Bush Early Votes for John McCain

Barack Obama had it right all along. John McCain is more like George W. Bush than John McCain would like to admit. Obama called attention to Bush' announcement that he had early voted for McCain. Ironically enough, the Republican party has been challenging early voting in the courts to prevent early voting on the grounds that this could disenfranchise voters by increasing the chance of voter fraud at the polls. Maybe, just maybe, the GOP realizes it's harder to win by fraudulently challenging legitimate votes following an election or concocting an October Surprise in their favor when record numbers of voters have already early voted. More from The Nation below:

But the biggest boost for Obama came from the unlikeliest Republican: George W. Bush. After Republican presidential candidate John McCain went out of his way in recent days to distance himself from his party's extraordinarily unpopular incumbent president, what did Bush do? Announce that he had voted early -- for McCain.

Bush traditionally travels to Texas to vote on election day. But on Friday the White House announced that the Republican president had gone out of his way to cast that early ballot for his party's nominee.

Obama did not neglect the news.

Speaking in Nevada Saturday, the Democratic nominee noted somewhat gleefully:
Senator McCain has been throwing everything he's got at us, hoping something will stick. He's even called me a socialist for suggesting that we focus on tax cuts, not for corporations and the wealthy, but for the middle class.

Then, the other day, he took it to a whole new level. He said that I was like George W. Bush. You can't make this stuff up, folks. In what may be the strangest twist of all, Senator McCain said that I would somehow continue the Bush economic policies – and that he, John McCain, would change them.

He actually denounced the President for letting things – and I quote – "get completely out of hand."

That's right, John McCain has been really angry about George Bush's economic policies – except during the primaries, when he said we've made "great progress economically" under George Bush. Or just last month, when he said that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong." In fact, John McCain is so opposed to George Bush's policies, that he voted with him 90 percent of the time for the past eight years. That's right, he decided to really stick it to him – 10 percent of the time.

Well, let's be clear: John McCain attacking George Bush for his out-of-hand economic policy is like Dick Cheney attacking George Bush for his go-it-alone foreign policy.

Fortunately, President Bush doesn't seem to be at all offended – because yesterday, he cast his vote – early – for Senator McCain. And that's no surprise, because when it comes to the policies that matter for middle class families, there's not an inch of daylight between George Bush and John McCain.