Subject: [big campaign] Fwd: Tracking Update: McCain's Speech to the National Small Business Summit Washington, DC
From: "Andres Moreno" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 11:20:39 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

Big Campaign,

Just out of the event in Washington, DC today.  Below are my observations.
*
BIG HIGHLIGHTS:* McCain heckled three times during speech. McCain attacks
Obama on taxes, reiterates his proposals for town hall meetings, pushes for
line item veto, offers changes to tax system that he claims would benefit
small business, and suggests a second tax system, and restates his promise
to veto all earmarked spending bills.
*
Washington, DC: McCain Speech to the National Small Business Summit 06/10/08
*

*Background Details:
- *The event was held at the Grand Hyatt Ballroom in Washington, DC
- The event was a closed event with heavy security and metal detectors
- The audience were members of the National Federation of Independent
Business attending their National Small Business Summit
- He was introduced by Meg Whitman, former C.E.O. of EBay
- Teleprompters were used during the event,  McCain continued to struggle
using them
- The event was heavily staffed, although no members of McCain's family nor
were there any campaign notables visible
- Press: all the major networks and cable news were present. Multiple
bloggers were also on site.
- The stage craft was simple with a row of flags behind the candidate and
two big screens to either side. No campaign signs or slogans were seen
anywhere.
- The audience members numbered in the 200 - 250 range

*Full Transcript:

LINK: *
http://thepage.time.com/transcript-of-mccains-remarks-to-the-national-small-business-summit/

ARLINGTON, VA — U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver the following remarks
as prepared for delivery at the NFIB & eBay 2008 National Small Business
Summit in Washington, D.C., today at 9:30 a.m. EDT:

Thank you very much. I appreciate the hospitality of the National Federation
of Independent Business. And I am honored to be in the company of so many
men and women who represent the best of American enterprise.

I have never run a small, struggling enterprise — unless you count my
presidential campaign last year. But I do know that more than anything else,
small businesses are what make the American economy run. You're the ones who
take the risks, often with little start-up money and nothing to fall back
on. You are the ones who do most of the innovating in this country, and most
of the hiring, too. For women, for immigrants and for people of every
background, small businesses are the path to success and to the American
dream.

In this very tough time for our economy and for workers and families across
our country, job creation among small businesses is crucial. The
African-American and the Hispanic-American small business communities are
one of the fastest growing segments of our economy. That is a credit to the
entrepreneurs of America, and America's prosperity depends on your success.

Job creation is just one reason why the government should never take the
hard work, sacrifices, and earnings of small businesses for granted. As
president, my goal will to get our economy running at full strength again.
And that starts by supporting small businesses across America.

Now that we know who I will be facing in the general election, the real
debate over economic policy can begin. And as you may have heard, Senator
Obama and I might well be meeting soon in a series of town hall discussions.
Just the two of us, in direct conversation with voters. No need to turn it
into a big media-run production with process questions from reporters, a
spin room, and all the rest of it. To keep things friendly, I also suggested
that my opponent and I travel to these town hall meetings together in the
same plane.

Our disagreements in these town hall meetings will be civil and friendly,
but they will also be clear for all to see. On tax policy, health-care
reform, trade, government spending, and a long list of other issues, we
offer very different choices to the American people. And those choices will
have very different consequences for American workers and small business
owners.

No matter which of us wins in November, there will be change in Washington.
The question is what kind of change? Will we enact the single largest tax
increase since the Second World War as my opponent proposes, or will we keep
taxes low for families and employers? This election offers Americans a very
distinct choice about what kind of change we will have. This is especially
true for the small business community.

Let me speak to you about the change I will seek.

As president, I intend to act quickly and decisively to promote growth and
opportunity. I intend to keep the current low income and investment tax
rates. And I will pursue tax reform that supports the wage-earners and job
creators who make this economy run, and help them to succeed in a global
economy. Serious reform is needed to help American companies compete in
international markets. I have proposed a reduction in the corporate tax rate
from the second highest in the world to one on par with our trading
partners; to keep businesses and jobs in this country.

One of the most crucial economic issues in this campaign is the ability of
American workers to benefit from exports to other nations, and how
government policy can help them to do so. And here, too, I welcome the
debate with the Democratic nominee.

