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Brian Moore: "Barack Obama is not a socialist."

by Rhonda J Mangus | October 24, 2008 at 02:45 pm

2242 views | 14 Recommendations | 8 comments

Brian Moore is the Socialist Party USA candidate for president who claims that Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama, is not a socialist as the McCain-Palin camp would have us believe.

"It's misleading for Republicans to say that," the local peace activist and perennial candidate said Wednesday from his Spring Hill home. "They know (Obama's) not a socialist."

Now, more than ever, Moore and his party are getting attention thanks to the $700-billion financial bailout and the rhetoric from the Republican presidential ticket. John McCain and Sarah Palin have repeatedly labeled Obama as a socialist in recent days.

"Now is not the time to experiment with socialism," Palin said at a rally Monday.

"I think his plans are redistribution of the wealth," McCain said in a television interview Sunday. "That's one of the tenets of socialism."

The Republicans are capitalizing on their Democratic rival's recent conversation with Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher, in which Obama told the Ohio man that "when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

Obama was discussing his plan to raise taxes on those making more than $250,000.

Moore said McCain and Palin are abusing the "socialist" label. Likewise, he said Obama's programs wouldn't create a true wealth redistribution.

"It seems like both major party candidates are trying to use socialism to their advantage, in a negative and in a positive way," he said.

Moore and his vice presidential candidate Stewart Alexander are competing in 18 states, including Florida, which carry more than the 270 electoral votes needed to win.

(His name actually appears on the ballot in just eight states but he's a qualified write-in candidate in the other 10.)

If elected, Moore would push for the "full government takeover of all American corporations."

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master_jim2008

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 15:02 on October 24th, 2008

Rhonda J Mangus, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Well if he did push for takeover, I'm sure he'd delete greed from the corporate vocabulary and someone needs to do that anyway, socialist or not.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 15:43 on October 24th, 2008

Hi master-jim2008. Thank you for reading, commenting, and the Flag.

SOLARLIFE

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 06:10 on October 25th, 2008

Rhonda J Mangus, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 06:54 on October 25th, 2008

SOLARLIFE, thank you for reading and for the Flag!

Barry Artiste

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 06:46 on October 25th, 2008

Rhonda J Mangus, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 06:54 on October 25th, 2008

Thank you, Barry!

dunkelberg

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 16:47 on October 26th, 2008

McCain himself hasn't always seemed so opposed to progressive taxation. Here's what he said in a 2000 meeting with college students sponsored by the MSNBC program "Hardball," when questioned about the issue:

    McCain, Oct. 12, 2000: [W]e feel, obviously, that wealthy people can afford more.
    ....
    And I think middle-income Americans, working Americans ... all of the taxes that working Americans pay, I think they – you would think that they also deserve significant relief, in my view.
    ...
    [H]ere's what I really believe, that when you are – reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more.

In fact, the system would remain progressive under McCain's tax plan. His argument with Obama isn't about whether to "spread the wealth," but by how much.

Also, as we now know, Joe the Plumber would almost certainly be entitled to a tax cut if Obama's plan were implemented – and a larger one than he'd get under McCain's.