John McCain: Haven't we seen this movie before?

Four years ago, I wrote a column in this paper insisting that our nation couldn't afford four more years of George Bush. While I think that time has proven me correct, I am once again forced to reiterate my same argument that we cannot afford four more years of George Bush. The candidate's name may have changed, but the policies remain the same. Let's look at the facts.

John McCain doesn't believe in rolling back the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. He maintains this policy despite the fact that these tax cuts caused our nation to go from a record surplus to a record deficit of $482 billion in FY09. In fact, the Bush/McCain tax policies have created the three highest deficits in the history of our country.

Over the last six years, our courageous military personnel have been fighting wars on two fronts. The President's decision to invade Iraq, while fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan has put a tremendous strain on our military and has limited our options around the world. John McCain is maintaining a Bush-like open-ended policy in Iraq. This will continue to hinder our nation both diplomatically and strategically for many years to come.

Since 2001, President Bush has severely restricted cutting edge medical research by limiting federal funding for stem cell research. By withholding these funds, millions of families across the country dealing with debilitating diseases such as ALS, Parkinson's, diabetes, and spinal cord injuries are being forced to wait for major breakthroughs. John McCain wants to keep these restrictions in place and dash the hopes of these families searching for a cure.

The cost of health care has skyrocketed and is threatening the livelihood of families and businesses all across the country. Like President Bush, John McCain wants to sit idly by and let market forces help correct the problem. It's the same Bush-like response that led to the corporate malfeasance epidemic and the mortgage crisis which has stifled our economy and led to one of the highest unemployment rates in recent history.

Record setting deficits, no end to the war in Iraq, restricting science and medicine, uncontrollable health care costs and an economy losing thousands of jobs a day. Can we afford four more years of George Bush, I mean, John McCain? No way.

The Daily Herald is running a series of counterpoint columns during the Republican National Convention as it did for the Democratic National Convention.