Given the disasters unfolding on Wall Street with Merrill Lynch and Lehman Bros. I think it's worthwhile to revisit some of the noteworthy lies statements that McCain made regarding his plans for and understanding of Wall Street during his bid for the GOP nomination.
You may well remember his somewhat startling admission in December of last year:
"The issue of economics is something that I've really never understood as well as I should."
But did you recall this?
"I've never been involved in Wall Street, I've never been involved in the financial stuff, the financial workings of the country, so I'd like to have somebody intimately familiar with it," he said of a potential vice president.
"All of us bring strengths and weaknesses to an office and you want to compliment your weaknesses," he said. "That's not an admission of failure, it's just the best way to govern."
Given that statement, don't you think someone should ask John McCain to please explain how mothermoosehuntermaverick Sarah Palin shores up his Wall Street credentials and helps him govern in this unstable economy?
Now in this piece, sure McCain flack Tribune reporter Jill Zuckman does her due diligence to sugarcoat McCain's shortcomings understanding finances (despite being a former chair of the Senate Commerce Committee and without mentioning at all his ties to the Savings and Loan scandal), but I think the truth still does manage to shine through -- that truth being McCain has little comprehension of or interest in economics -- even if of course he'll later try to cover that truth back up again.
When it comes to his vice president, McCain said he could envision giving the vice president responsibility to oversee certain policy matters much the way former President Clinton gave telecommunications issues to former Vice President Al Gore.
That subject area might be the economy, an area McCain said he has never been completely comfortable with.
"The issue of economics is something that I've really never understood as well as I should. I understand the basics, the fundamentals, the vision, all that kind of stuff,'' he said. "But I would like to have someone I'm close to that really is a good strong economist. As long as Alan Greenspan is around I would certainly use him for advice and counsel."
I guess since McCain has Greenspan giving advice he didn't really need to shore up that area with his veep pick after all so maybe Sarah's off the hook and was just needed to shore up his mother and moose hunter credentials (he's got "maverick" covered).
Oh wait. What's that you say? Greenspan is advising that McCain's economic plan is all wrong?
Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan in April endorsed Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., saying, "I'm Republican and I support John McCain, who I know very well and who I respect a lot."
But Greenspan today told Bloomberg's Al Hunt that he cannot get behind McCain's proposed $3.3 billion in tax cuts, saying "unless we cut spending" the nation cannot afford cuts that big.
"Unless it's paid for on the so-called pay-go, I'm not in favor of it," Greenspan said. "I'm not in favor of financing tax cuts with borrowed money.''
Hmmm. Maybe McCain's tax cuts aren't such a good idea. But hey... after all... the fundamentals of the economy are strong...
so the U.S. economy can handle it, right Alan?
Oh they aren't and we can't?
The United States is mired in a "once-in-a century" financial crisis which is now more than likely to spark a recession, former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan said Sunday.
The talismanic ex-central banker said that the crisis was the worst he had seen in his career, still had a long way to go and would continue to effect home prices in the United States.
"First of all, let's recognize that this is a once-in-a-half-century, probably once-in-a-century type of event," Greenspan said on ABC's "This Week."
Asked whether the crisis, which has seen the US government step in to bail out mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, was the worst of his career, Greenspan replied "Oh, by far."
"There's no question that this is in the process of outstripping anything I've seen, and it still is not resolved and it still has a way to go," Greenspan said.
Sounds like we can't afford more of the same. But if he doesn't have a vice president who understands Wall Street and he won't listen to Greenspan, who will he listen to?