McCain: Cutting taxes, stimulating economy precedes balancing the budget

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Republican John McCain said Sunday that cutting taxes and stimulating the economy are more important than balancing the budget, and accused both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama of supporting tax hikes that would worsen the impact of a recession. "The goal right now is to get the economy going again," the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting said on ABC's "This Week," adding that he would put America "on a path to a balanced budget" by attacking wasteful spending. McCain conceded it was probably a mistake to seek and accept the endorsement of televangelist John Hagee, who has referred to the Roman Catholic Church as "the great whore" and called it a "false cult system." The Arizona senator said he had condemned Hagee's remarks about Catholics, and said it was different than the way Obama has responded to questions about his own relationship with William Ayers, a 1960s-era radical who in an interview published on Sept. 11, 2001, said he did not regret bombing government buildings. "How can you countenance someone who was engaged in bombings which could have or did kill innocent people?" McCain asked, calling Ayers an "unrepentant terrorist." Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton, in response, said McCain had "stooped to the same smear politics and low road that he denounced in 2000" by commenting on Ayers.