McCain Confuses SEC with FEC

Fumbling, again, some of his economic messaging, McCain confused the Federal Election Commission for the Securities and Exchange Commission during his speech on the housing and financial crises Friday morning.

Calling for SEC Chairman Chris Cox to step down, McCain declared: "I believe the chairman of the FEC should resign and leave office immediately."

It was the second straight day in which the Senator made a verbal flub. On Thursday he actually called for Cox to be fired, only to be reminded, via an ABC News report, that the president cannot axe the SEC Chairman.

That McCain would substitute FEC for SEC may seem like an innocent rhetorical misstep. But it plays into a broader criticism of the Senator: mainly that he is uncomfortable with matters pertaining to the economy. The FEC, after all, is a regulatory agency that deals with the financing of federal elections. The SEC is an independent agency that enforces federal securities laws and regulates the securities industry.

The rest of McCain's speech Friday morning, it should be noted, was as memorable as the gaffe. The Senator ripped Obama for his ties to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (both via campaign contributions and advisers). And he all but blamed the Illinois Democrat -- and his allies in Congress -- for the current crisis in the market.

As Senator Obama's leader in Congress memorably put it the other day -- and I quote -- "no one knows what to do." Perhaps given that reaction, it shouldn't surprise us that the Congressional leaders of this do-nothing Congress also said that they weren't going to take action until after the election, claiming that it wasn't their fault. I am hopeful that last night's discussions are a sign they have changed their mind and will take action soon. But any action should be designed to keep people in their homes and safe guard the life savings of all Americans by protecting our financial system.

...

Two years ago, I called for reform of this corruption at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Congress did nothing. The Administration did nothing. Senator Obama did nothing, and actually profited from this system of abuse and scandal. While Fannie and Freddie were working to keep Congress away from their house of cards, Senator Obama was taking their money. He got more, in fact, than any other member of Congress, except for the Democratic chairman of the committee that oversees them. And while Fannie Mae was betraying the public trust, somehow its former CEO had managed to gain my opponent's trust to the point that Senator Obama actually put him in charge of his vice presidential search.

Comments

[athenasword]

Retire now, dear old man. Save us, save yourself. Mabye save your party alot of embarassment.

[rj610]

all he has to do is hang around until the election. if he wins the extreme right will put a contract on him and their 'blank slate' puppet with the hot glasses can take over. she already let that slip the other day when she talked about the palin/mccain ticket. i think she inadvertently let the cat out of the bag.

[shep65]

Maybe McCain can find the FEC in South America where he is looking for Spain.

[jchflorida]

I'm an Obama supporter but Mccain is right on this one. Cox is another Brownie .

[rabprevent]

THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT OBAMA HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH COX, ANOTHER MCCAIN LIE

[AxelDC]

To be fair, John Sydney McCain III knows all about the FEC. He fought with it all summer to subvert the McCain-Feingold campaign finance laws for his own benefit.

[Coinyer101]

fire the FEC! waterbord 'em!

[ensure]

Barack Obama Rebounds in Polls as Economic Crisis Cites
http://www.sefermpost.com/sefermpost/2008/09/barack-obama--2.html

[TroubleNYC]

McCain's former economic adviser is ex-Texas Sen. Phil Gramm. On Dec. 15, 2000, hours before Congress was to leave for Christmas recess, Gramm had a 262-page amendment slipped into the appropriations bill. It forbade federal agencies to regulate the financial derivatives that greased the skids for passing along risky mortgage-backed securities to investors.

And that, my friends, is why everything's falling apart. That is why the taxpayers are now on the hook for the follies of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and now the insurance giant AIG to the tune of $85 billion.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/mccain_and_the_meltdown.html

[filo]

Thanks for this great post ! While I knew abbout Gramm and his deregulation, most people do not. I emailed this link to everone in my address book all over the country. I hope evryone here does the same to educate low information voters out there.

[filo]

I have posted this on other pages here today. My apologies for being repetitive.

Sung to the tune of Rain in Spain.

McCain's insane and going down the drain

I think he's lost it
By George he's lost it

[sbvpav]

it took how many "distortions" before the msm finally began calling out the good ol' lying gop's prevarifications for what they are - lies, lying, liars. how much longer now before the msm starts to seriously question john mccain's mental capacity? perhaps that is the point, as evidenced yesterday by palin's "slip of the tongue My administration." if the american voters are bamboozled one more time, and Lord help us, john mccain is actually elected, how long before he would have to step aside and the msm would be excoriating, "why didn't we see this before?"

[tigerakabj]

I'll say it again, I cannot wait for the debates. This guy is a joke. It won't matter if McCain has an ear piece, notecards, and/or the answers ahead of time, Obama is going to knock him out.

[rj610]

i think it will be fun though to read all about how great the republicans say mccain did. i can almost see tucker telling us that he won--probably already has his post debate speech written and ready to go.

heck they keep telling us how great palin is because she said no thanks to the bridge to nowhere (and kept the money for other nonsensical uses) and how she sold the plane (for a lot less than it was worth and then bills per diem for staying at her house) and how she fired the chef (but used $95,000 for her defense in the troopergate investigation). she is such a reformer. if they can sell that, they can sell a big win for mccain in the debates.

[littlelordfauntleroy]

at+this+point+am+willing+to+declare+McBush+not+mentally+fit
all+this+little+flubs+should+mean+something
if+you+dont+have+a+grasp+on+the+little+details?how+you+going+to+deal+with+complex+problems?

[kdublya]

McBush taking slings & arrows for GWB.

Oh well.

Obama | Biden '08

[Biracial1]

I'm speechless. Thanks goodness this was live coverage so that he can't say he didn't say it. Our standing in the world is going down daily.

[Toonadude]

Maybe someone can explain to McCain what FUBAR stands for.

[sbvpav]

thanks toonadude: i've been trying to remember that anachronism!

[kristycu]

I know Mccain doesn't want to start calling out people who workded for fannie & freddie- when he has the same people on his payroll- yeah he may have called for regulation 2 years ago, but so did Obama and- but Mccain is trying to make up for his mistake on the Keating 5 scandal- albeit 20 years later and for supporting his budy Phil Grams massive deregulation back in 2000 ish- he saw his mistake and said OH S****t and was like they are going to blame me- if that was so important of a bill of his how come he is just now saying something about it. he could have been talking abou this for months but he didn' t he was to busy talking abou not issue issues. And this from a guy who in one day go rid of about 20 lobbysist earlier this year because he was called out on it. give me a break