Sunday Talk Shows - McCain Rips Congress, Bush on Spending

Congress is throwing away astonishing amounts, "spending money like a drunken sailor," and President Bush shares the blame because he is not using his veto power, Republican Sen. John McCain said Sunday.

"Any economist will tell you cannot have this level of debt of increasing deficits without eventually it affecting interest rates and inflation," he said. "Those are the greatest enemies of middle-income Americans and retired Americans."

On a quiet Sunday talk circuit Senators and pundits talked a lot about Medicare -

When George Stephanopoulos – noting that budget analysts believe the real 20-year cost may be as much as $2 trillion – asked how the bill was going to be paid for, [Dem LA Sen.]Breaux’s response was devoid of feel-good spin:

Some out of general revenue. Some out of the pockets of the beneficiaries.

Seniors hear “pockets of the beneficiaries” and know it means their pockets.

[Sen. McCain's] conservative attack also played up the costs:

…a $7 trillion unfunded mandate on top of a $13 trillion unfunded mandate…We are laying a burden of debt on future generations of Americans.

Then he seamlessly shifted Left, going after Big Pharma:

We did such incredible favors to the pharmaceutical companies.

We banned Medicare from negotiating with the drug companies for lower prices for prescription drugs…

…And we also banned any re-importation from Canada…

…it wasn't an accident that the pharmaceutical stock went up $9 billion the day before we passed the bill.

It’s important not to forget that both McCain and Lott attack Medicare’s costs as a way to build support for even more insidious privatization than there is currently in the bill.

But even though their motives are suspect, on balance their attacks help Dems more than they help their own cause.