John McCain in 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida

On Budget & Economy: I’m well-versed in economics; I was at the Reagan Revolution

A: Actually, I don’t know where you got that quote from. I’m very well versed in economics. I was there at the Reagan Revolution. I was there just after we enacted the first tax cuts and the restraints on spending. I was chairman of the Commerce Committee in the Senate, which addresses virtually every major economic issue that affects the US. I’m very well versed on economics. That’s why I have a strong team around me that respect my views and my vision. And that’s why The Wall Street Journal, in a survey of economists recently, that the majority of economists thought that I could handle the nation’s economy best. And I have been a consistent fighter to restrain spending and to cut taxes. And my credentials & my experience & my knowledge of these economic issues, I think, are extensive. And I would match them against anybody who’s running.

On Budget & Economy: Impose some fiscal discipline to revive the economy

A: I will, as president, veto every one of these big spending bills. I will impose some fiscal discipline. We will clean up our act and we will regain the confidence of the American people as being careful stewards of our tax dollars, and we will fix this problem with having to borrow money from China, then we will balance our budget, just like every governor in America has been required to do.

On Budget & Economy: Will be able to reduce war costs & have a stable Middle East

A: I know of no military leader, including Gen. Petraeus, who says we can’t sustain our effort in Iraq. So you’re wrong. The fact is, we are succeeding in Iraq. We’re going back down to previous levels, and we will be able to withdraw troops over time if we succeed. We have American troops all over the world today & nobody complains about it because we’re defending freedom That’s one of the obligations of being the world’s superpower. I’m proud to adopt the strategy that is succeeding, and that’s happened. I’m the only one that said that. It is succeeding. We will be able to reduce our costs, and we will be able to have a stable Middle East, where our vital national interests, national security interests are at stake. I’m so proud of the job that the men and women in the military are doing there, and they don’t want us to raise the white flag of surrender.

On Budget & Economy: Reform insurance to cover violent weather patterns

On Budget & Economy: FactCheck: Said--then denied--he needed economics education

Russert’s quote comes from a 2005 interview with the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 26, 2005: “I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.”

We could not find that McCain has said that quote “repeatedly,” but he has made similar comments recently The Chicago Tribune quoted McCain talking to reporters on Dec. 18, 2007: “The issue of economics is something that I’ve really never understood as well as I should. I understand the basics, the fundamentals, the vision, all that kind of stuff.”

On Corporations: Cut corporate income taxes to keep jobs here

A: Yes, I will and I’m disappointed, because I think it’s very important that we make the Bush tax cuts permanent. I voted to make them permanent twice already. If people and businesses and families in America are now planning their 2010 budget, there’s a great deal of uncertainty. And if we don’t make the tax cuts permanent, then they will experience what amounts to a tax increase. But I also would make sure that not only the tax cuts are made permanent, but we cut corporate income taxes. That would keep businesses here, and it would keep jobs here and create jobs here. We pay the highest corporate income tax of any nation in the world except for Japan. I’m glad to see that we’re going to allow people to expense new investments in equipment, so they can write them off in a very short period of time.

On Energy & Oil: In favor of cap-and-trade

On Government Reform: More sunshine on the Working Group on Financial Markets

A: Obviously we’d like to see more sunshine. But I as president, rely primarily on my secretary of the Treasury, on my Council of Economic Advisers, on the head of that. I would rely on the circle that I have developed over many years. I have a process of leadership that is sort of an inclusive one that I have developed.

On Government Reform: FactCheck: $35B in pork meant $484 per child, not $1000

It’s not clear where McCain is getting the $35 billion figure. But that’s more pork than the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste has diagnosed in the budget for any one year of the Bush presidency: The highest amount the group has calculated is $29 billion in 2006. Perhaps McCain meant $35 billion in two years: the smallest two-year sum was $38.6 billion in 2001 and 2002.

Even if we assume $35 billion in pork, however, McCain mus be defining “child” rather narrowly. According to the 2000 Census, there are about 72 million people under the age of 18, which would come to about $484 each. To apportion $35 billion in $1000 chunks, you’d have to leave out some elementary-schoolers.

On Principles & Values: FactCheck: Won NH & SC via independents, but lost GOP vote

McCain can point to an exit poll done separately by Fox News, which shows him beating Romney among Republicans in New Hampshire, 35% to 33%. The same poll, though, shows Romney received more of the self-identified “conservative” vote, 38% to McCain’s 31%.

But if McCain wants to use Fox’s exit polls as his standard, the one taken after the South Carolina primary disproves his point: Huckabee edged him among Republican voters, 32% to 31%, and it was only through the votes of independents, who swung for him 42% to 25%, that McCain prevailed.

On Tax Reform: Romney raising fees a quarter-billion dollars is a tax hike

A: I’m sure those people that had to pay it did.

On Tax Reform: Opposed to the Bush tax cuts as spending got out of control

On Tax Reform: FactCheck: Against Bush tax cuts in 2003; for them in 2006

It is true that McCain voted in 2006 to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. But he was against the cuts before he was for them, and his statements in the debate dismiss that fact. McCain voted against both sets of Bush tax cuts, in 2001 and in 2003. And on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in 2004, McCain stated that he did not support extending all the cuts, though he did go on to say that he would make the so-called “middle class” tax cuts permanent.

McCain is entitled to change his mind. And in fact, his opinions are not necessarily contradictory; he may believe that the tax cuts he opposed should now be made permanent so that taxpayers know what to expect. But his statements in the debate could lead voters to believe that he has always supported the cuts, and that’s simply not true

On War & Peace: The Iraq war was worth the price in blood and treasure

A: It was a good idea. It was not worth the failures that happened, but it is worth it at the end of the day because we will have peace and success in the Middle East, and our men and women will return, and return with honor, and they won’t have to go back and fight al Qaeda there.