9-11-08, 9:59 am

LANSING, Mich. – In a speech to the Michigan Democratic Party convention, held here last weekend, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) criticized John McCain's claim to be more experienced than Barack Obama for the presidency.

Levin agreed. 'George Bush, Dick Cheney, and John McCain do have a lot of experience,' he said.

But that experience hasn't proven beneficial to working families or the country in general, he suggested.

'They're experienced at running our national debt up to $10 trillion for our children and our grandchildren,' he said.

To thunderous applause, Levin said, 'Oh they're experienced at sitting idly by while 3 million manufacturing jobs leave the country.'

John McCain and George W. Bush, Levin added, are experienced at trying to privatize Social Security, 'to turn it from a safety net to a slot machine.'

They're experienced at passing free trade agreements like NAFTA, he went on, that have 'turned a trade surplus with Mexico into a $75 billion dollar trade deficit.'

Levin then turned to Iraq and hammered Bush and McCain again. 'They're experienced at getting us into a war,' he said, 'with no plan to get us out. And they're experienced at keeping us there at a cost of $11 billion a month.'

Levin pursued the subject further. The Bush administration and John McCain are experienced at sending billions of dollars to rebuild Iraq while the Iraqi government 'is sitting on an $8 billion budget surplus from their oil revenue, much of which comes from us paying $4 a gallon for gas.'

Levin recalled McCain's unswerving support for Bush administration policies, and said, but the rest of us 'cannot afford four more years.'

Levin also criticized John McCain's claim to be a candidate of change. The same John McCain, Levin said, who supported George W. Bush's policies that have caused growing unemployment, open-ended commitments in Iraq and economic recession.

'What the Republicans are offering America is warmed over soup that made us sick the first time we tasted it,' Levin told an energetic crowd.

John McCain promised to bring change to Washington, Levin concluded, 'so let's make sure he makes good on that promise by electing Barack Obama president of the United States.'

View a video of portions of Levin's speech here.