I am getting tired of hearing McCain repeat the line about how he breaks with his party more often than Obama. How Obama has supposedly "never" broken with his party, and that somehow this means that McCain is more "bipartisan" than Obama.
When it was just McCain and Palin saying this, I ignored it, but now the media has started repeating this as a talking point, and last night I heard one of the "undecided" voters in a focus group say something about McCain breaking with his party more than Obama.
Here's the response, folks -- it's not a difficult one. Repeat after me:
McCain breaks with the Republicans more often than Obama breaks with the Democrats because the Republicans are more often wrong. Wrong on the issues, wrong on the solutions, wrong in their judgments and wrong for America.
I am surprised and disappointed that Obama hasn't jumped all over this one. There are so many great responses: pithy, to the point, and even a bit humorous. So let's explore some of them below.
Disclaimer: I'm not actually convinced that Obama hasn't crossed party lines. There were some votes last year where the entire party caved to the Republicans. (FISA anyone?) But, since the entire party caved, let's for the sake of argument agree with McCain's premise.
Just because Obama votes the Democratic line doesn't mean he isn't more than capable of forging bipartisan alliances. McCain's logic is flawed: He breaks with his party (on a few issues) because his party is WRONG. Of course, he votes with his party 90 percent of the time, so it's faint praise to say you've been right 10 percent of the time.
Obama has shown time and again that he can forge alliances and working partnerships across party lines. That he can do so without crossing over to the Republicans is actually testament to his persuasive powers, his ethics and his integrity.
So I'm thinking that the quickest, easiest and strongest response to the McCain talking point that he (McCain) has broken with his party more often than Obama has broken with his is this:
McCain breaks with his party more often because the Republicans are wrong more often.
And then "riff" on that theme: -- something like this:
Given how often the Republicans have been wrong, it's a wonder McCain has voted with them at all. The Republicans have been wrong on pretty much everything during the past 8 years. They've been wrong on Iraq. They've been wrong on the economy. They've been wrong on health care. Wrong on social security. Wrong on Medicare. Wrong on deregulation. Wrong on energy policy. Wrong on ethics. You name the policy and they've been wrong on it. So McCain has --10 percent of the time -- seen the light. Hallelujah.
And he thinks that makes him more qualified to be President than Obama, who has been right -- from the beginning -- on all the issues. Right on Iraq. Right on health care. Right on the Economy. Right on energy policy. Right on all the issues that the Democrats stand for. So we can praise Sen. McCain for his 10-percent support, but find 10-percent less persuausive than Obama's whole-hearted support for the policies that are right for America.
O.K. fellow kossacks -- that's my riff on the subject. Let's hear yours below. I'll review the comments and update the diary to include the best of the best.