McCain calls for 'economic surge'
Posted: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 2:41 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC/NJ’s Adam Aigner-Treworgy
JACKSON, Ohio -- For the second day in a row, McCain toured an industrial facility and then made a statement about the need for energy reform. Yesterday, the presumptive GOP nominee visited a nuclear facility in Michigan; today he toured the Merillat cabinet factory here as part of a two-day bus tour of the state.
McCain's message to the employees of Merillat after his tour regarded the need for a plan of action to fix the economy -- something he called "an economic surge."
"What we need today is an economic surge," McCain said. "Our surge has succeeded in Iraq militarily. Now we need an economic surge to keep jobs here at home and create new ones. We need to reduce the tax burden on businesses that choose to make their homes in the United States of America. We need to open new markets to U.S. products and we need to reduce the cost of health care and we need to end the out of control spending in Washington that's putting our debt on the backs of our children. Now's the time for action and when I'm president we are gonna get it done."
Asked afterwards what exactly the senator meant by the phrase "economic surge," campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said, "More money in family jobs, more money in family budgets, and growing jobs and small businesses."
The “surge” does not necessarily entail new economic policies from the McCain campaign, but seems to be more of a re-branding that allows McCain to link the economy with the surge in Iraq, which he often says has "succeeded."
Today McCain portrayed Obama's economic plan as an example of what not to do in a struggling economy.
"Companies are moving overseas," McCain said. "We're taxing them out of the country. Unfortunately, Sen. Obama's plans would raise taxes on businesses even more. He's promised tax increases on income, tax increases on investment, tax increases on small businesses. That's exactly the wrong strategy. Raising taxes in a bad economy is about the worst thing you can do, because it will kill even more jobs. What we need are policies that create jobs."
