McCain Makes Appeal To Middle Class

Republican Talks About "Joe The Plumber," Casts Himself As Guardian Of Workers And Small-Business Owners

(AP)  Evoking "Joe the Plumber" in his pivotal home state, Republican John McCain on Sunday cast himself as the guardian of middle-class workers and small-business owners who fuel the economy.

"If I'm elected president, I won't raise taxes on small businesses, as Sen. (Barack) Obama clearly wants to do, and force them to cut jobs," McCain said of his Democratic opponent during a rally at Otterbein College. "I will keep small business taxes where they are, help them keep their costs low and let them spend their earnings to create more jobs. We need that in Ohio. We need it across America."

McCain was flying from the Columbus suburbs northward to Toledo, near where "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher lives, amid the GOP's push for this swing state and its 20 electoral votes.

The Holland, Ohio, plumber was in New York making the media rounds with his family, but McCain has been evoking his spirit after making him the focal point the final presidential debate between McCain and Obama. McCain also mentions Wurzelbacher at his rallies after the plumber was videotaped questioning Obama about whether his tax plan would keep him from buying the two-man plumbing shop where he works.

While some analyses showed Wurzelbacher faring better under Obama's plan than McCain's, McCain has lashed out at Obama for saying that while his policies may force some workers to pay higher taxes, they were designed to "spread the wealth around" by targeting only families making over $250,000 annually.

"Sen. Obama is more interested in controlling who gets your piece of the pie than he is in growing the pie," McCain told a crowd of several thousand.

He drew cheers when he proclaimed he was campaigning "on behalf of Joe the Plumber and Rose the Teacher and Phil the Bricklayer and Wendy the Waitress."

Obama, in North Carolina, said he is the one worried about "the cops and firefighters who keep us safe, ... the waitresses who work double shifts, the cashiers at Wal-Mart, the plumbers fighting for the American Dream."

He added: "John McCain thinks that giving these Americans a break is socialism. Well I call it opportunity, and there is nothing more American than that."

Earlier Sunday, McCain complained that the vast sums of money Obama is raising risk the post-Watergate financing reforms.

Speaking on "Fox New Sunday" hours after Obama's campaign reported raising a record $150 million in September, McCain said the overall sum his Democratic rival has raised — $605 million — showed the "dam has broken" for future White House races.

McCain also complained that the identities of people who contributed more than $200 million of Obama's total take have not been reported, although that is allowable under federal law because the individual donations fall under the $200 reporting limit.

"I'm saying it's laying a predicate for the future that can be very dangerous," McCain said. "History shows us where unlimited amounts of money are in political campaigns, it leads to scandal."

The Arizona senator has been limited to spending $84 million for the general election campaign after he accepted federal funds under a program created after the Watergate scandal. Obama initially indicated he would adhere to the same limit, but reversed course and became the first post-Watergate candidate to finance a general-election campaign with private funding.

McCain, a former Vietnam prisoner of war, also sloughed off Obama's endorsement by one of the country's best known black Republicans and former military leaders, Colin Powell, who was President Bush's first secretary of state.

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Powell expressed personal affection for McCain but chided his friend of 25 years for the type of campaign he has run against Obama, who is black.

McCain said: "I've always admired and respected Gen. Powell," before noting his endorsement by four other former secretaries of state. Asked whether Powell's endorsement undercut McCain's stance that Obama, a freshman senator from Illinois, is not ready to lead, McCain said of Powell: "We have a respectful disagreement."

On other topics, McCain:

Distinguished between anti-Obama automated calls he is making in battleground states and similar calls made against him by George W. Bush during the 2000 Republican primary in South Carolina. Those calls suggested McCain was mentally unstable and had fathered a black daughter out of wedlock. The senator had adopted an orphan from Bangladesh.

McCain is now employing someone who made those calls against him to highlight Obama's association with a Vietnam War radical.

"These are legitimate and truthful, and they are far different than the phone calls that were made about my family," McCain said.

Defended his selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate and cast her in a fresh ideological role.

"She is a direct counterpoint to the liberal feminist agenda for America," he said.

McCain also held a conference call with Jewish leaders and was endorsed by The Columbus Dispatch.

[eat-the-rich]

I donated to the Obama campaign. I am not a socialist. I am not a muslim. I am not black. America is finally figuring out that they can fight the republican hate machine with their wallets.

Why is it that Republicans automatically acuse democrats of doing the very same things they themselves have done? It''s clear that their mentality includes a picture of the world in which it is their right to dominate and all who oppose are inherintly wrong.

[kansas1946]

(AP) Evoking "Joe the Plumber" in his pivotal home state, Republican John McCain on Sunday cast himself as the guardian of middle-class workers and small-business owners who fuel the economy
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I think McCain needs to drop Joe the plumber. Joe the plumber certainly does not represent middle-class America. I am middle class America, my husband runs a small business, and I have nothing in common with Joe the plumber, including owing back taxes.

[steeepe]

What a bunch of weird posts about Obama being a socialist. Clearly these people don''t know the definition of socialism. What we now have in the country is closer to fascism, put in place by G. Bush and the GOP. Warren Buffet supports Obama -- do you really think Obama is a socialist? What a joke. McBush and Palin are serial liars who favor the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. I don''t understand why anyone would vote for them. Could you imagine Palin as President? Again, what a sad joke on America.

[tigerrram9]

America Today is a great day. Today I voted. Today I voted my heart...not my fears or hatred. Today I voted for the future of our country. Today I voted for the future of my grandchildren. Today I voted for America.
I voted and feels so good...get out let your honest voices be heard. Stop all this negative nonsense and stop spreading hatred and fear.
Young America the future of this great country is in your hands..talk to your grandparents and ask them to vote for your future...vote for the future of our great country.Our country deserves a better tomorrow...God Bless America.

[dave_p5]

"Joe the plumber" is a fraud. He doesn''t have a pumbing license, his name isn''t Joe, and he makes less than $250,000 a year. Why does McCain keep bringing him up???

[newslink]

MCcain Political Career is Over. I am shocked that the Republican Party has not denounce him. He has done serious damage to his party.

[nevadapundit]

I''m really doubting that Obama''s tax plan will really help America''s middle and lower class.

www.nevadapundit.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/what-obamas-tax-plan-means-to-the-middle-and-lower-class/

[john43218]

Ask people to describe McCain and the first response often is, "He''s honest." What you see is what you get. There are no mysterious associations to dance around. No 20-year attendance of a church whose pastor preached anti-American sermons. No serving on an education reform panel with a domestic terrorist. No financial support from a convicted felon. No ties to a group currently under investigation for possible voter-registration fraud.

And McCain didn''t hire as a strategist David Axelrod, who helped lead Mayor John Street''s race-baiting reelection campaign.

America needs an honest president with experience, common sense, sound temperament and good judgment in the Oval Office. Those qualities will make it easy for many to vote for McCain.

Anyone who supports the fact they are willing to take from another human being their hard earned money, when they did not earn it is non American. Socialism is evil, it failed Europe and it will destroy America.

[noloyalisti]

All McSame wants to do is continue the tragic policies of enriching the rich. When Obama says he wants to help the poor and middle class, Chucklenuts calls it socialism. Meanwhile McPain voted for the corporate welfare socialism of bailing out the criminal banks. Grow a brain McSame.

[targaray-2009]

This is a very dangerous man. World War III