It's kind of odd of John McCain to deny ever having said that he's not that well informed about economics when he quite clearly has said that several times. What's more, while the admission is damning, it at least qualified as some of the straight talk for which McCain is legendary ("I may not make a very good president, but at least I'm willing to admit that electing me would be a huge mistake") now he's just a guy who doesn't know much about economics and also likes to lie about his own past confessions of ignorance.
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Straight Talk!
24 Jan 2008 11:51 pm
Comments (16)
Are we still talking about McCain as if he's anything but the last hope of a Republican crowd that shouldn't get elected dog catcher?
The fact that people seriously think he could beat Clinton or Obama merely demonstrates how fucked up the Democratic slate is.
By this time, we should be having riots in the streets at how fucked this country has become that the Presidential candidates include a lying, corrupt bitch married to a former lying, corrupt bitch, a slick-talking black guy whose claim to fame is that he forgets what he's voting for or presses the wrong button, and a bunch of ranting neocons on the other side who want to conquer the world no matter the cost to the taxpayer or their children.
I mean, Zod is looking better all the time compared to this lot:
http://www.zod2008.com/
"Vote for your ruler
When I first came to your planet and demanded your homes, property and very lives, I didn't know you were already doing so, willingly, with your own government. I can win no tribute from a bankrupted nation populated by feeble flag-waving plebians. In 2008 I shall restore your dignity and make you servants worthy of my rule. This new government shall become a tool of my oppression. Instead of hidden agendas and waffling policies, I offer you direct candor and brutal certainty. I only ask for your tribute, your lives, and your vote.
-- General Zod
Your Future President and Eternal Ruler"
Zod's Platform:
"Universal health care.
Even a criminal like myself is shocked that millions are not able to get health insurance and cannot pay for basic surgery. Who are these power brokers that allow the pigpen to become wormy and filthy? I demand your very lives, but I am not such an imbecile as to institutionalize suffering and poverty. You have my assurance that this shall change swiftly."
"Corporate reform.
You people have become disgusting minions to these things you call "corporations". These things take your money and your land, put you into debt, send your jobs overseas, provide you with unsafe foods, and sue you when you say anything bad about them. Yet you people fatten them up at the ballot box. You give them free land, name your stadiums after them, allow them to telemarket you, and even sacrifice your own bankruptcy protections. Quite frankly it astonishes me. I will break this sickly codependency. It is I who shall be your ruler. I shall empower you with wealth to give me as tribute. A corporation cannot bow to me or give me tribute that comes from the heart."
"Eliminate the Iraq War.
The Iraq War has shifted $187 billion to the defense industry. How is this "defense industry" to kneel before me? Are my praises to be sung as footnotes in their paperwork? You will stop giving these corporations your wealth. I suggest you put the money into your own schools and health care, so that I may have intelligent, healthy servants. I will indulge your wishes if you all want a Westernized, unpopular regime in Iraq, and I too shall gloat in its troubles, but it will not be done at my expense."
"You will buy U.S. made items. Why do you buy Chinese-made items when you know that it sells out the jobs of your family and friends? How will you buy those cheap things when you have no job? You are sending my wealth and tribute to foreign lands. I will not tolerate this."
We need a YouTube or something putting contradictory McCain utterances side by side...
I'm baffled that anyone thinks of this guy as a straight-talker after his entirely dishonest Baghdad dog-and-pony show last winter. To top it all off, he had the nerve to get angry with the reporters in Iraq who pointed out that he was full of shit.
This has nothing to do with the debate over whether/how the surge has worked. It's not ambiguous: he was flat-out lying about the situation in Iraq at that moment, not offering predictions about the future.
McCain and Giuliani fill the same niche--radical militarists who are called "moderate Republicans" simply because they buck GOP orthodoxy on a few high-profile domestic policy issues. US foreign policy kills a lot more people than US domestic policy. So I don't think it's appropriate to describe America's most enthusiastic advocates of unilateral violence as "moderate," even if they do say nice things about immigrants every once in a while.
