Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) joined a chorus of Republican talk radio critics in blasting President Obama’s American Jobs Act bus tour this week as a taxpayer-funded jaunt through two key election states, Virginia and North Carolina.
“In 2008 when I ran for president, I didn’t need a bus paid for and built by the taxpayers of the United States,” McCain said Tuesday on the Senate floor before delivering prepared remarks about a hold-up to the Defense authorization bill over Guantanamo Bay language.
McCain first ran for president in 2000 when his Straight-Talk Express bus tour helped his underdog candidacy gain notoriety and attract a swarm of media attention.
Previous presidents running for re-election have sometimes blurred the lines between campaign activities and official public duties — but never so blatantly, McCain argued.
“Never have any of us seen the type of activity the President has been engaged in it – that’s the wrong thing to do,” McCain said. “The campaign should be paying for this North Carolina trip he’s doing.”
As TPM first reported earlier this year, the Secret Service purchased Obama’s bus, nicknamed “Ground Force One,” and outfitted it with security protections at a total cost of $1 million. The U.S. government will provide the GOP presidential nominee with a similar bus.
“How do you justify that?” McCain asked. “…The GOP nominee may not want the bus.”
Obama campaign raised a reported $86.2 million so far this year and has $61.4 million in cash on hand.
