John McCain in 2007 Des Moines Register Republican debate
On Budget & Economy:
Loss of economic strength leads to losing military strength
Q: Does our country’s financial situation creates a security risk?A: Of course, any nation that no longer has economic strength sooner or later will lose its military strength, so it’s a national security issue. We have many trillions of dollars of
unfunded liability. Obviously, we’ve been on a spending spree. If oil reaches $100 a barrel, which many people think it may, $400 billion of America treasure will go to oil-producing countries. Some of those monies will go to terrorist organizations.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican debate
Dec 12, 2007
On Education:
We need more choice and competition in education
We need more choice & competition in education. Entrance by a good student into a college today, they have a number of choices and people are seeking them to be part of those educational institutions. We don’t have a choice & competition. We need it in K
through 12. We need more charter schools & vouchers approved by the local state and school boards. We need to have home-schooling if people want that. We need to reward good teachers and find bad teachers another line of work. In Arizona, we have charter
schools, some have failed, but they’re competing with the public schools, and the level of education is increasing. In New York City today, there are some remarkable things happening under Mayor Bloomberg, who has done marvelous work with an educational
system that was clearly broken. Those can be examples of a way to improve education, provide choice and competition, and give every family the same choice I and my family had, and that is to send our child to the school of our choice.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate
Dec 12, 2007
On Energy & Oil:
Climate change is real and must be addressed
Suppose that climate change is not real, and we do adopt green technologies, which our economy and technology are capable of. Then all we’ve done is given our kids a cleaner world. But suppose that climate change is real and we’ve done nothing. What kind
of a planet are we going to pass on to the next generation? It’s real. We’ve got to address it with technology, with cap-and- trade, with capitalist and free enterprise motivation. We can pass on to our children and grandchildren a cleaner, better world.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate
Dec 12, 2007
On Energy & Oil:
FactCheck: Oil independence will take 25 years, not 5 years
McCain announced a lofty, and, according to experts on the subject, improbable goal of ending foreign oil imports in five years, saying: “We have got to achieve energy independence, oil independence in this nation. I will make it a Manhattan Project, and
we will in five years become oil independent.”We can’t predict the future, so perhaps McCain can make this happen. But experts have serious doubts. Says one expert, “You can’t institute technological change that quickly. It takes 15 years now to turn
over the car fleet,“ citing a report commissioned by the secretary of energy that found the US could realistically reduce its reliance on oil imports by a third by 2030.
Another study, partly funded by the Pentagon and published in
2004, said it would take until 2040 for the nation to be free of all oil imports, by primarily using new technologies and competition.
About 66% of the oil used in the US in 2006 came from foreign imports, which amounted to 13.7 million barrels a day.
Source: FactCheck on 2007 Des Moines Register Republican debate
Dec 12, 2007
On Free Trade:
Consider subsidies a mistake, and oppose them
We should make sure that every nation respects human rights, and we should advocate that and try to enforce it. I will open every market in the world to Iowa’s agricultural products, and eliminate subsidies on ethanol and other agricultural products.
Subsidies are a mistake, and I don’t believe that anybody can say that they’re a fiscal conservative and yet support subsidies which distort markets & destroy our ability to compete in the world, as well as our ability to get cheaper products into the US
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate
Dec 12, 2007
On Government Reform:
Focus on homeland safety, restoring trust, and fiscal policy
Q: Your key focus areas? A: We must make the country safe. This is a military, diplomatic, intelligence and cyberspace challenge. If we’re going to complete that laundry list, is restoring trust and confidence in government. There is none today.
We have to fix Medicare. We have to stop this wasteful pork-barrel spending that has led to corruption in Washington. Of course we have to fix our borders. We have to sit down together and fix Medicare and Social Security.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate
Dec 12, 2007
On Principles & Values:
Able to work with others with own set of principles
I had a set of principles and ideals. At the same time, I have joined together across the aisle on a number of pieces of legislation, many of them very important. I’m proud of my legislative record, of conserving my ideals and my
conservative principles and getting things done in Washington. I will continue to hold to those ideals, but I will reach across the aisle to the Democrats, who I have worked with, who know me, and we know we can work together for the good of this country
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate
Dec 12, 2007
On Tax Reform:
Reform the tax code that nobody trusts and believes in
I’m happy to say low-income Americans, except for payroll taxes, don’t pay taxes, but we’ve got to reform the tax code. Nobody understands it. Nobody trusts it. Nobody believes in it. And we have to fix it. And we can’t raise taxes as our
Democrat friends want. So I don’t know exactly who’s paying the most of the burden, but I would say that the American people need a tax code they can understand and that they know is fair.
Source: 2007 Des Moines Register Republican Debate
Dec 12, 2007
Page last updated: Nov 30, 2018