McCain Response to Obama

“Barack Obama's call for ‘new politics' is officially over. In just 24 hours, Barack Obama attacked one of America's pioneering women CEOs, rejected a series of joint bipartisan town halls, and said that if there's a political knife fight, he'd bring a gun. Only Barack Obama would rail against the very lobby-driven energy bill that he himself voted for, and decry the politics of fear – while scaring seniors with blatant falsehoods about John McCain's record on Social Security – especially considering Obama's economic plan includes a tax hike on 10 million seniors.” ---Tucker Bounds, spokesman John McCain 2008

At A Philadelphia Fundraiser, Barack Obama Said "If They Bring A Knife To The Fight, We Bring A Gun." "Sen. Barack Obama attended a fundraiser at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Philadelphia. … He warned that the general election campaign could get ugly. 'They're going to try to scare people. They're going to try to say that "that Obama is a scary guy,"' he said. A donor yelled out a deep accented 'Don't give in!' 'I won't but that sounded pretty scary. You're a tough guy,' Obama said. 'If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun,' Obama said. 'Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl. I've seen Eagles fans.'" (Amy Chozick, Pool Report, Philadelphia, PA, 6/13/08, http://thepage.time.com)

John McCain on Social Security yesterday: "We have to fix Social Security, and we have to fix Medicare. And I want to just mention on the issue of Social Security, 'McCain wants to quote privatize Social Security.' My friends, I do not and will not privatize Social Security. It is a government program, and it is necessary, but it's broken. We've got to tell the American people that we got to fix it. And we got to sit down together, the way that Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill did back in 1983 and fix Social Security. But my friends, I will not privatize Social Security, and it's not true when I'm accused of that, but I would like for younger workers, younger workers only, to have an opportunity to take a few of their tax dollars, a few of theirs, and maybe put it into an account with their name on it. That's their money. That's their money. So when I say that, so when I say that, please don't – please don't let them twist that as they have others. It's their money. It's their money. It's your money. And we will make sure that present day retirees, I will commit, have the benefits that they have earned. And nothing any proposal would change that." (John McCain, Remarks, Pemberton, New Jersey, 6/13/08)

Watch John McCain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMbqRDru3lk

Barack Obama Will Raise Taxes On 10 Million Seniors (One Out Of Every Three Senior Households In America)

Tax Policy Center: Barack Obama Would Raise Taxes On One Out Of Every Three Senior Households. "Even though Senator Obama's plan eliminates individual income taxes for seniors with incomes less than $50,000, his plan would raise taxes for almost 10 million senior households, over a third of the total (not shown in table). On average, seniors would face a tax increase of about 2 percent of income." (Burman et al., "A Preliminary Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans," The Tax Policy Center, 6/11/08)