Arthur Brown – 7/25/08

This page was last updated on July 27, 2008.

McCain would be worse than Bush; Arthur Brown; Beaver County Times; July 25, 2008.

Despite the fact his letters tell a different story, Mr. Brown claims to be a Republican. It’s more than likely Mr. Brown is simply another Republican impersonator along with Messrs. William A. Alexander, William G. Horter, Edward J. Hum, and George Reese.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“John McCain claims he hates war but will keep the troops in Iraq for 100 years and send troops to Afghanistan and Iran border.”

[RWC] In case Mr. Brown missed it, Barack Obama also wants to send troops to Afghanistan.

“Some say McCain will be a clone of G.W. Bush. That is not true; he will be worse.”

[RWC] Who are the “some” to whom Mr. Brown refers? If you read Mr. Brown’s letters since at least 2004 (here, here, and here), it’s hard to imagine he believes anyone could be worse than President Bush. I suspect for folks like Mr. Brown it’s simply a case of the next Republican is worse than the last by definition.

“McCain said Barack Obama voted against funding for the war in Iraq.

“What McCain didn’t say was Obama wanted a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, and the vote was not entirely along party lines.”

[RWC] Mr. Brown believes setting a timetable for withdrawal and telling the enemy about it is a good thing? What does a party line vote have to do with doing what’s right?

“McCain said the Democrats are the tax-and-spend party. What party raised the national debt $3.5 trillion in five years?”

[RWC] Mr. Brown has me there, but then I’ve been saying the same myself. Note Mr. Brown doesn’t deny the “tax-and-spend party” label for Democrats.

Of course, what Mr. Brown fails to note is Mr. McCain is one of the few Republicans who actually is a budget hawk. For example, Mr. McCain opposes pork barrel spending and doesn’t participate in it.

“The spending is not done yet. McCain said Obama would raise taxes, but he did not finish the quote, and that is only to those who are not paying their fair share, and that would include his wife’s millions of dollars.”

[RWC] Note Mr. Brown doesn’t tell us who “is not paying their fair share.” That’s because Mr. Brown likely knows “the rich” actually pay a greater portion of taxes now than they did before the tax rate cuts. IRS data shows the top 5% income earners pay 60% of total federal income taxes while the bottom 50% pay only 3% of total federal income taxes. The average rate for the top 1% is about 23% while the average rate for the bottom 50% is only 3%. According to the Tax Foundation, a source used by the Times, “7.8 million low and middle-income families had their entire income tax liabilities erased by the [2001 and 2003 tax rate] cuts.” As a result of the tax rate cuts, in 2004 approximately 44 million filers had no income tax liability, and some actually received “refunds” (the earned income tax “credit” is an example) for taxes they didn’t pay.

“McCain also said he would make the tax cuts permanent. McCain said he would suspend the gas tax.”

[RWC] Making the existing tax rate cuts permanent is the smart thing to do. Suspending the federal fuel tax is not. Mr. Brown would not be objecting to the federal fuel tax suspension if Hillary Clinton were the presumptive Democrat nominee for President. You’ll remember Mrs. Clinton also wants to suspend the tax.

“If he is elected and the tax is suspended, the homeless will be thrilled to hear that.”

[RWC] I guess I missed something. What does suspending the federal fuel tax – a dumb thing to do – have to do with “the homeless?”