem cells, McCain has long advocated using federal taxpayer dollars to destroy human embryos for medical research. (SOURCE)

In 2005, in the face of continued Democratic filibusters of 10 Bush judicial appointments denying the appointees an up-or-down vote, McCain conspired with a handful of Democrat and liberal Republican Senators in a cabal known as the ‘Gang of 14.’  The Gang of 14 agreed that up-or-down votes would be held on only 3 of Bush’s appointments and the remainder would not go forward.  McCain’s activities completely short-circuited the negotiations taking place to conduct up-or-down votes on all of the judicial appointees. (SOURCE) (SOURCE)