Obama Says McCain Is One of Bush's "Friends in Congress"
BANGOR, MAINE -- Even though John McCain has yet to clinch the Republican nomination, his Democratic rivals have stepped up their criticism of him. Today in Maine, Barack Obama went so far as to call McCain one of President Bush's "friends in Congress."
"Rather than ease the squeeze on middle class families, President Bush and his friends in Congress have given billions in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans who don't need them and weren't even asking for them. One of the friends George Bush has come to count on in this is the presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain," Obama said at a roundtable discussion at Nicky's Crusin' Diner in Bangor.
"It wasn't always this way. The first two rounds of voting, John McCain stood up to George Bush and opposed these tax cuts. He said it went against his conscience to support tax cuts for the rich in a time of war and that it was an act of statesmanship to oppose them and a lot of us respected those words. But I think he has rushed to embrace the worst aspects of the Bush legacy and so the wheels came off the Straight Talk Express because now he supports making those tax cuts permanent," Obama continued.
"I greatly respect Senator McCain's half century of service to this nation but what America needs right now isn't a leader who embraces the failed polices of the past, what America needs is a new generation of leadership that will push back on the special interests and bring Democrats and Republicans together to strengthen the middle class."