From The St.L Post Dispatch
Editorial

The Democratic candidates for president are working hard to convince voters that a John McCain presidency would be the equivalent of a third term for George W. Bush. Mr. McCain is making their job easier.

The Arizona senator and presumptive Republican nominee already shares the president’s views on the need to stay the course in Iraq. Now, as he begins rolling out his domestic proposals, Mr. McCain seems determined to echo the president there as well. Last week, he unveiled his cure for what ails the American economy: more tax cuts!

Not only does he want to extend the tax cuts Mr. Bush and the Republican Congress enacted in 2001 (parts of which he voted against in the Senate), but he also has some new ones all his own. It’s Bushonomics: The Sequel.

Mr. McCain proposes a summer-long suspension of the 18.4 cents per gallon federal gasoline tax. “The effect will be an immediate economic stimulus,” he said. That’s true; it will stimulate people to keep burning gasoline.

Gasoline prices averaged $3.41 in St. Louis on Friday because oil was at a near-record $114.82 per barrel. Mr. McCain’s gas tax holiday would save customers $3.68 on a 20-gallon fill-up. That’s in the short run. In the long run, it wouldn’t help at all.

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