It's certainly fair to hoist the straight talk express by its tailpipe on this one. The man is transparently lying about his past statements and his qualifications.
That said, is a nuanced understanding of economics something we think all the other candidates have? Especially on the Republican side, Giuliani is a supply-side myth maker and Huckabee is a barefoot loon. I'd take McCain over either of them (though not Romney) in an economics throw down--provided that such a thing exists. For the Democrats, Clinton and Obama were lawyers (and I believe Obama was a management consultant), so presumably they know a little about economics. Still, I'm not sure I'd confidently promote anyone as a real expert on the subject.
So the upshot of all that is that McCain's comparative disadvantage here seems to be relatively narrow. He made the mistake of characterizing his economic knowledge, and then he made the mistake of mischaracterizing it. If he had just dodged the question or STFU from the very beginning, I doubt he'd be having any problem at all--even if he is an economic ignoramus.
Should make a fine campaign ad that both torpedoes the Straight Talk legend and his competence for the job all at once.
How many of the poll respondents who pick McCain in national matchups with Hillary or Barack even know that he is quite happy with 50,60, or even 100 more years in Iraq? Will he be sending our troops back for their 9th or 10th tour?
McCain's negatives are yet to be fully exploited.
now he's just a guy who doesn't know much about economics and also likes to lie about his own past confessions of ignorance.
Four more years! Four more years!
From what I can make out teflon-Mitt may be harder to beat in the general. He can be anything and everything at the same time. McCain is a one trick pony – war, honor, valor, motherland. He clearly knows nothing about economics ... not even enough to bluff. So, for democrats eager for Mitt-mentum, be careful what you wish for.
Yeah, the 2000 campaign basically broke McCain, and now he's turned the keys to the campaign over to consultants and is sleep-walking through the primaries issuing one embarrassing statement after another. It is a sorry spectacle to watch.
But I'll still take him over Hillary without hesitation. At base he's a decent man who has been through the wringer and come out a bit worse for wear. She, on the other hand, is rotten to the core. And I'd lean toward him over Bloomberg, although I'd be open to persuasion on that front.
Yeah, the 2000 campaign basically broke McCain, and now he's turned the keys to the campaign over to consultants and is sleep-walking through the primaries issuing one embarrassing statement after another. It is a sorry spectacle to watch.But I'll still take him over Hillary without hesitation. At base he's a decent man who has been through the wringer and come out a bit worse for wear. She, on the other hand, is rotten to the core. And I'd lean toward him over Bloomberg, although I'd be open to persuasion on that front.
Basically, the following voting rule ought to apply:
1 - 0.5*(number of times votes for GW Bush)
It ought also to be the multiplier applied to your comment.
The bald-faced lie by McCain last night was troubling and stupid. His campaign people must have stressed to him recently never to admit weakness -- I doubt, however, they wanted him to lie about what he'd said.
Admitting that you don't really understand economics may not be a smart move politically, but it's a sign of wisdom to me. Economics is one of those bafflingly complex things only shallow people believe they truly understand -- the sort of people who reflexively demand an interest rate cut or other "stimulus" every time the economy shows signs of slowing. McCain wants to cut wasteful spending -- that's enough economic knowledge for a president, as far as I'm concerned. The myth of the president as the technocratic manager of the entire economy really needs to die.
Economics is one of those bafflingly complex things only shallow people believe they truly understand
Like economists!
St. John: I don't know anything about economics.
Russert: You said that you didn't know anything about economics.
St. John: No, I never said that.
Mitt: Next time, pin a note to his collar.
Scroll 48 minutes into the debate and watch for 2 minutes.
Ron Paul asks McCain an economics question and McCain makes it crystal clear that he cannot answer, but can only mouth very broad platitudes (cut taxes) and says 'he'll have help.'
McCain's not fit to be President. (FYI, since it seems necessary, I am in no way, shape, or form a Ron Paul supporter, he's just the one who happened to ask the question.)
Comments closed February 07, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
...and an old guy at that. He's looking old and not in a good way.
Posted by ed | January 25, 2008 12:32 AM