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Recently, however, both candidates have called for an increased troop presence in Afghanistan. In July, Obama proposed sending two more combat brigades, drawn down from Iraq. McCain immediately followed this with a call for three more brigades, but later clarified that some of those troops would be NATO forces. A McCain spokeswoman said that the U.S. would "contribute" troops to the increase under McCain's plan.

Tax Spin
Obama said: "I will cut taxes ... for 95 percent of all working families." And he said McCain proposes "not one penny of tax relief to more than 100 million Americans," a claim his running mate, Joe Biden, made the night before.

Obama is right about his plan's effect on working families. More broadly, though, the plan cuts taxes for 81.3 percent of all households in 2009, according to the Tax Policy Center. The TPC also says McCain's tax plan would leave 65.8 million households without a cut, not 100 million.

The TPC's calculations factor in what's in effect a hidden tax on individuals that results from taxing corporations. McCain proposes to lower the corporate income tax rate, and Obama proposes billions of dollars in increased corporate taxes in the form of "loophole closings." Individuals wouldn't experience those changes as an increased tax bill from the government, but both the Congressional Budget Office and TPC allocate all corporate tax to owners of capital rather than to consumers. That means rather than flowing through to consumers in the form of higher prices or lower wages, corporate tax changes would show up as higher or lower returns on investments, which typically come in the form of corporate dividends, and profits or losses from stock sales.

Only by ignoring the hidden benefit to individuals can McCain's plan be said to produce no cut for 100 million households. According to a calculation the TPC did at FactCheck's request, 101.9 million see no benefit if the effects of a corporate reduction are set aside.

For the record, Obama aides say the indirect effect on holders of capital won't be as large as TPC says. "We dispute TPC's methodology here," says Brian Deese of the Obama campaign. He says several of the "loophole closers" that Obama is proposing won't affect corporations or are on offshore activity that will not directly filter through.

We'd also note that retirees would fare quite a bit less well than working families under Obama's tax plan: The TPC estimates that 32 percent of households with a person over age 65 would see a tax increase.

Rich Humor
Obama used a clumsy attempt at humor by McCain as evidence of his supposed insensitivity to middle-class economic realities:

Obama: Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans; I just think he doesn't know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under five million dollars a year?

What McCain actually said at the Saddleback Church forum on Aug. 16 was that he favors low taxes for all income levels. He drew a laugh, then said, "but seriously" as he struggled to make his point:

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Member Comments

  • Posted By: ICYEYES800 @ 09/11/2008 9:32:10 PM

    Obama is so full of himself, so arrogant and so miguided that it is almost laughable!!!! For someone who has served in his current position for 143 days...that's OJT....and then thinks so highly of himself that he spends the next 19 months on the road, from town and town, and still being paid for his senatorial position is ridiculious...IT's pompous to imagine going to work at McDonalds one day then two days later deciding that you are so damn good, you're going to become CEO int he next month....Something is just not right about this guys thinking....143 days at a NEW JOB is not ADEQUATE for this particular job...

  • Posted By: dnag @ 09/11/2008 4:15:24 PM

    For the truth is out there. Obama freely admitted to smoking crack. Will you be saying that is munkey dung also?
    Also please read Michelle Obama's college thesis....the one concerned with black separism as a means to get by around the white society. If that isn't racist, I don't know what is. I believe her views are the reason for the comment...for the first time in my adult life I'm proud to be an American.
    Nice first lady huh...one with real class.
    If you take exception to these remarks then tell the Obama's that they are the liars...its their words, not mine!

  • Posted By: trazer @ 09/06/2008 3:21:05 AM

    Obama is short on any accomplishments. He can talk and is loved by the corrupt American media, who has lost all objectivity. Obama has to basically lie as his resume is so thin he could not get a job in corporate America given his lack of meaningful plans. I as an American taxpayer have paid his salary and has received no important pieces of legislation written by him. As such, I would like my money back. Thanks.

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