CLEVELAND — Republican John McCain promised to pivot from President Bush’s economic policies and impose strict controls on government spending that would spur investor confidence and the stock market’s recovery.

“I will protect your savings and retirement accounts and get this stock market rising again,” said McCain, after huddling with economic advisers and pledging a break with Bush administration policies.

Aides said that McCain’s call for cuts in the capital gains tax and tax breaks for seniors who invest would help the market rebound, a nod to the top issue on voters’ minds little more than a week out from Election Day.

“A stronger economy with greater investor confidence would help turn the stock market around,” said Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman. “That would help drive up stock prices and the market recover.”

In his closing argument of the marathon election, McCain tread a thin line between bashing Democratic rival Barack Obama and making clear that he would steer a different course than the current GOP administration.

“We both disagree with President Bush on economic policies,” McCain said. “My approach is to get spending under control. The difference between us is he thinks taxes have been too low, and I think that spending has been too high.”

His most dramatic claim was a pledge to turn around a plunging stock market. Most of the progress he promised would come from the economic stimulus sparked by big tax cuts he’s pushing, McCain said.

“I will create millions of jobs through tax cuts that spur economic growth,” McCain said. The capital gains tax cut he’s proposing would encourage investors, Bounds said.

Before he spoke, McCain met with economic advisers including former rival Mitt Romney and former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp. The event was designed to focus his message on the economic meltdown that has dominated the campaign and left him on the defensive. The downturn has helped boost Obama to a lead in the polls, both nationally and in key battleground states like Ohio.

“The difference between myself and Sen. Obama is my plan will create jobs, it’s a difference of millions of jobs in America,” McCain said. “My approach will lead to rising stock market prices, a stabilized housing market, economic growth and millions of new jobs.”

Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton responded, “A day after John McCain said that he agreed with George Bush’s economic philosophy, he continued to parrot the same failed policies that give billions to billionaires and big corporations while providing no relief at all to more than 100 million middle-class Americans.”

McCain’s meeting with economic advisers came as polls show him trailing Obama, with most Americans deeply worried about the direction of the economy. For weeks McCain has been seeking to distance himself from Bush and his economic policies and he made that break complete in the nation’s industrial heartland. Obama has tried equally hard to tie McCain to Bush, repeatedly citing McCain’s 90 percent support for Bush in Senate votes.

At a rally in Dayton, McCain continued to criticize Obama.

“That’s what change means for the Obama administration, it means taking your money and giving it to someone else,” said McCain. He ridiculed Obama’s argument that his tax plan was based on fairness.

“There’s nothing fair about driving our economy into the ground and we all suffer when that happens,” said McCain. “We’ll cut business taxes to help American jobs and keep American business in America.”

McCain opposed another economic stimulus package and said he would instead seek to bring spending under control. He made clear the advisers he met with would be part of his administration and it would steer a far different course than Bush.

McCain described an economic stimulus plan under discussion in Congress as “another $300 billion spending spree they are calling a stimulus plan.”

“I would rather give the great American middle class additional tax cuts and let you keep the money and invest it in your future,” said McCain.

McCain repeated his proposals to cut taxes for those who hold stocks for at least a year, and end requirements that force people to take money out of retirement accounts during the market’s downturn.

He also said he would toughen rules governing the financial markets.

“I will demand complete transparency into the accounts and activities at all banks and insurance companies so they cannot take on the kind of risk that brought down the financial system,” said McCain. “We will have strict rules of conduct on Wall Street and if they are broken, executives will be severely punished.”

While he voted for a $700 billion rescue package for the financial sector, McCain said “the government will get out of the banking business fast” if he’s elected.

Dayton, Ohio

It’s great to be back in Ohio. We need to win Ohio on November 4th, and with your help we’re going to win here, and bring real change to Washington, DC.

It’s been a long campaign and we’ve heard a lot of words, and great campaign trail eloquence. The amazing thing is that we’ve learned more about Senator Obama’s real goals for our country over the last two weeks than we learned over the past two years. It is amazing that even at this late hour, we are still learning more about Senator Obama and his agenda. He told Joe the plumber right here in Ohio he wants to quote “spread the wealth around.” It’s always more interesting to hear what people have to say in these unscripted moments, and today we heard another moment like this from Senator Obama.

