Until he actually names a program, his rhetoric is a phony as GWB’s in my book.

I’ve already made it clear that I will not vote for McCain solely based on McCain-Feingold. A man who has such a low opinion of the First Amendment doesn’t deserve to be President.

Others, of course, can make their own choice.

[N]one of the remaining three candidates who will occupy the White House on January 20, 2009 has pledged to eliminate or even reduce a single federal spending program.

To be fair Doug, I found the following from McCain’s website:

John McCain will provide the courageous leadership necessary to control spending, including:

- Eliminate broken government programs. The federal government itself admits that 1 in 5 programs do not perform.

-Reform our civil service system to promote accountability and good performance in our federal workforce.

-Eliminate earmarks, wasteful subsidies, and pork-barrel spending.

-Reform procurement programs and cut wasteful spending in defense and non-defense programs.

Sure, he didn’t name any specific programs but he at least seems to recognize that there is a problem with wasteful spending. The real question is, will he make good on this promise? I tend to think he will based on his voting record. Citizens Against Government Waste give McCain a lifetime rating of 88% “taxpayer hero.” McCain’s score is among the highest in the Senate (the Senate average rating was 29% in 2006).

I have many problems with John McCain (many of which you have mentioned here and in other posts) but fiscal responsibility is not one of them. If I were to vote solely on the basis of the economy and government waste issues, I would easily support John McCain for president.

Unfortunately, he is wrong on so many other issues. His attacks on individual liberty, his calls for sacrifice and “national service” bother me a great deal. I’m also afraid that he would expand the scope of the war to include Iran and eventually call for a draft (which is completely unacceptable to me).

I won’t say that I would never vote for John McCain but if I were to vote today, I would probably support the Libertarian candidate. We basically have the choice of two evils; this is why I call this the “Choose and Lose Election.”