I want to break down foreign trade barriers, so that America's small
businesses can compete abroad. When new trading partners can sell in our
market, and American companies can sell in theirs, the gains are great and
lasting. The strength of the American economy offers a better life to every
society we trade with, and the good comes back to us in many ways — in
better jobs, higher wages, and lower prices. Free trade can also give once
troubled and impoverished nations a stake in the world economy, and in their
relations with America.

At the same time, we have to help displaced workers at every turn on a tough
road, so that they are not just spectators on the opportunities of others.
And I have made that commitment with reforms to expand and improve federal
aid to American workers in need. We need to help millions of workers who
have lost a job that won't come back find a new one that won't go away.

Unfortunately, Senator Obama has a habit of talking down the value of our
exports and trade agreements. He even proposed a unilateral re-negotiation
of NAFTA — our agreement with Canada and Mexico that accounts for 33 percent
of American exports. But we have a sharp disagreement here that I look
forward to debating. If I am elected president, this country will honor its
international agreements, including NAFTA, and we will expect the same of
others. And in a time of uncertainty for American workers, we will not undo
the gains of years in trade agreements now awaiting final approval.

And as we expand markets for Americans products, we must do more tax reform
here at home. I will propose and sign into law a reform to permit the
first-year expensing of new equipment and technology. We're also going to
keep the low rate on capital gains, so that businesses like yours can expand
and create jobs instead of just sending more of your earnings to the
government. And so parents can spend and save more for their own children, I
will propose to double the size of the child tax exemption. I will also
propose as well a middle-class tax cut — a phase-out of the Alternative
Minimum Tax to save more than 25 million middle-class families as much as
2,000 dollars in a single year.

Another of my disagreements with Senator Obama concerns the estate tax,
which he proposes to increase to a top rate of 55 percent. The estate tax is
one of the most unfair tax laws on the books, and the first step to reform
is to keep it predictable and keep it low. After a lifetime building up a
business, and paying taxes on every dollar that business earns, that asset
should not be subjected to a confiscatory tax.

It is not enough, however, to make little fixes here and there in the tax
code — especially if you're a small business owner filing under the
individual tax. What we need is a simpler, a flatter, and a fair tax code.
As president, I will propose an alternative tax system. When this reform is
enacted, all who wish to file under the current system could still do so.
And everyone else could choose a vastly less complicated system with two tax
rates and a generous standard deduction.

Americans do not resent paying their fair share of taxes. What they do
resent, and especially if they're trying to run a business, is being
subjected to thousands of pages of needless and often irrational rules and
demands from the IRS. We know from experience that no serious reform of the
current tax code will come out of Congress, so now it is time to turn the
decision over to the people. We are going to create a new and simpler tax
system — and give the American people a choice.

Senator Obama's plans would add to the difficulties of small business in
other ways, too. Currently, there are the 21.6 million sole proprietorships
filing under the individual income tax. When Senator Obama talks about
raising income tax rates on those making over 250,000 dollars — that
includes these businesses as well. He also proposes increases in dividend
and capital gains taxes. Under Senator Obama's tax plan, Americans of every
background would see their taxes rise — seniors, parents, small business
owners, and just about everyone who has even a modest investment in the
market. He proposes to eliminate the Social Security earnings cap, and
thereby to increase the tax on employers. He proposes to eliminate the
secret ballot for union votes, and to raise the minimum wage and then index
it, which is a sure way to add to your costs and to slow the creation of new
jobs. You work hard in small businesses to grow and to create new jobs and
opportunities for others — and the federal government shouldn't make your
work any harder.

As for health care policy, I believe that the best way to help small
businesses and employers afford health care is not to increase government
control of health care but to bring the rising cost of care under control
and give people the option of having personal, portable health insurance.

As it is, the traditional tax-subsidy that supports private insurance is
concentrated on a subset of American workers and a portion of our
businesses. My health care reform will end that unfair bias in the law,
while helping to make health insurance more affordable for every American.
We're going to offer every individual and family in America a large tax
credit to buy their health care, so that their health insurance is theirs to
keep even when they move or change jobs. My plan would allow those who want
to stick with employer provided health insurance to do so. But I want to
give individuals greater choice, rather than give small business no choice
at all.

