Leading Senate Republican: McCain offers a third Bush term on the economy

What’s the top message priority for Democrats hoping to win this year’s presidential election? When it comes to defining John McCain, it’s pretty obvious: he’d offer more of the same. On the key issues, McCain and George W. Bush share a script.

McCain is aware of the dangers here — no one wants to be closely associated with the most unpopular president since the dawn of modern polling, and no one wants to run on a “stay the course” platform when four out of five Americans believe the country is on the wrong track.

With that in mind, it’s always encouraging when some leading Republicans seem anxious to make it easier for Democrats to hammer their message home. Take Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), the second highest-ranking Republican in the House.

As a rule, Republicans are supposed to disagree with the Democrats’ central criticism of the GOP presidential candidate. But if Blunt & Co. want to tell national television audiences that we’re right, I couldn’t be more pleased.

As Faiz explained very well:

All of this sounds familiar, of course, because it’s the same approach embraced by the Bush gang for the last eight years. McCain isn’t in a position to deny his support for Bush’s economic policies, and apparently, neither are his campaign surrogates in the Senate.



Here’s the transcript from CNN:

BLITZER: When it comes to domestic economic issues, what is the major difference between President Bush’s policies, what he wants to do, and what John McCain would do if he were president? BLUNT: Well, I think what John McCain wants to do is continue these pro-growth tax policies that our friends on the other side have been talking… BLITZER: But that’s what President Bush wants to do too. BLUNT: And there is nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with that. BLITZER: So it would be in effect a third Bush term when it came to pro-growth tax policies? BLUNT: It would be. I think it would be. And I think that’s a good thing.

Somehow, I have a hunch, based on the number of Americans who approve of Bush’s handling of the economy, that most voters are going to disagree.