Wash. Post reported voter's concern that Obama “will raise taxes” without noting Obama proposes cutting taxes for low- and middle-income families
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A Washington Post article on young evangelical voters stated that one such voter is “leaning toward [Sen. John] McCain because she shares his economic views and is afraid that [Sen. Barack] Obama will raise taxes,” but did not note that Obama has proposed cutting taxes for low- and middle-income families, or that McCain's own chief economic adviser has reportedly said it is inaccurate to say that “Barack Obama raises taxes.”
In an August 15 article examining the political opinions of young evangelical voters, Washington Post staff writer Krissah Williams Thompson wrote that one such voter is “leaning toward [Sen. John] McCain because she shares his economic views and is afraid that [Sen. Barack] Obama will raise taxes.” But Williams Thompson did not also report that Obama has proposed cutting taxes for low- and middle-income families, and McCain's own chief economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, has reportedly said it is inaccurate to say that “Barack Obama raises taxes,” as Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted.
A recent analysis of the candidates' tax plans by the Tax Policy Center found that “Senator McCain's tax cuts would primarily benefit those with very high incomes,” while “Senator Obama offers much larger tax breaks to low- and middle-income taxpayers and would increase taxes on high-income taxpayers.”
From the August 15 Washington Post article:
[Jonathan] Merritt weighs less esoteric questions as overseer of the College & Single Life ministry at his father's Cross Pointe Church, which has 1,750 attendees each Sunday. The young adults meet in a room decorated like an urban loft, with dim lighting, brown leather couches and patches of wallpaper that look like exposed brick. One recent Sunday, Merritt spoke on being judgmental.
“The church has a bad reputation for being judgmental, worrying more about what people wear to church than the fact that they are coming to church,” he earnestly told the group of about 20.
The students agree, and they say some of it has to do with a politicizing of their religion. They feel the tension of their competing interests.
“I went to school with a lot of agnostic people and after Bush, they were like 'no'” to religion, said Brittany Kelley, 22, who recently graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design. She is leaning toward McCain because she shares his economic views and is afraid that Obama will raise taxes. But in a lowered voice she said she does not feel the way some of the other young evangelicals do when it comes to all social issues.
“I have a lot of friends who are homosexual, and if they wanted to get married, that's okay,” Kelley said. “They are not going to stop it because it is illegal.”