For too long, government has been the voice of big business, not small
business. And to make matters worse, even when very large businesses violate
their trust, they seem to be held to a different standard — getting away
with conduct that would leave any small business owner broke. We need rules
that assure fairness and punish wrongdoing in the market, and hold every
business person in America to the same fair standards.

In times of hardship and distress, we should be more vigilant than ever in
holding corporate abuses to account, as in the case of the housing market.
Americans are right to be offended when the extravagant salaries and
severance deals of CEO's — in some cases, the very same CEO's who helped to
bring on these market troubles — bear no relation to the success of the
company or the wishes of shareholders. Something is seriously wrong when the
American people are left to bear the consequences of reckless corporate
conduct, while the offenders themselves are packed off with another forty -
or fifty million for the road.

If I am elected president, I intend to see that wrongdoing of this kind is
called to account by federal prosecutors. And under my reforms, all aspects
of a CEO's pay, including any severance arrangements, must be approved by
shareholders.

In so many ways, we need to make a clean break from the worst excesses of
both political parties. And for Republicans, it starts with reclaiming our
good name as the party of spending restraint. Somewhere along the way, too
many Republicans in Congress became indistinguishable from the big-spending
Democrats they used to oppose. The only power of government that could stop
them was the power of veto, and it was rarely used. If that authority is
entrusted to me, I will use the veto as needed. I will veto every bill with
earmarks. I will seek a constitutionally valid line-item veto to end
pork-barrel spending once and for all. And I will lead broad reforms that
remove the many corporate tax loopholes that are costly, unfair to smaller
business competitors, and inconsistent with a free-market economy.

The recent 300 billion-dollar farm bill was a case in point. Family farmers
are America's original small business owners, and many are struggling to
survive. But nowadays, small farmers have been forgotten, and instead the
Congress sends a steady supply of subsidies to agribusiness. It would be
hard to find any single bill that better sums up why so many Americans in
both parties are so disappointed in the conduct of their government, and at
times so disgusted by it. Even as American families struggle to buy food,
because of rising prices, Congress refuses to place real limits on farm
subsidies or end tariffs on imports that drive grocery bills higher.

When both parties carry on like this, there is only one proper response — a
presidential veto. That is exactly what I will do as president, with any
bill that serves only special interests and corporate welfare. On my watch
there will be no more subsidies for special pleaders, no more corporate
welfare, no more throwing around billions of dollars of the people's money
on pet projects, while the people themselves are struggling to afford their
homes, groceries, and gas. We are going to get our priorities straight in
Washington — a clean break from years of squandered wealth and wasted
chances.

To control spending, I will also order a thorough review of the budgets of
every federal program, department, and agency, and I will post the results
of these reviews on the Internet for every American to see. While that
review is underway, we will institute a one-year pause in discretionary
spending increases with the necessary exemption of military spending and
veterans benefits. "Discretionary spending" is a term people throw around a
lot in Washington, while actual discretion is seldom exercised. Instead,
every program comes with a built-in assumption that it should go on forever,
and its budget increase forever. My administration will change that way of
thinking. We will ensure that federal spending serves the common interests,
that failed programs are not rewarded but reinvented or ended, and that
discretionary spending is going where it belongs — to essential priorities
like job training, the security of o ur citizens, and the care of our
veterans.

These are among the many serious issues at stake in this election. All of
these challenges, and more, will face the next president, and I will not
leave them for some unluckier generation of leaders to deal with. For too
long government has been more interested in protecting its budget and its
interests rather than the interests of small businesses and the family
budgets that depend on your growth. And partisanship in Washington is less
focused on your future than it is on the next election.

My goal, however, is not to denigrate government but to make it better, not
to deride it but to restore its good name. Government should be on your
side, not in your way. It will be hard work, but it is a cause worthy of our
best efforts. And if we do it well, in the right spirit, it will be because
we have again put our country's interests before the interests of parties,
bureaucracies and self-interest. And then we will finally reclaim the
confidence of the people we serve. Thank you.

-- 
Andres Moreno
Deputy Director - Tracking/Media Monitoring
Progressive Media USA
202-609-7688 (office)
703-501-6661 (cell)
[email-masked]

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