Subject: [big campaign] Tracking Update: McCain Town Hall Meeting Belleville, MI 07/10/08
From: "Cammie Croft" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2008 13:36:24 -0400
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

Hi All,

Unfortunately, a stubborn McCain volunteer wouldn't let our tracker into
today's town hall meeting.  But here's the good news: we were able to cover
the event via online video and web quality clips are available by request.
Below are our notes.

*BIG HIGHTLIGHTS:
*

   - McCain does NOT mention Gramm comments
   - McCain tells Michigan crowd that 'I have to look you in the eye and
   tell you you're jobs aren't coming back'
   - McCain reiterated his support for No Child Left Behind and for 'choice
   and competition' in schools
   - When asked about his changing positions on the Bush tax cuts and the
   environment, McCain repeated in his response, 'I have not changed
   positions.'
   - When asked how he will defend Israel as president, McCain said 'the
   United States of America can never allow a second Holocaust'

*Belleville, MI - McCain Town Hall Meeting 07/10/08*

*Speech Highlights:*
- Town hall meetings are the best way to communicate.  Senator Obama has
chosen not to participate in these town hall meetings.
- The town hall meeting I hope to have is one on the economy, but I'll
answer all questions.
- I don't want to insult your intelligence by tell you that the state of
Michigan has lost over 70,000 jobs.  8.5% of your workforce is out of the
job.
- Families are sitting around the table each night and worrying how to pay
their bills.
- The price of a gallon of gas is over $4 -- over $5 in California.
- We got to reform government and keep taxes low.
- Right now we are gridlocked in our nation's capital.  I don't know if you
saw it or not, but Congress is at an approval rating of 9%.
- My whole life has been spent putting my country first.  And I promise to
always do that.
- I believe in the greatness of America. I'm encouraged when I go to places
in America that are using technology and innovation.
- My opponent would like to have small businesses have mandatory health care
-- which means new jobs will not be created.
- The last thing we need in an economic downturn is to raise taxes.  Obama
wants to raise a broad range of taxes.
- If you want a candidate that will raise your taxes, Senator Obama is your
candidate.  I am not your candidate.
- I believe in free trade.  I also believe in fair trade.  And we do have
means for addressing inequalities.  I will be very active in preventing
abuses.
- I have to look you in the eye and say I believe in free trade.
- Let me talk to you about spending.  Government has grown by 60% in the
last 8 years.  Spending has gotten out of control.  That is a great failure
of this President for not vetoing those spending bills.
- Ronald Reagan used to say -- Congress spends money like a drunken sailor
... And I got a letter from a former drunken sailor who said he was offended
by the association.
- We spent $15 million of your money for asparagus subsidies.  That was in
the farm bill.  I voted against that.
- Any pork-barrel project that comes across my desk, I will veto.
- I have never asked for or received a pork-barrel project for my state.
Obama has.
- My friends our single biggest challenge is our dependence on foreign oil.
We are sending billions of dollars to countries overseas that don't like us
very much.
- We need to embark on a mission -- I'm calling it the Lexington Project.
We need to do wind, solar, nuclear, tide -- all these sources.
- We can unleash that power -- and we can do that right here in Michigan
where we have some of the most innovative workers in the nation.
- The lowest income Americans are being hurt most by the cost of gasoline.
- The point is Americans need relief.  And we should give them a gas-tax
holiday.
- It's a security issue and an environmental issue.  We need to drill
offshore.
- We've got to have nuclear power -- my friends the French.  80% of their
electricity is coming from nuclear energy.
- We need to reprocess and story nuclear power.
- I'm proud of my record.  In January, I'm going to go in there and take
them all on.  The Democrats, the Republicans, the Libertarians -- the
vegetarians.  I'll make it happen.
- I promise to serve -- I did it as a prisoner of war and in Congress.
- Thank you very much for being here.  I'll now take your questions.

