Richard J. Mundy, Las Vegas

Sat, Apr 26, 2008 (2:02 a.m.)

If you wanted to, you couldn’t find two politicians as close as President Bush and Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Forget for a minute that McCain will be 72 this year; look at their educational history. George W. Bush got into Yale only because his grandfather and father graduated from there, and John McCain got into the Naval Academy only because his grandfather and father were admirals — this fact supported by his finishing fifth from the bottom in his 1958 graduating class.

Then take a look at their views on the economy. President Bush wasn’t satisfied that the national debt when he took over was $5.7 trillion and being paid down.

Bush, supported by congressional Republicans, cut taxes, and now the national debt is a whopping $9.3 trillion and climbing. His clone, McCain, wants not only to make these tax cuts permanent, but also make further cuts.

McCain has proposed cutting corporate taxes from 35 percent to 25 percent. His suggestion to remove gasoline taxes during the summer months would save the average family $43 over three months, while causing immense problems for highway construction programs.

And, typical for a Republican, his proposed tax cuts exclude families making less than $25,000 a year. Faced with these realities, how can any intelligent person support McCain’s bid for the presidency?