John McCain and the Federal Budget

The Annenberg Center does a fact check on John McCain and the budget here and here. The Center for American Progress does its own analysis here (full report here). The bottom line: big deficits.

UPDATE: In other news, unless he supports 100% auction, it looks like McCain's cap-and-trade plan might not be all that great (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities does an analysis here). Isn't all this stuff far more relevant than pastors, flag pins, age, bowling scores, etc.?

UPDATE II: I know that I'm pretty down on McCain on this blog, but in his defense, McCain has actually opposed the new farm bill that just passed. Among other things, it contained "a race-horse-owner tax break for the Senate Minority Leader from Kentucky" and some lopsided food subsidies favoring "cheap, unhealthy junk food." This is really a classic example of bad politics, and the cable news networks have largely given it a pass. Even though the bill had large, bipartisan support (including Clinton and Obama), it should really be the job of an independent media to look into these things (PBS is still cool, though).

UPDATE III: Former Energy Department official Joseph Romm looks at John McCain's climate speech in four parts (Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV).