Who Are You Calling a Socialist?

Values and socialism dominated the sharp rhetoric on the campaign trail yesterday, as the presidential candidates exchanged fire over Barack Obama’s plan for middle-class tax cuts, Politico reports. At rallies in North Carolina and Virginia, two traditionally red states where Obama has made inroads, John McCain accused him of planning to “convert the IRS into a giant welfare agency.”

“At least in Europe, Socialist leaders are upfront about their objectives,” McCain added. But at a St. Louis rally, drawing 200,000 people, Obama portrayed taxes as a “values” issue, calling McCain “out of touch” for insisting tax cuts “for working people” amounted to welfare. McCain’s health care proposal uses a similar philosophy as Obama’s tax cuts, a non-partisan website says.