Is John McCain Good For Business?

BusinessWeek:

How will corporate America react if John McCain lands the Republican nomination? For business, Senator McCain (R-Ariz.) is a candidate of contradictions. He initially opposed President Bush's tax cuts, but now supports making them permanent. He has crusaded against the influence of corporate lobbyists, yet has more K Street fixers raising money for his campaign than any other Presidential candidate. And he says he's a full-bore, free-enterprise capitalist even as he admits that he hasn't understood economics as well as he should. "He doesn't fit neatly into a box," says GOP pollster Whit Ayres, who is unaffiliated with a Presidential candidate.

McCain posted strong progress Feb. 5 in his quest for the nomination, winning a string of key states including Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, and Oklahoma. If corporate leaders do fall in line behind McCain's candidacy after Super Tuesday voting it will be somewhat grudgingly. In 2007, business tilted its support heavily toward McCain's last remaining rival for the GOP Presidential nomination, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Romney is certainly a more natural cultural fit for business: As a founder of the investment firm Bain Capital, he's had a successful career in the private sector, which he speaks of repeatedly on the campaign trail, telling audiences he has the economy in his DNA. As voters were going to the polls Feb. 5, Romney warned that the nation's fragile economy needs an experienced leader: "We see our economy getting weaker. People wonder how they are going to pay their bills, gas bills, heating bills," he said.

Read the whole story: BusinessWeek

Comments

[Dickey]

11:39 AM on 02/08/2008

Closing the Federal Reserve good for business?

[Dendroica]

09:42 AM on 02/07/2008

A couple of years ago, McCain gave an interview with the WSJ and stated that he needs to be tutored in economic realms.

In the debate with Romney, Mitt nailed him on that and McCain went all ballistic.

Shithead should never have said such nonsense to the WSJ. Next day the fact-checkers got on his case. He'd make a great commander in chief, he'd tell the papers his army's weaknesses in advance.

[WIpatriot]

08:04 AM on 02/07/2008

McCain, you still here??

[mamacat]

03:07 AM on 02/07/2008

This country needs a Democrat to fix the economy again. (Wealth for the super-rich really does flow uphill, in the long run. A healthy middle class is good for the nation.) Then, after things are looking better, again, the Republicans will come in, again, and ruin the economy and national defese. The cycle of Democrats building the country up, and Republicans tearing it down, has been going on for quite awhile now. Imagine how much better we all would be if Gore had won in 2000, or Kerry in 2004!

[Gary47]

12:45 AM on 02/07/2008

Well, if you're an undertaker in a predominately Muslim country with oil, then you bet!

[ConcernedAboutRFuture]

10:34 PM on 02/06/2008

NOOOOO!!!!!

[Tom95134]

10:09 PM on 02/06/2008

The real questin should be, "Is John McCain good for the country?" The answer would be a resounding, NO!

Just keep in mind that he will be 72 before he takes office and you better make sure that the VP is someone you can live with in the top office for the balance of the term and maybe another 4 years.

[forpeace]

10:00 PM on 02/06/2008

*

NO, McCain is good only for BOMBING and 100 Years WARS!

*

[WIpatriot]

09:28 PM on 02/06/2008

Can we get a new lead article? Please? Seeing McCain in the business section is starting to make me ill.

[ranchomerced]

09:11 PM on 02/06/2008

The question should be: would a socialist like Hitlery or Obama be good for business? Maybe initially; but the free market will eventially suffer when people become more and more dependent on the "Nanny State" these people bring...

[gcallaghan]

07:37 PM on 02/06/2008

Republicans = Military Failure

[peterg76]

07:26 PM on 02/06/2008

What is "good for business" supposed to mean? Good for the productive economy, which creates wealth, for the ultra-rich, who accumulate wealth unproductively, or the military-industrial complex, which squanders wealth?

John McCain is a good example of how the Republican Party can break someone whose POW captors couldn't. Someone get him some professional help.

[Hirnlego]

06:48 PM on 02/06/2008

Bizarro McCain about wars:

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2008/02/04/4166/

[joebaggadonuts]

06:11 PM on 02/06/2008

Since his position is generally uncertain and business hates uncertainty, I would say he's bad for business. Maybe good for the defense contractors, but for anyone else, not so good.

[Forest]

06:02 PM on 02/06/2008

John McCain's inconsistencies have been troubling but even more so his careless statements about threatening No. Korea with extinction and his obnoxious ditty to bomb-Iran. The US has suffered the results of this administration's careless talk and actions. We urgently need a mindful, experienced and intelligent stateswoman or man as our next President.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-welch1feb01,0,7490638.story