Wednesday, July 2, 2008

McCain and Amtrak Not BFF

We've covered this before, but John McCain is no friend of passenger rail. This Boston Globe article goes into detail.

In the section of McCain's website called "reforming our transportation sector," there is no mention of rail. There is only his clean-car challenge to automakers, his $300 million prize to design battery cars, and enforcing only existing gas mileage standards.

When The Washington Post reported on how President Bush's fiscal 2006 budget did not include a subsidy for Amtrak, would kill both $20 million for the next generation of high-speed rail, and $250 million for railroad rehabilitation, it quoted McCain as saying on television, "I'm glad the president is coming over with a very austere budget."

The luster of austerity is gone. Public transportation is becoming a real issue for the campaign trail. If so, McCain has all but handed Obama a golden spike to beat him over the head with.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

McCain is mentally unstable. God only knows what happened to him while he was a POW. Think Manchurian Candidate.

Wesley Clark is absolutely right about the SOB.

Justin said...

If McCain is voted in, god help the US(and the world). This guy is unstable, and has little clue about the issue facing your country.

kathleen duey said...

Oil companies, and their friends, have always hated mass transit.
GM and Standard Oil were suspiciously involved in changing the electric trolley system in Los Angeles to gas-powered buses. It's a long story with two or more sides, I am sure, but still. America desperately needs to muzzle the lobbyists and make long-sighted decisions for the health and welfare of the generations to come.

I agree about McCain. Not his fault, but there it is. He sees the world like a heart-scarred soldier, defensive, pissed, capable of exploding. He also graduated fifth from the bottom of his class, wrecked several planes, including one after he came home.
sigh.
Relative lack of experience, a big brain, a measured, calm response pattern and what seems to be a sincere understanding of the unwealthy, looks very good in comparision.