Barack Obama is a Not Socialist

John McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts for the rich in 2001 and in 2003. And in 2004 McCain said on Meet The Press that he was against extending all of the tax cuts but he was for the tax cuts for the middle class. In 2006 McCain changed his view and voted for extending the tax cuts. This "flip flop" on the Bush tax cuts for the rich appears to be influenced by politics rather than shift in opinion (McCain was gearing up for a run for the GOP nomination.)

Why is this recent history lesson so important when tackling the issue of whether or not Barack Obama is actually a "socialist" as the McCain campaign and right wing news organizations (such as Fox News) have claimed?

Because it's Obama's stance against these Bush tax cuts for the rich that is the entire basis for this "socialist" claim. If one is to call Obama a socialist because he wants to roll back the tax rates for the rich to where they were when Bill Clinton was President then Clinton and Ronald Reagan are socialists too. Reagan? Yes, Reagan. Obama's tax rates for the rich will not be any higher than they were under Ronald Reagan. Of course John McCain must be a "reformed" socialist since he was against the tax cuts before he was for them.

The truth is that this false claim that Barack Obama is a socialist is just the latest in a long line of dishonest name calling attacks from the McCain campaign. Before "socialist" it was "associates with terrorists," before that it was "celebrity." The list goes on and on. The McCain/Palin campaign has no new ideas to run on (as they are exactly the same as Bush/Cheney on the issues) so they must resort to these sorts of smear tactics. They are banking on the American people not being smart enough to see through their lies. Prove them wrong by voting on November 4th for Barack Obama.