Huffington Post: McCain Revealed

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-sweeney/mccain-revealed_b_91238.html?view=screen

Posted March 12, 2008 | 07:17 PM (EST)

John Sweeney Bio: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-sweeney

Sen. John McCain has a habit of voting away good U.S. jobs--not to mention overtime pay, Social Security, Medicare, our freedom to form unions and bargain and more. When the AFL-CIO started doing research to uncover John McCain's record on working family issues, it was like peeling an onion--layer after layer of hostile, Bush-esque actions and positions wrapped in McCain's camouflage as a straight-talking maverick.

The latest to come to light: McCain was a "key figure" in the deal that awarded a multi-billion-dollar air tanker deal to a joint venture that includes the European company EADS rather than to Boeing. McCain pushed the Pentagon to change the bidding process in a way that disadvantaged Boeing, Time magazine says. And some of his top advisers have out and out lobbied for the award to EADS/Airbus--one of them while serving as McCain's national finance chairman.

Facing recession, America lost 63,000 jobs last month alone. Had Boeing been awarded the air tanker deal, it would have supported at least 44,000 new and existing jobs here in the United States, many of them good union jobs.

For McCain, this is business as usual. And we want people to know that.

So the AFL-CIO has launched a McCain Revealed website to introduce the presidential candidate to the public and a multi-layered campaign to reach more than 13 million union household voters in 23 battleground states. Everywhere John McCain goes, union activists are there to confront him on economic issues and demand that he speak to working families' concerns. From worksite leafleting and door-to-door canvassing to microtargeting direct mail and phone calls, we'll make sure John McCain's real record is on the public record.

Here's just a taste:

John McCain: More George W. Bush. McCain supported President Bush's positions 95 percent of the time in 2007 and 89 percent of the time over Bush's two terms in office. (Congressional Quarterly Voting Study, 110th Congress)


McCain's Health Plan: Tax Benefits, Increase Costs. His plan would make employer-provided health benefits part of taxable income, essentially creating a new tax for working families. It undermines existing employer-based health care and pushes workers into the private market to fight big insurance companies on their own. It would reduce benefits, increase costs and leave many with no health care at all. (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/5/06; Health08.org Forum, 10/31/07; Los Angeles Times, 11/20/07; The Commonwealth Fund, 6/20/05)

FULL story at link.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

1. More about that multi-billion-dollar air tanker deal ----

Source: COUNTERPUNCH

More pressure on the dollar resulted from the decision to award the European company, Airbus, a $40 billion contract that could reach $100 billion to build US Air Force tankers. In simple terms, that means another $40 to $100 billion added to the US trade deficit, and a loss of $40 to $100 billion in US Gross Domestic Product and associated jobs.

Of course, the Bush regime had to award the contract to Europe as a payoff for Europe’s support of the Bush regime’s wars of aggression in the Middle East. Europe is not going to provide Bush with diplomatic cover for his wars and NATO troops for his war in Afghanistan without a payoff.

Read more:http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts03132008.html

[Omaha Steve]

2. Welcome to the Labor Forum

Please stop by often.

W still says the economy will recover. I guess he meant Europe's.