In a radio interview revealed today, he said that one of the quote — “tragedies” of the civil rights movement is that it didn’t bring about a redistribution of wealth in our society. He said, and I quote, “One of the tragedies of the Civil Rights movement was because the Civil Rights movement became so court-focused I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change.”

That is what change means for Barack the Redistributor: It means taking your money and giving it to someone else. He believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs. He is more interested in controlling wealth than in creating it, in redistributing money instead of spreading opportunity. I am going to create wealth for all Americans, by creating opportunity for all Americans.

We’ve all heard his campaign trail promise: he says he only wants to tax the rich. But these unscripted moments and his record tell a different story. He supported the Democratic budget plan passed just this year that called for raising taxes on people making just 42,000 dollars per year. And Senator Obama has voted 94 times for tax increases or against tax cuts.

Senator Obama may say he’s trying to soak the rich, but it’s the middle class who are going to get put through the wringer, because even the tax increase he admits to misses the target. To pay for nearly a trillion dollars in new government spending, his tax increase would impact 50 percent of small business income in this country, and the jobs of 16 million middle class Americans who work for those small businesses.

Whether it’s Joe the Plumber here in Ohio or the working men and women across this country, we shouldn’t be taxing our small businesses more as Senator Obama wants to do, we need to be helping them expand their businesses and create jobs. America didn’t become the greatest nation on earth by giving our money to the government to “redistribute.” In this country, we believe in spreading opportunity, for those who need jobs and those who create them. And that is exactly what I intend to do as President of the United States.

My opponent’s massive new tax increase is exactly the wrong approach in an economic slowdown. The answer to a slowing economy is not higher taxes, but that is exactly what is going to happen when the Democrats have total control of Washington. We can’t let that happen. We need pro-growth and pro-jobs economic policies, not pro-government spending programs paid for with higher taxes.

This is the fundamental difference between Senator Obama and me. We both disagree with President Bush on economic policy. The difference is that he thinks taxes have been too low, and I think that spending has been too high. Senator Obama’s priority is not to get spending under control, it is to spend more, and if he has to tax you to do it, he’s shown in the past that he doesn’t have a problem with that.

We cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: spending ourselves into a ditch and hoping that the consequences don’t come. We need to get our government under control, and we need to get our economy moving again. We have to act. We need a new direction, and we have to fight for it.

I’ve been fighting for this country since I was seventeen years old, and I have the scars to prove it. If I’m elected President, I will fight to shake up Washington and take America in a new direction from my first day in office until my last. I’m not afraid of the fight, I’m ready for it.

I’m not going to spend $750 billion dollars of your money just bailing out the Wall Street bankers and brokers who got us into this mess. I’m going to make sure we take care of the working people who were devastated by the excesses of Wall Street and Washington.

I have a plan to hold the line on taxes and cut them to make America more competitive and create jobs here at home. We’re going to double the child deduction for working families. We will cut the capital gains tax. And we will cut business taxes to help create jobs, and keep American businesses in America. Raising taxes makes a bad economy much worse. Keeping taxes low creates jobs, keeps money in your hands and strengthens our economy.

If I’m elected President, I won’t spend nearly a trillion dollars more of your money. Senator Obama will. And he can’t do that without raising your taxes or digging us further into debt. I’m going to make government live on a budget just like you do.

I will freeze government spending on all but the most important programs like defense, veterans care, Social Security and health care until we scrub every single government program and get rid of the ones that aren’t working for the American people. And I will veto every single pork barrel bill Congresses passes.

If I’m elected President, we’re going to stop spending $700 billion to buy oil from countries that don’t like us very much. Senator Obama will argue to delay drilling for more oil and gas and against building new nuclear power plants in America. If I am president, we will start new drilling now. We will invest in all energy alternatives — nuclear, wind, solar, and tide. We will encourage the manufacture of hybrid, flex fuel and electric automobiles. We will invest in clean coal technology. We will lower the cost of energy within months, and we will create millions of new jobs.

Let me give you the state of the race today. There’s eight days to go. We’re a few points down. The pundits have written us off, just like they’ve done before. My opponent is working out the details with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid of their plans to raise your taxes, increase spending, and concede defeat in Iraq. He’s measuring the drapes, and he’s planned his first address to the nation for before the election. I guess I’m old fashioned about these things I prefer to let the voters weigh in before presuming the outcome.

