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McCain calls Obama's economic policies socialist

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

October 19, 2008

CONCORD, N.C. - Republican presidential candidate John McCain yesterday accused Democratic rival Barack Obama of favoring a socialistic economic approach by supporting tax cuts and tax credits that McCain says would merely shuffle wealth, not create it.

"At least in Europe, the socialist leaders who so admire my opponent are upfront about their objectives," McCain said in a radio address. "They use real numbers and honest language. And we should demand equal candor from Senator Obama. Raising taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut; it's just another government giveaway."

McCain, though, has a health care plan girded with a similar philosophy. He proposes providing individuals with a $5,000 tax credit to buy health insurance. He would pay for his plan, in part, by considering as taxable income the money a person's employer spends on his or her health coverage.

McCain leveled his charge before a pair of appearances aimed at restoring his lead in critical battleground states. In both North Carolina and Virginia - states that President George W. Bush, a Republican, won in 2004 - McCain has surrendered the lead to Obama in various polls.

At a rally outside Charlotte, N.C., McCain returned to the socialism theme, although he did not use the more tart language of his radio address.

He also was sharply critical of the Bush administration, saying it should be more aggressive in buying up the home mortgages of those trapped by high interest rates and falling housing values.

"The administration is not doing it. The secretary of the Treasury is not doing it," McCain told the crowd. "We need to buy up these mortgages, give you a mortgage that you can afford, so you can pay your mortgage and realize the American dream of owning your home."

McCain stoked the crowd by accusing Obama and his fellow Democrats of assuming they not only will win the White House but also expand their majority in Congress.

"My friends, we can't let that happen," he said.

The last Democratic candidate to win North Carolina was Jimmy Carter in 1976, when the GOP was reeling from President Richard Nixon's resignation following the Watergate scandal.

Virginia has not voted for a Democratic nominee since President Lyndon B. Johnson's landslide victory in 1964.

McCain's drop in the state polls follows larger national trends that have given Obama a lead, following Wall Street chaos that focused the race on who is best equipped to restore the economy.

Today, McCain was to travel to Ohio, another vital battleground state where recent polls have shown the candidates running neck-and-neck.