Jack Kemp’s endorsement of Sen. John McCain for president is both interesting and significant. Kemp was one of the founders of the Reagan supply-side tax-cutting movement. And of course, he’s been a prominent free-market advocate for economic-growth policies for several decades.This is indeed quite an endorsement. While John has drawn a lot of criticism from Republicans on issues like Campaign Finance Reform and Immigration, a number have also attacked his stance on economic issues like taxes. This should go a long way to show that John McCain is indeed a strident fiscal conservative. He is for government solvency as well as tax cuts, which is not something that can be said for many conservatives. He is also consistently the biggest defender of free trade among all the contenders for the nomination this year.
I have not yet reached Jack for details of his thinking on the McCain endorsement.
The former-Buffalo, New York, House member/Housing secretary and 1996 GOP vice-presidential candidate would surely be able to relieve doubts about Sen. McCain’s tax-cutting intentions should he become president. While Sen. McCain has been criticized for voting against the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, it is important to recall that the Arizonan did vote for the Reagan tax cuts back in the 1980s.
McCain has steadfastly maintained on the campaign trail that he would preserve the Bush tax cuts on capital gains, dividends, and personal incomes that are set to expire in 2010.
Kemp would join former Sen. Phil Gramm as key McCain economic advisors. As I noted in an earlier post, Phil Gramm is the quintessential free-market advocate. He spent a career in the House and Senate limiting government spending, taxing, and regulating.
Both Kemp and Gramm are strong free-trade supporters. Gramm was also the original sponsor of the Reagan tax-and-spending cuts back in 1981 in the Gramm-Latta bill reported out of the House. That bill incorporated Jack Kemp’s original proposal to slash personal tax rates by 30 percent across the board.
Down through the years, Jack Kemp has been a tireless advocate of economic growth through supply-side tax reform and free trade. Getting him on board is a real coup for Sen. McCain.
Also, in further endorsement news the Detroit Free Press has endorsed Senator McCain for the Republican nomination. A short excerpt:
Eight years ago, endorsing U.S. Sen. John McCain in the Michigan Republican presidential primary, the Free Press said he was "an articulate hardliner on how the United States should lead the world" and the best candidate in a GOP field that included George W. Bush. McCain won Michigan, but that proved to be the high-water mark of a campaign that collapsed shortly thereafter, outspent and outmaneuvered by the Bush forces. Eight years later, he is running again, and JOHN McCAIN is, again, the best candidate to carry the GOP banner into the fall. While the Free Press differs with McCain on a number of issues, the Arizona senator is a smarter, more tested and pragmatic leader who has shown since 2000 that he knows how to build bipartisan alliances around issues. He's a straight shooter, sometimes to his detriment in the political world, where McCain also loses points for persistently championing needed campaign reforms and criticizing pork-barrel spending that benefits special interests. McCain's latest campaign faltered early in this overextended election season. But he has regrouped, and while polls do not show him as the GOP front-runner, they do consistently show that he fares best against any of the leading Democrats. That has to be a consideration for Republican voters with the party expected to lose more ground in Congress next year. McCain, with his appeal to independent voters, looks at this time like the best bet to keep the White House in GOP hands.
The full endorsement can be read here.
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