What America needs now is someone who will finish the race before the starting the victory lap … someone who will fight to the end, and not for himself but for his country.

I have fought for you most of my life, and in places where defeat meant more than returning to the Senate. There are other ways to love this country, but I’ve never been the kind to back down when the stakes are high.

I know you’re worried. America is a great country, but we are at a moment of national crisis that will determine our future.

Will we continue to lead the world’s economies or will we be overtaken? Will the world become safer or more dangerous? Will our military remain the strongest in the world? Will our children and grandchildren’s future be brighter than ours?

My answer to you is yes. Yes, we will lead. Yes, we will prosper. Yes, we will be safer. Yes, we will pass on to our children a stronger, better country. But we must be prepared to act swiftly, boldly, with courage and wisdom.

I’m an American. And I choose to fight. Don’t give up hope. Be strong. Have courage. And fight.

Fight for a new direction for our country. Fight for what’s right for America.

Fight to clean up the mess of corruption, infighting and selfishness in Washington.

Fight to get our economy out of the ditch and back in the lead.

Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.

Fight for our children’s future.

Fight for justice and opportunity for all.

Stand up to defend our country from its enemies.

Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. America is worth fighting for. Nothing is inevitable here. We never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.

Now, let’s go win this election and get this country moving again.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain continued his criticism of Sen. Barack Obama’s tax plan before a raucous crowd of 4,000 at Denver’s National Western Arena.

“After months of campaign-trail eloquence, we’ve finally learned what Sen. Obama’s economic goal is. As he told Joe the plumber back in Ohio, he wants to quote ’spread the wealth around,’ ” McCain said. “Just this morning, he said it again. He believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs.”

The first of McCain’s three Colorado stops Friday began with introductions by two former Broncos. John Lynch and John Elway warmed up the crowd to ear-splitting applause.

Elway said McCain knows how to show “leadership and sacrifice for the good of the team.”

Turning to the candidate, he said “It’s the fourth quarter, and some have counted you out. But I know a thing or two about comebacks.”

Elway urged everyone to vote. “We need to put someone in the White House who puts country first.”

Early in the event, protesters disrupted McCain’s speech. A small group was chanting and egging on security while the crowd responded with chants of “USA, USA.” Security finally removed the protesters.

McCain returned to his remarks, saying: “We’ve already seen a preview of their plans. It’s pretty simple and pretty familiar: tax and spend. When the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee (Rep. Barney Frank) says that they are going to, quote, ‘focus on an immediate increase in spending,’ we should take him at his word. And when he says that there are, quote, ‘a lot of very rich people out there whom we can tax,’ it’s safe to assume that means you.”

McCain also took time to praise his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who made her own trip to the state Monday.

McCain touched on another theme he has been hitting this week ‚Äî Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden’s remark that if elected, Obama will be “tested.”

“The next president won’t have time to get used to the office,” McCain said. “We face many challenges here at home and many enemies abroad in this dangerous world. This weekend, Sen. Biden guaranteed that if Sen. Obama is elected, we will have an international crisis to test America’s new president. We don’t want a president who invites testing from the world at a time when our economy is in crisis and Americans are already fighting in two wars.

“Yesterday, Sen. Obama tried to explain away this warning by saying that his running mate sometimes engages in ‘rhetorical flourishes.’ That’s another way of saying that he accidentally delivered some straight talk.”

McCain reiterated his intention to freeze government spending on “all but the most important programs, like defense, veterans care, Social Security and health care until we scrub every single government program and get rid of the ones that aren’t working for the American people.”

And, acknowledging that he may have an uphill battle to fight in the final week of the campaign, he vowed to fight for every vote.

“I know you’re worried. America is a great country, but we are at a moment of national crisis that will determine our future,” he said. “Will we continue to lead the world’s economies or will we be overtaken? Will the world become safer or more dangerous? Will our military remain the strongest in the world? Will our children and grandchildren’s future be brighter than ours?

“My answer to you is ‘yes.’ Yes, we will lead. Yes, we will prosper. Yes, we will be safer. Yes, we will pass on to our children a stronger, better country. But we must be prepared to act swiftly, boldly, with courage and wisdom.”

McCain’s speech ended with a football coach-like call to arms.