*Question and Answer*
1 Q) You visited my plant 2 years ago.  I donated to your campaign.  You say
fair trade, free trade.  We want fair trade.  We've lost a lot of our jobs.
For job training programs, where are you going to find the teachers?  And
once they're trained, I can go and hire an engineer for cheaper in China.
We want fair trade.
MCCAIN: I see what your saying.  We have the WTO and other organizations
that help make trade fair.  But the innovation and hope lies in America.
You can never replace the ingenuity and greatness of the American worker.
We are the best.  Bill Gates started in a garage I believe.  I'll look at
you in the eye again and say there are certain jobs that aren't coming
back.  But with green technology there will be new jobs available.  I am
confidant that flex fuels and hybrids are part of the answer.  I understand
again that people are hurting.  But they need to have hope and confidence in
the future. I do.  And I will keep taxes low.  And I will dedicate federal
funds to research and development money.  The right leadership, motivation
and incentives and we can do this.  The future of the economy is in green
technologies.  I believe that green technologies are going to fuel the
economic recovery of this nation.
FOLLOW-UP: I believe we do need the leadership and the training programs.
But where are you going to get the teachers?  And the violations in free
trade!  We've all testified before Congress and there's not much else we can
do.
MCCAIN: All I can say to you is -- I will exercise every possible means to
make sure that trade regulations are not violated by our foreign partners.
I also believe we can provide the job training programs.  We all know a job
is more of a job in America -- we know it has to do with pride and family.
I appreciate this exchange, but to do nothing contradicts what America is
about.  And I believe opening markets to our products is the way to go
because we have the best, most innovator worker in the world.  And I'm not
afraid to compete.  I have to tell you, I do believe in the overall benefits
of trade.

2 Q) [Superintendant of schools] We have lots of displaced workers, but a
lot of them don't have the degrees to access our programs.  What can you do
to help these workers get access?
MCCAIN: Our job training programs are stuck back in the 1950's. We need to
fix that.  And I want to come to your school and learn what I can do.  I'd
like to come and visit your school, see the programs you have and make sure
displaced workers have access to your programs.
FOLLOW-UP: Thank you and you are invited.
MCCAIN: You're welcome and I will be in contact with you.

3 Q) [Doctor, candidate for board of education] I'd like to open up our
education system to choice.   How can the government promote school choice
without becoming overly bloated?
MCCAIN: I agree with you and thank you for your work.  My wife Cindy taught
special education.  And that is another type of education that needs
attention.  I believe in choice and competition.  I believe in No Child Left
Behind, but it was a start and it needs to be fixed.  The city of New
Orleans has many charter schools and the quality of education is on its way
up.  Cindy and I sent our children to a Catholic school.  We're not
Catholic, but we were thankful for the choice to send our kids to a good
school.

4 Q) [Owns flag company] Thank you for your service.  I'm completely
committed to not voting for Barack Obama.  I'm trying to get committed to
voting for you.  I don't like your votes against the Bush tax cuts, some of
your environmental votes.  And I see you've changed your positions and are
right on those now.  However, I'm not sure.  We want to take you to the
dance, we're just concerned about who you are going to go home with.
MCCAIN: I hate to tell you, but I have not changed positions.  When we first
had these tax cuts, we did not have any restraints in spending.  I haven't
changed my position -- I wanted tax cuts, but I wanted that coupled with
restraints in spending.  And on the environment, I believe we have a
respectful disagreement.  Teddy Roosevelt is my hero.  We Republicans are
fundamentally good environmentalists.  But suppose I'm wrong and climate
change doesn't exist -- and we just go ahead and create all these great
green jobs.  But suppose I'm right -- we risk hurting future generations.
But I have not changed positions.
FOLLOW-UP: I believe drilling is not hurting the environment.
MCCAIN: Let me chime in.  I believe we do have to drill -- we do have to
have to do offshore drilling.
FOLLOW-UP: If we don't drill, other countries are going to -- and already
are.  We should drill in ANWR.  Everyone is going to be out of the job
because they can't travel anywhere.
MCCAIN: If we build the 45 powerplants that I want to build, that's 700,000
jobs.  I think it should still be up to the states if they want drilling off
their coasts.

