SMRs and AMRs

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

McCain’s 5 Stages of Grief over the Economy

By: Jon Perr on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
from CrooksandLiars

The implosion of Wall Street last week resulted in a near-death crisis for John McCain’s presidential campaign. His post-Palin bump eviscerated, McCain was staggered by the re-emergence of the economy as the dominant issue in the 2008 election. His daily-changing positions revealed that McCain, a man who has repeatedly admitted his ignorance of economics, is struggling to cope with his diminished presidential prospects. Armchair psychologists might call the process John McCain’s five stages of grief over the economy.

Denial. McCain’s refusal to confront the realities of the failing Bush economy has long roots and was again on display last Monday. McCain, who has frequently described the economic slowdown as “psychological,” for at least the 18th time proclaimed the “fundamentals of our economy are strong.” As the Dow plummeted over 500 points, McCain reacted to the white-hot crisis on Wall Street by comically announcing his support for a 9/11-style commission to study the causes of and make recommendations to address the meltdown. Willing to kick the can down the road with his since forgotten 9/11 panel idea, McCain also took a head-in-the-sand position in opposing the government rescue of teetering insurance giant AIG:

“We cannot have the taxpayers bail out AIG or anybody else.”

Anger. Sadly, McCain’s denial of the obvious produced an immediate backlash from the press and the public alike. Literally within hours last Monday, McCain reversed course on the underlying strength of the American economy and declared the fundamentals of the economy to be “at great risk.”

Then John McCain did what he does best - he got mad.

(Unsurprisingly, McCain also launched a furious tirade in response to accusations 20 years ago about his Keating Five role during the last U.S. financial catastrophe.) Redefining “economic fundamentals” to refer the U.S. work force, McCain blasted his “opponents” for slandering American workers. By mid-week, McCain found a convenient - if unconstitutional - target for his rage, SEC chairman Chris Cox.

(Continued here, with multiple hotlinks.)

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