“Now, let’s go win this election and get this country moving again,” he said to thunderous applause.

The crowd that packed the arena was enthusiastic. Wearing white plastic cowboy hats and waving signs that read “Cowgirls for McCain” and “Don’t spread the wealth. Let Joe keep his dough,” the excited crowd ‚Äî spanning in age from a few months to senior citizens ‚Äî clapped hands to “Johnny be Good” and chanted, “We want John.”

Tom Rowland, 42, and his wife drove from Castle Rock to see McCain today. Rowland said he doesn’t believe that government is the answer to the country’s problems.

“John McCain is the ‘empower the people’ kind of candidate,” he said. Turning to Obama, Rowland said he didn’t like his tax plan, which he said “takes tax money from people paying taxes and gives it those who don’t.”

“It’s the very definition of socialism,” he said.

McCain and Palin have said during the past two weeks that Obama’s economic plans resemble socialist policies. It’s a message that appears to be working.

When asked why he likes McCain, Chris Vaughan, a small business owner and U.S. Marine, said: “Well for one thing, he isn’t a socialist.”

Vaughan also said that he doesn’t think Obama has the kind of experience McCain has and that his “trickle up” economic policy won’t work.

“McCain has the right experience. He’s run a clean campaign with no contradictions. Obama says one thing one place and says another somewhere else,” he said.

Kati Ansay and Carolyn Fuller, both 14, took a day off from school in Centennial to come see McCain with Fuller’s father.

“Obama’s really ridiculous. He’s like a socialist,” said Fuller.

Both girls said they supported McCain because he’s “pro-life” and is willing “to help the middle class.”

“This whole notion that I am shifting to the center or that I’m flip-flopping, or this or that or the other. People who say this apparently haven’t been listening to me.”- Barack Obama 7/8/08

Really?

Quite a flip-flopper does he make.

June 08- When addressing the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee, “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided.”

-In an interview less than 24 hours later, “Well, obviously, it’s going to be up to the parties to negotiate a range of these issues. And Jerusalem will be a part of these negotiations… My belief is that, as a practical matter, it would be very difficult to execute.”

Oct 07- Obama says, “I won’t wear that pin (referring to the American flag lapel pin) on my chest, instead I’m gonna try and tell the American people what I believe will make this country great and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism.”

-A few months later, Obama began wearing the American flag lapel pin regularly.

April 08- Obama says, “I would be very interested in pursuing public financing…”

-June 08- A statement posted on his website, “We’ve made the decision not to participate in the public financing system for the general election.”

March 08- Obama, “As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. I can no more disown him than I can the black community.”

-May 08- “Michelle and I told Reverend Otis Moss that we were withdrawing as members of Trinity.”

“I will bring this war to and end in 2009.” And on another occasion, “I opposed this war in 2002, that’s why I will bring this war to an end in 2009.”

-July 08- “I’ve always said that the pace of this withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability.”

Obama has always been a strong supporter of gun restrictions, until the Supreme Court struck down the Washington DC handgun ban.

-June 08- “I have said consistently that I believe the second amendment is an individual right.”

July 08- “I believe that change comes not from the top, down, but from the bottom, up. And few are closer to the people than our churches, our synagogues, our temples, and our mosques.” Vowing that he would expand Bush’s faith-based initiatives, which supplies tax money to religious groups that provide community service. However, this is the same program that liberals have been complaing about for years. Maybe not an obvious flip-flop, but one to watch for sure.

July 07- Obama promises to meet with leaders of state-sponsors of terror without preconditions.

-After much heat from both parties, Obama retracted his position saying he would have these meetings only if it could “advance the interest of the United States.”

Feb 08- When asked if he would renegotiate the NAFTA agreement he says, “I will make sure we renegotiate the same way Senator Clinton talked about. And I think that on this one Senator Clinton is right. I think we should use the hammer of potential opt-out as leverage…”

-July 08-When asked by Fortune magazine to clarify his position, he said he didn’t plan to unilaterally reopen NAFTA and replied, “I think that sometimes during campaigns the rhetoric gets overheated and amplified…Politicians are always guilty of that, and I don’t exempt myself.”

So, from one who spouts “Change!”, it looks like, in the words of Sean Hannity, “the only thing he’s going to change is his mind” in order to say whatever will get him elected.