Will McCain really reach across the aisle?

Question

John McCain and his campaign is claiming that he is willing to cross party lines to get things done for America. What has he done to prove this? He's chosen someone more caught up in Republican ideology than President Bush as his running mate.

What does this say about McCain?

Answer 1

He has already proved that. The McCain -Feingold bill is just one example, Feingold is a Wisconsin Dem.

Answer 2

McCain has sold out to the base of the party in order to get nominated and to maintain the base of the party in this election. He has changed a great deal of his ideas so that he can fit with the Conservative base of the Republican party. The guy might have a history of reaching over party lines but since 2007 he is a changed man. It all started when he went to Falwell's University to attempt to get back in the good graces of the evangelicals. He is not the same McCain that was the person that reached across the aisle years ago.  

Answer 3

He has a commendable record of trying to get things done and if Joe Leiberman is in favor of him, he has at least gotten some support from democrates who see him as a reasonable republican.His record stands on it's own merit.Plain is for the people, she also has proven this.

Answer 4

As an American public can we really trust this man?  He has a long shady past.  A past that in Vietnam cost the deaths of our own troops.   If it were not for his father he would have received a dishonorable discharge and would never have had a political career

Answer 5

McCain has abandoned his Maverick status in favor of pandering to the far right.  

He'll reach across the aisle to condemn Democrats for having positions that he himself once advocated.  

Answer 6

McCain-Feingold is landmark bipartisan legislation on Campaign Finance Reform.

McCain-Lieberman is a landmark bipartisan legislation on Enviroenmental Stewardship.

McCain-Kennedy bill was a landmark immigration bill.

McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts because he demanded HIS PARTY exercise restraints on spending first.

McCain voted AGAINST the Bush-Cheney energy bill arguinig it had too many giveaways to BIG OIL---Obama voted for it anyway.

McCain's BIPARTISAN record is second to none. The FACT that you even suggest he'd name a VP who wasn't of Republican valuyes shows how ridiculously partisan the Democrats have become. They have polarized the electorate beyond belief.

Answer 7

He always has reached across the isle.  

Answer 8

Yeah, to smack the c**p out of Nancy Pelosi for trying to destroy America.

Answer 9

McCain would only reach across the aisle to pull the Democrats over to the RIGHT, much like George W. Bush did. People name ONE piece of legislation like McCain Feingold and think McCain's a 'maverick' for reaching across the aisle ONCE. And George W. Bush GUTTED that piece of legislation with his signing statements and McCain did NOTHING to defend his 'landmark' achievement.

Obama sponsored more than 800 bills during his eight years as an Illinois state senator. And his U.S. Senate career, while brief, has been action-packed.

As for Obama’s list of his accomplishments, he’s right on every count. A Washington Post editorial credited Obama for helping to create "the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet," and the Coburn-Obama Act created a new Web site, USAspending.gov, which allows anyone to see where federal contracting and grant money is being spent. Moreover, it was an Obama-sponsored amendment that ended Walter Reed's practice of requiring outpatient military personnel to pay for their own meals. And as a state senator in Illinois, Obama championed a bill requiring the police to videotape prisoner interrogations. Although initially controversial, the measure passed the Senate unanimously; even Republicans conceded that the turnaround was largely Obama’s doing. Finally, while Obama didn’t mention this one, we think it’s worth noting that the Lugar-Obama non-proliferation initiative provided funds for destroying nuclear weapons and for intercepting weapons of mass destruction.

Answer 10

No....calling John McCain a "maverick", is like calling Joe Lieberman a Democrat.

Answer 11

McCain will usher in a new day of non-partisan progress in America...isn't it about time for it?

Answer 12

McCain has a 30 year record of reaching across the aisle. Actions speak volumes, words are just words - someone should let Obama know.

Answer 13

it says that mccain has fully given in to his far-right overlords. he wanted lieberman but knew that he would pay the price for choosing a pro-choice running mate. instead of standing up to his handlers, he threw them some fresh meat.

Answer 14

if the oil excs are other their otherwise not

Answer 15

He always has.  He actually has a record, unlike Obama.

Answer 16

Comprehensive Obama flip flop list:

http://www.nelsonguirado.com/index.php/a...

Your question is what has McCain done to prove he's reached across the isle. Here are some examples:

* The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (McCain–Feingold Act)

* The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (based on the 2005 McCain-Kennedy Bill)

* The Climate Stewardship Acts (McCain-Lieberman)

McCain–Feingold was passed in 2002. McCain-Kennedy received much protest from the American people, so McCain has decided to listen them (go figure) instead of pursuing his own agenda. McCain-Lieberman was the most bipartisan of the Senate proposals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all major sectors of the US economy, but it has yet to be voted on.

Here are some other important issues on which McCain and Bush did not agree:

* McCain led the battle to restrict interrogation techniques of terror suspects and to ban torture.

* McCain opposed the Bush tax cuts when they passed.

* McCain urged the Iraq surge, a posture Bush rejected for years before conceding its wisdom.

* McCain favors FDA regulation of tobacco and sponsored legislation to that effect, a position all but a handful of Republican senators oppose.

* After the Enron scandal, McCain introduced sweeping reforms in corporate governance and legislation to guarantee pensions and prohibit golden parachutes for executives. Bush opposed McCain's changes and the watered-down Sarbanes-Oxley bill eventuated.

* McCain has been harshly critical of congressional overspending, particularly of budgetary earmarks, a position Bush only lately adopted (after the Democrats took over Congress).

In contrast, Obama (Most Liberal Senator 2007), consistently voted along the Democratic Party Line, and now makes the same old promises politicians have made for decades. He even picked a life-long politician in Biden (35 years as a Democratic Senator) to be his running mate. Is this change we can believe in?

Comprehensive Obama flip flop list:

http://www.nelsonguirado.com/index.php/a...

McCain tax plan:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12203121...

Obama tax plan:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/070...

Answer 17

it appears that u have not done your home work on this one

Answer 18

McCain can run on his track record of reaching across the aisle.  Not promises like Obama offers.