McCotter: Weird and wrong

I'm beginning that Rep. Thad McCotter (R-MI), a longshot candidate for president, is just weird. Two years ago he proposed legislation to make pet care expenses tax-deductible. Yes, I love animals, but in essence, such a scheme would in essence mean non-pet owners such as myself would be subsidizing pet-owners.

McCotter met with the editorial board of the Des Moines Register on Thursday, and his line of thought on the SP credit downgrade was discussed.

When Standard & Poor's downgraded the U.S. credit rating, they weren't just making a doubtful statement about America's debt, but about democracy in today's world, said GOP presidential candidate Thad McCotter to the Des Moines Register.

"(T)hey criticized our process and used it as a rationale for downgrading the United States" said the Michigan congressman. "Now, we might not have enjoyed the process, but the strength of the United States is that you have people who passionately believe something on either side. They go into a heavy, heated discourse, but eventually a resolution is found. That's called free speech. It's called the political process.

"For Standard & Poor's to use that as a rationale, to me, was telling me that they believe that a government that does not allow that type of free and full and fair debate to get to a broadly bipartisan resolution, is the preferred model of government – there's communist China."

S&P downgraded our credit rating because we spend and borrow too much. While McCotter isn't lowering himself by utilizing thug tactics against S&P--which is what Senate Democrats are doing--he is venturing into blaming the messenger territory.

He says he's against union card check now, but McCotter voted for it in 2007. McCotter voted for the GM/Chyrsler bailouts that heavily favored Big Labor. I don't begrudge him that--it would have been political suicide for any Michigander in Congress to vote against it, but he continues to defend the bailout now that he's seeking national office. McCotter recently chided Mitt Romney, an early opponent of the bailout who knows something about cars--his father was the CEO of American Motors--for that stand.

McCotter's support hovers around one percent in presidential preference polls.

Related post:

Michigan congressman proposing tax breaks for pet owners

Technorati tags: Thaddeus McCotter gop Republican Mitt Romney 2012 Detroit Michigan economy automobiles cars auto industry