AFL-CIO’s Newby on McCain Invitation No-Show

Wisconsin AFL-CIO President David Newby has it spot-on regarding John McCain’s unwillingness to join a roundtable to talk with working people about the incredible challenges facing families under the current economic disaster of George Bush and his cheerleader John McCain. 

Read what Newby had to say, after the jump.

“On Tuesday, workers in Annapolis Maryland held a workers roundtable to discuss the challenges facing working families today.  They invited John McCain to join them.  He was a no-show.

So was his no-show a schedule conflict?  Or was it because McCain has no answers to the problems of working people?  I suspect it was a lack of answers—or at least a lack of answers that make any sense.  A lot of people think of John McCain as an independent, a maverick, and a war hero.  War hero? Sure.  An independent and a maverick?  Hardly.  McCain has followed the Bush line 90% of the time.

John McCain has blamed the housing crisis on people who took out ortgages they couldn’t afford.  He has said he would sign a so-called “free trade agreement” with any country in the world that wants one with us.
(Hasn’t he noticed what NAFTA and “free trade” with China has done to our industrial job base?  Three million family supporting industrial jobs shipped out of the U.S. just since George Bush became President.)

And then there’s health care.  McCain thinks workers should be taxed on the value of their employer paid health insurance—but then get a $3-4000 tax credit to buy an individual health insurance policy (that would probably cost around $12,000 a year for a good family policy in Wisconsin—as long as you  had no serious “pre-existing conditions”).

Add that to McCain’s support for so-called “right-to-work” and his opposition to prevailing wage laws to protect building trades workers and his opposition to increases in the minimum wage and you get a pretty good idea of where John McCain is coming from—and where he wants to lead us.

No wonder he was a “no-show” at the Annapolis workers roundtable.  He’s been invited to similar workers roundtables in Arizona and Florida.  Think he’ll show?”

I don’t think it could have been said any better.