Matt Ortega

Take the Bush-McCain Challenge. Can you tell them apart?

Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) tried to counter charges from Democrats that his candidacy is offering a third Bush term in the infamous Green Monster Speech. Unfortunately for John McCain, he argued about his strident support for President Bush three years ago. Since that interview, according to Congressional Quarterly, McCain sided with the President 89 percent (2006), 95 percent (2007) and 100 percent (2008) of the time in the U.S. Senate.

Not a whole lot of “distance” there.

Senator Lindsay Graham (R-South Carolina) appeared on the Sunday morning ABC News program, This Week with George Stephanopoulos and discussed the presidential candidacy of fellow Republican Senator John McCain.

Think Progress blogger Benjamin J. Armbruster provides the background:

In a widely-ridiculed speech last Tuesday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) noted that “you will hear from my opponent’s campaign in every speech, every interview, every press release that I’m running for President Bush’s third term. You will hear every policy of the President described as the Bush-McCain policy.” He added that he believes those comparisons are “false.”

But it seems that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), McCain’s chief surrogate and attack dog, disagrees. Today on ABC’s This Week, Graham stated unequivocally that McCain’s tax and health care policies were not only an extension of Bush’s polices but also an “enhancement.”

Watch the segment:

Just last week, top McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin attempted to cast Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois), the presumptive Democratic nominee, as offering a third Bush term. The charge, laughable on its face, prompted Republican operative Robert Novak to exclaim “how stupid it is.”

It is unclear what, if anything, the McCain campaign messaging is beyond “I’m not George W. Bush; I am independent of the special interests — honestly; Sunni, Shi’a, Tomato, To-mah-to; and, no really, I do understand economics.”