5 Q) Most of us hold several patents because of the R and D tax credit.  We
need that, but it's under scrutiny.  We need to have that tax credit to
continue to be innovative.  Very few metal stamping presses left.  A lot of
these investments we have made have been possible because of bonus
deprecation.  We need that to make certain things possible.  We need
incentives to keep businesses here.
MCCAIN: Thank you.  The R and D tax credit for research and development is
one of the big scams in America.  We put it up for a vote every couple years
so we can go a ring some money out of you every election year.   We need to
make that permanent.
A business tax -- the corporate tax is the second highest in the world.  We
need to lower it.  I'm with you all the way.
FOLLOW-UP: We need to make sure our customers are investing here.  A lot of
the jobs that haven't been created in the United States is because we
haven't been making enough investments here at home.
MCCAIN: I thank you for your passion and what you've done for America.
These have been tough times for you.  We need a plan.  We need to not just
go to Congress but to the people and share that plan.  I'm going to reach
out my hand to the Democrats and protect intellectual property.  It's time
we put our country first.  I thank you for what you do.

6 Q) [transportation rep] Transportation and freight issues in the area.
Would support that -- personally take a look at that?
MCCAIN: Yes I will personally take a look at that.  We tried to spend
several million to build a bridge to nowhere in Alaska.  That's your money,
your tax dollars.  It's outrageous.  How we spend your money and
transportation dollars is not based on any real qualifications.  I will stop
this outrageous, corrupt process for how we spend your money.  I'm proud of
my record on the issue.

7 Q) When you are president, what is your commitment to Israel going to be?
How do you feel about the unofficial talks between Israel and Syria?
MCCAIN: On your second question, it's a democratic, freely elected nation
and they have the right to make the decision to speak with who they want
to.  On your first question, I am very worried about Iran and what they are
doing and how that threatens Israel.  Obama wants to sit down with the
leader of Iran without any pre-conditions.  I'm not going to do that until
they stop killing our soldiers.  I won't do it.  I will do everything in my
power to put sanctions on Iran to get them to stop.  But if the Iranians
obtain nuclear weapons, there is going to be a huge problem.  We need to act
together with all of our allies.  The United States of America can never
allow a second Holocaust.
FOLLOW-UP: As a Holocaust survivor, I thank you.
MCCAIN: No, thank you.  I am very honored to be in your presence.

8 Q) I've always been a Democrat.  I've lost all respect for Hillary and I'm
not voting for Obama.  I'm from a military family. my son is serving.  I
truly believe you are an American hero.  I want to know where you stand, on
immigration.  I'm behind you on most things, but I don't know where you are
on that issue.  I see the people all around me losing their homes and at the
same time I see immigrants working.  And it's unfair and I think people
should be held accountable.
MCCAIN: Thank you and your son for his service.  I'd like to give my respect
for Hillary Clinton.  Twice now we have attempted comprehensive immigration
reform.  It is a federal responsibility to secure our borders.  Americans
want our borders secure.  We can do that.  I come from a border state.  We
also have to have a temporary worker program that includes biometric
documentation so we can track them.  I want to assure you that small
business people don't know if people's documentation is real or not.  We've
got to address the issue of the 12 million illegal immigrants in this
country.  Two million should be deported immediately because they've
committed crimes.  The rest of them we have to deal with humanely.  As soon
as I'm president, we'll begin work on this issue.
FOLLOW-UP: We have allowed people who are not even citizens of this country
to rally and protest.  It just does not sit right with me.  I see protesting
all the time and these immigrants.
MCCAIN: I know -- I see them at my events all the time -- the anti-war
protesters I mean.
FOLLOW-UP: I'm a true American coming from a military family.  We can't
event pledge of allegiance in our schools.  Americans need to stand up for
the true Americans.
MCCAIN: I apologize, the federal government has failed you.

*Conclusion*
Thank you for being here.  Michigan is a battleground state and will be
important in determining who is the next president of the United States.  I
know you are hurting and I will fix that.  When I was a prisoner of war, I
was given the opportunity to go home early.  But I didn't accept.  I put my
country first.  And though we may disagree from time to time, I promise you,
I will always put my country first.

-- 
Cammie L. Croft
Tracking/Media Monitoring Director
Progressive Accountability Office
[email-masked]
202-609-7679 (office)
206-999-3064 (cell)

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