McCain says he opposed the Bush tax cuts in 2001 for the conservative-friendly reason of their not being coupled with cuts in federal spending.  But in 2001 what he actually said was different, and more populist than conservative.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican John McCain says he opposed President Bush’s tax cuts because they didn’t come with spending cuts. That is not what he said at the time.

In a presidential debate on Wednesday, McCain said he voted against the Bush tax cuts because he wanted to rein in spending.

“I disagreed when we had tax cuts without spending restraint,” the Arizona senator said.

The explanation fits with his history of railing against wasteful federal spending. But it does not fit with McCain’s comments when he opposed the Bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003.

In 2001, McCain said the tax cuts favored the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

So McCain, in 2001, was a “tax cuts for the rich” guy.  Not exactly someone conservatives should want in charge of fiscal policy, right?

Also, his complaint about the tax cuts being coupled with federal spending cuts rings hollow because since the Bush tax cuts federal tax receipts have been setting records.  I think we can all agree that the government absolutely needs to cut spending, but the Bush tax cuts didn’t cost the federal government a dime in revenue overall.