"If you think those lobbyists are working day and night for John McCain just to put themselves out of business, well then I've got a bridge to sell you up in Alaska."
-- Barack Obama, 9/15/08
The McCain campaign yesterday briefly tried to claim that when McCain said "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" he was actually talking about American workers, and anybody who disagreed was attacking those workers. If you believe that, I've got some ad time to sell you:
The McCain campaign says McCain has a long record of calling for more regulation of financial institutions. If you believe that, I've got a "populist tone" to sell you...
New York Times: "On the campaign trail on Monday, Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, struck a populist tone. Speaking in Florida, he said that the economy's underlying fundamentals remained strong but were being threatened 'because of the greed by some based in Wall Street and we have got to fix it.' But his record on the issue, and the views of those he has always cited as his most influential advisers, suggest that he has never departed in any major way from his party's embrace of deregulation and relying more on market forces than on the government to exert discipline. While Mr. McCain has cited the need for additional oversight when it comes to specific situations, like the mortgage problems behind the current shocks on Wall Street, he has consistently characterized himself as fundamentally a deregulator and he has no history prior to the presidential campaign of advocating steps to tighten standards on investment firms."
Obama hit this theme in his policy address today, and also dismissed McCain's call for a "commission" as a stunt:
The McCain campaign also says McCain has expertise on the economy because of his chairmanship of the Commerce Committee, even though he's repeatedly admitted "I still need to be educated" on this top issue of the election, and even though he seems to have trouble remembering exactly what the Commerce Committee actually does. If you believe McCain's chairmanship somehow qualifies him on the economy, I've got a blackberry to sell you...
Politico: "Asked what work John McCain did as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate's top economic adviser wielded visual evidence: his BlackBerry. 'He did this,' Douglas Holtz-Eakin told reporters this morning, holding up his BlackBerry. 'Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce committee so you're looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that's what he did.'"
McCain says Gov. Sarah Palin "knows more about energy than probably anyone in the United States of America," and she claims "My job has been to oversee nearly 20 percent of the U.S. domestic supply of oil and gas." If you believe that, I've got 4 Pinnochios to sell you. She also told donors that at her Convention speech, "The teleprompter got messed up, I couldn't follow it, and I just decided I'd just talk to the people in front of me." If you believe that, I've got a Youtube of her teleprompter working just fine to sell you.
"If John McCain hadn't said that 'the fundamentals of our economy are strong' on the day of one of our nation's worst financial crises," Obama spox Bill Burton emailed reporters, "the claim that he invented the BlackBerry would have been the most preposterous thing said all week."
Jesse Lee is the Online Rapid Response Manager for the DNC, this is a daily update on the day's happenings which will continue through the election.