Leading surrogate: McCain ‘absolutely’ wants to continue Bush domestic policies

The Carpetbagger Report

John McCain and his campaign have been working diligently to reject any suggestion that he’d offer another Bush term if elected. Given this, I’m surprised his campaign surrogates haven’t been prepped with better responses to questions like these.

The clip shows Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), arguably McCain’s most sycophantic toady, on ABC’s “This Week” earlier today. When George Stephanopoulos asked whether McCain’s tax and health care policies were not only an extension of Bush’s policies, but also an “enhancement,” Graham responds, “Yeah, absolutely.”

I’m not usually inclined to agree with Lindsey Graham, but on this one, he’s quite right — McCain’s policies would be an extension of the status quo. As Ben at TP explained, “McCain is proposing massive tax cuts that primarily benefit higher-income households, ignore other priorities and drive up the national debt by trillions. And McCain’s health care policy would raise costs and abandon the uninsured. That sure sounds like an ‘extension’ and ‘enhancement’ of Bush’s policies.”

Leading Republicans do realize they’re supposed to argue the opposite, don’t they?

This came up a month ago, when Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the second highest-ranking Republican in the House, told CNN that McCain “would be” a third Bush term on the economy.

As a rule, Republicans are supposed to disagree with the Democrats’ central criticism of the GOP presidential candidate. But if Graham, Blunt, & Co. want to tell national television audiences that we’re right, I couldn’t be more pleased.