A good article rebutting McCain's silly "socialist" accusation:

After Joe the Plumber came on the scene, it was only a matter of time before John McCain also threw the kitchen sink at us, clogged up, however, as only he can do so.

McCain's recent hyperbolic characterization of Barack Obama's economic and tax plans as "socialist" is not just a desperate move to instill uncertainty in the minds of voters in the final days of the Campaign -- it also completely undermines the vital consensus on economic policy which our country desperately needs right now.

Using the pejorative word "socialism" to describe an honorable progressive income tax is shameful in these difficult times -- and it is also just plain wrong. We have had a progressive income tax since America first enacted income taxes in 1913, and John McCain has conveniently forgotten his own strong opposition to President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in 2001 and again in 2003. And he sure as heck has forgotten his year 2000 statement to a group of college students that "when you reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more."

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Leo Hindery, Jr.

Posted October 31, 2008 | 02:02 PM (EST)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leo-hindery-jr/senator-mccain-regulated_b_139736.html

Senator McCain, Regulated Capitalism is Not Socialism

After Joe the Plumber came on the scene, it was only a matter of time before John McCain also threw the kitchen sink at us, clogged up, however, as only he can do so.