Senator John McCain - Summary of Positions

I recently wrote about the 'Summarize' feature on Mac's that allows one to prepare an algorithm generated summary of text copied from a software application on a Mac that is linked to the 'Summarize' system application. I figured a good use of this little technique would be to summarize some of the major positions that the 2008 Presidential candidates have taken with their recent written positions as posted to the Congressional and Senatorial websites. First up on my tour of the most likely final candidates: John McCain. I plan to post additional stories to this website over the next few days for Senators Obama and Clinton, and businessman Mike Huckabee.

Dec. 18, 2007 - McCain on the Iraq Funding Amendment:
The choice today is simple: do we build upon the clear successes of our current strategy and give General Petraeus and the troops under his command the support they require to complete their mission, or do we ignore the realities and legislate a premature end to our efforts in Iraq, accepting thereby all the terrible consequences that will ensue?

...After nearly four years of mismanaged war, our military, in cooperation with the Iraqi security forces, has made significant gains under the new American counterinsurgency strategy – the so-called ‘surge.’

...Just this week, Maj. Gen. Joseph Fil, the commander for Baghdad, stated that attacks in Baghdad have fallen nearly 80 percent since November 2006, murders in Baghdad province are down by some 90 percent over the same period, and vehicle-borne bombs have dropped by 70 percent. Maj. Gen. Fil, added that, today, there is no longer any part of Baghdad under al Qaeda control, though the terrorist group is still ‘still lurking in the shadows.’

...“As a result of the hard-won gains our troops have secured, General Petraeus has been able to initiate a drawdown of U.S. forces, a drawdown tied not to an artificial timetable but based on security gains in-country. This drawdown, beginning with the removal without replacement of some 5,000 American troops, has commenced following a dramatic drop in American casualty rates and enhanced security throughout the country.

...Rather than hearing from our commanders and troops in the field about the enormous progress – the decline in violence, the Iraqis seeking to return home, the decrease in al Qaeda influence – we would hear instead a very different story, a darker one with terrible implications for the people of Iraq, the wider Middle East, and the security of the United States.

...Should the Congress force a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq, it would mark a new beginning, the start of a new, more dangerous effort to contain the forces unleashed by our disengagement.

...This funding is to provide them with the equipment and proper training they require to fulfill their mission, funding to protect our men and women from roadside bombs and other attacks, funding to enable them to bring this war to a successful end.

...“I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, to fund our troops, and to support them so that, when they do return to us, they return with the honor and success their valiant efforts have earned.

Dec. 6, 2006 - McCain objecting to provisions of the 2007 Agricultural Appropriations Bill:
Mr. President, I believe that some federal involvement is necessary to assist low-income families under the food stamp program, and that we should ensure that our farmers stay out of the red, and to this end, many of the programs under the Agriculture Department are worthwhile and I support their funding.... But as Congress looks ahead towards legislating a new farm bill in the near future, next year in fact, we once again conform to the practice of diverting taxpayer dollars into an array of special interest pork projects which have not been authorized or requested by the Administration.

...For example, The Washington Post recently exposed a USDA program, known as “direct and counter-cyclical payments,” that in 2005 paid out $1.3 billion to farmers irrespective of high or low market prices or whether they grew any crops at all. This program was intended to be a temporary subsidy that would prop up farmers during poor market conditions, but the special interests and the farm lobby convinced Congress to keep this unneeded program, which has become perhaps the most abused farm subsidy in existence.

...In an offshoot of the USDA’s drought relief efforts, the federal government paid $34 million to compensate catfish farmers for feed they purchased during the 2002 drought year, even though feed prices were at a ten-year low.

...Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to insert into the record copies of The Washington Post articles I cited: Farm Program Pays $.13 Billion to People Who Don’t Farm (July 2, 2006), No Drought Required For Federal Drought Aid (July 18, 2006), and When Feed Was Cheap, Catfish Farmers Got Help Buying It (July 18, 2006).

...This is the sad state of our appropriations process, when we’d rather postpone funding for critical programs for our farmers, soldiers, veterans and seniors and nearly everything until next year if it means our pork isn’t included this round.

Feb. 7, 2008 - McCain expresses support for economic stimulus package:
I am pleased that the Majority and the Minority have finally reached an agreement to allow us to improve the underlying bill to address the needs of seniors and disabled veterans, and to close a loophole in the bill concerning the distribution of rebates.

...Certainly we can all agree on the important yet limited improvements I mentioned such as ensuring our senior citizens and disabled veterans are not left out of this stimulus package.

...We must also work to reform and make permanent the Research and Development Tax Credit so that our businesses can do what they do best–create jobs and expand innovation– without the continued uncertainty of the whims of Congress.

Oct. 25, 2007 - McCain supports 7 year moratorium on Internet taxation:
“While I had hoped the Senate would have passed the bill I introduced with Senators Sununu and Wyden that would have permanently banned all taxes on the Internet, I believe that the three of us were able to reach a strong compromise with other members of the Senate that will result in consumers having seven more years of a tax free Internet.”

Nov. 10, 2005 - McCain's remarks to the American Enterprise Institute on Winning the War in Iraq:
So while I would like to offer thoughts today about events in Iraq, the stakes for the United States, and current American policy, I do so remembering just how far the people there have come.

...Because Iraqi forces are not yet capable of carrying out most security operations on their own, great bloodshed would occur if the main enforcer of government authority – coalition troops – draw down prematurely.

...We must stay in Iraq until the government there has a fully functioning security apparatus that can keep Zarqawi and his terrorists at bay, and ultimately defeat them.... Zarqawi and others fight not just against foreign forces but also against the Shia, whom they believe to be infidels, and against all elements of the government.

...As AEI’s Fredrick Kagan has written, these Sunni are not yet persuaded that violence is counterproductive; on the contrary, they believe the insurgency might lead to an improvement in their political situation.

...And yet at the same time there is an undeniable sense that things are slipping – more violence on the ground, declining domestic support for the war, growing incantations among Americans that there is no end in sight.

...In their attempt to secure all of Iraq, coalition forces engage in search and destroy operations to root out insurgent strongholds, with the aim of killing as many insurgents as possible.

...Over the next year insurgents streamed back into the area, and in September 2004 Stryker brigades and Iraqi security forces went into Tal Afar again, chasing out insurgents again.

...The security forces can then cordon off the zone, establish constant patrols, by American and Iraqi military and police, to protect the population from insurgents and common crime, and arrest remaining insurgents as they are found.

...Coalition and Iraqi forces cleared the area of insurgents, held the city, and today Iraqi police and soldier patrol the streets, with support from two American battalions.

...After the recent operations in Tal Afar most American troops were redeployed from Tal Afar already, leaving behind Iraqi units with Americans embedded.

...This diversification within units serves three important functions: first, over time, it helps build loyalty to the central government; and second, it makes it more difficult for militias to reconstitute, should any decide to oppose the government.

...While we make improvements in our political-military strategy, the latest polls and protests at home show that we need a renewed effort to win the homefront.

...The American people have heard many times that the violence in Iraq will subside soon – when there is a transitional government in place, when Saddam is captured, when there are elections, when there is a constitution. Better, I believe, would be to describe the situation as it is – difficult right now, but not without progress and hope, and with a long, hard road ahead – and to announce that things have improved only when they in fact have.