McCain defends proposal on tax cut

Says deficits not top priority now

John McCain says tax cuts would bolster the economy.

WASHINGTON - Republican John McCain said yesterday that cutting taxes and stimulating the economy are more important than balancing the budget, and he accused Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama of supporting tax increases that would worsen the impact of a recession.

"The goal right now is to get the economy going again," said McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, on ABC's "This Week." He added that he would put the country "on a path to a balanced budget" by attacking wasteful spending.

McCain conceded that it was probably a mistake to seek and accept the endorsement of televangelist John Hagee, who has denounced the Roman Catholic Church. The Arizona senator said he has condemned Hagee's remarks.

McCain also criticized Obama's response to questions about his own relationship with William Ayers, a 1960s-era radical who in an interview published on Sept. 11, 2001, said he didn't 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.

McCain appeared on the talk show as the Democratic National Committee said it would begin running a cable television ad tomorrow challenging McCain on the economy. The ad shows McCain saying the country overall is "better off" than it was eight years ago and ends by asking viewers, "Do you feel better off?"

The Republican National Committee said the ad is misleading.

McCain will spend this week visiting economically struggling areas to show Americans that he is a different kind of Republican. The trip is part of an effort to build support among independent voters before the November election.

He will travel to the "Black Belt" of Alabama; the Appalachia region of Kentucky; the hard-hit steel town of Youngstown, Ohio; and Hurricane Katrina-stricken New Orleans.

In yesterday's interview, McCain rejected Democratic assertions that he is out of touch on the economy and reiterated a pledge to cut taxes even if it means increasing deficits. He said Clinton and Obama are the misguided ones for proposing tax increases during a recession.

Both Clinton and Obama support higher taxes for people earning more than $200,000 a year. Obama also has said he wants a capital gains tax higher than the current 15 percent.

McCain said he has a solid economic plan, centered on extending Bush administration tax cuts, which he once opposed. Clinton and Obama would reverse those tax cuts.

Blaming federal spending for the economic troubles, McCain pledged to "scrub every agency of government" of wasteful expenditures and close loopholes.

McCain also said he would not hold off on tax cuts if Congress didn't approve his spending cuts and declined to make a pledge to balance the budget by the end of his first term in office. "When economies are rough, then you've got to reduce the tax burden on people," he said.