One Wisconsin Now

At the beginning of this month, Sen. John McCain made a stop (read “gimmick”) in Sturgis, South Dakota in an attempt to energize motorcycle enthusiasts, joking about tire gauges and getting some cheers after making hollow statements like “This is my first time here but I recognize that sound. It’s the sound of freedom and thank you for it.”

But the town of Viola, Wisconsin is in no mood to joke or cheer because just last week, S&S Cycle announced that it would be cutting 60 jobs, including 58 from its facility in Viola. The company’s president, Brett Smith, “blamed the economic slump for a downturn in sales” at a time when Sen. McCain believes “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”

Yesterday, the John McCain camp issued a press release in conjunction with a new ad touting Sen. McCain’s record on the environment. See the ad for yourself on the YouTube(s).

“Five years ago,” says the ad, “John McCain stood up to the President and sounded the alarm on global warming.” As proof of his maverickiness, the creators of the ad were able to scrape together just a single UPI article titled, “McCain climate views clash with GOP.” The article is actually less than a month old. The political director for the Sierra Club said Sen. McCain "is using the environment as a way to portray himself as being different from George Bush. But the reality is that he isn't."

Upon sitting out the vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) remarked that what women really need is “education and training.” Puzzling, because in 2007 Sen. McCain avoided the vote on the America COMPETES Act and voted against the College Cost Reduction Act. The America COMPETES Act promotes education in engineering, technology, and science—fields not typically pursued by women—and was supported by the American Association of University Women (AAUW). The AAUW also supported the College Cost Reduction Act—which aimed to increase Pell grant awards to restore the grant’s purchasing power and reduce subsidized student loan interest—given the fact that “because women are more likely to borrow money for college than men are and will earn less on average after graduation, female graduates are more likely to struggle with their loan debt.”