McCain says he knows economy better than Democrats

[PA Democrat]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - John McCain on Thursday rejected criticism from his Democratic opponents over his experience on economic issues, saying that he understands the subject better than they do.

Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have ridiculed the Republican presidential candidate over his December comment that economics was not his strong suit.

"I know economics very well, certainly better than Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. So let's clear that up," McCain told CNN in an interview.

The Arizona senator said he had been very involved in economic policymaking as a former chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee and as a strong supporter during the 1980s of former President Ronald Reagan's tax cuts.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080403/pl_nm/usa_politics_mccain_economy_dc

Oh, great. McCain is a student of the Reagan/ Bush school of economics.

[sharesunited]

1. They are all getting a crash course in all of it. Barack needs to bowl more.

[sutz12]

15. Except the neo-cons skipped the 'course' part...

and skipped right on ahead to the 'crash' segment. :)

[tekisui]

2. He is all over the fucking place.

He says whatever he thinks the person in front of him wants to hear. How many times has he admitted he doesn't know shit about economics?? He is such a see-thru sell-out.

[butterfly77]

23. This reminds me how the republCONS and foxnews ....

pretending that they are outraged that the Democrats are saying that McCain said he would be in Iraq for 100 years, are they forgetting that we have seen the video?

[fascisthunter]

3. Didn't He Just Contradict Himself

I could have sworn he made a contrary assessment of his own knowledge of the economy. Republicans have got to be brainwashed to vote for this liar.

[PA Democrat]

4. John McCain: "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should."

Yes, he said that and when he realized how badly it played with the average he changed his tune.

But he is proposing making Bush's tax cuts permanent and will continue to allow the Pentagon to hemorrhage money. Not a good starting point.

[fascisthunter]

5. Thank You.... Do you Have a Link to an Article?

I assume you didn't remember that quote off the top of your head. If you did, I apologize in advance....

[PA Democrat]

7. It's in the article I linked in the OP.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080403/pl_nm/usa_politics_mccain_economy_dc

[fascisthunter]

8. Doh... Thank you, and Good Morning

[Lorien]

16. He has and he did. I've noted a few times here that my neighbor, a British

news service journalist, has been on the road with McCain's campaign for months. One of his "jaw dropping" interview moments occurred when he asked McCain what his plans were to help the ailing U.S. Economy. McCain's reply was (and I'm paraphrasing) "The economy isn't my thing. I'm not an economics guy. I leave that to other people". Steve (my neighbor) couldn't believe that such an answer would come out of ANY candidates mouth! He's iin Brazil right now, but when he gets back I'll ask him if he still has that item on tape in his office. Maybe I can post it here if he does.

[iamjoy]

6. Then Go Face Jim Cramer

OK, Senator - if you are such an expert on the economy, I dare you to go on Mad Money.

Hillary Clinton went on, and even though my husband is not a big fan of hers, he was quite impressed by how prepared she was and how confident and knowledgeable she seemed.

Cramer has extended an invitation to Obama and McCain as well...

Go on, McCain, I double dog dare you (oops, that's after your time).

[Javaman]

9. here is mcsames stance and insight on the economy...

"more of the same"

[Enrique]

10. flip-flopper

first he said he was an Econ moron, now he says he isn't.

[Stinky The Clown]

11. He knows banking. He learned it from this guy.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Funny. He's Never Demonstrated Any Knowledge Of It At All

What this guy knows about how the macroeconomy really works would not leave a thimble one-quarter full.

It's clear, that since he is promoting the status quo, when the evidence of the failure of those policies is glaringly obvious, that he knows nothing about that which he speaks.
The Professor

[PA Democrat]

17. Check out some of his statements from the Oct 9 Republican Presidential debate

This one made me laugh when I heard it live, although perhaps crying would have been a better reaction.

From BARTIROMO: Senator McCain, has Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke cut interest rates aggressively enough? Has Ben Bernanke cut rates aggressively enough?

MCCAIN: I don’t have the kind of expertise to know exactly whether he has cut interest rates sufficiently or not. And that’s why we put that responsibility in the hands of the head of the Federal Reserve.

MCCAIN: I do know that this nation has faced some pretty good blows in the last month or so with the credit crunch and the subprime lending. I’m glad whenever they cut interest rates. I wish interest rates were zero. But we leave those responsibilities to the smartest people we can find, and I think that so far he’s done a good job.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21221689/

There are some other equally misinformed remarks.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. What A DOLT!!!!!

And Bernanke is the smartest person they could find? I don't think they looked hard enough.
GAC

[Bigmack]

13. Gramm might be Treasury Sec...

should Mc win.

Typical Repub revolving-door corruption. Typical dogmatic and ruinous Repub worship of a "free market" economy that mean "free" for the crooks.

Remember, Gramm was the guy responsible for deregulation of a lot of the banking and investment entities that just went down the toilet. He led the fight to repeal Glass-Steagal.

And this is an economic advisor?

Krugman has a nice comment from January... http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/can-this-be-true/

And so does Huffpost.... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/21/short-on-economic-underst_n_82529.html

From Gramm's wikipedia entry....
"Gramm was partly caught up in the Enron scandal when it emerged that his wife Wendy had part written an exemption for Enron from federal oversight while she was serving on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. She then accepted a directorship at Enron. Gramm was personally involved further when it came to light that he had helped to turn the exemption into law as well as push through the deregulation of energy markets that led in part to the Enron scandal. During this period Enron was a major contributor to his campaigns."

[ReadTomPaine]

14. Yup. He's been casing the joint for years now.

[sutz12]

18. He probably plans to declare war on it...

Why not? We've declared war on everything else. :evilgrin:

[PA Democrat]

19. Bush is already waging an undeclared war on the economy as it is. Please

don't give McCain any ideas.
:dunce: <= John McCain on the economy.

[JBoy]

21. Gawd, what a childish remark to make.

I guess we'll find out during the GE debates, John. Better start practicing with George's earpiece.

[butterfly77]

22. Temper,Temper.

who does he think he's fooling:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Lone_Star_Dem]

24. And that is the best he's got?

Really? I'd love to put the thumbscrews to that man in a debate as to how he'd have handled the economy in the past 7 years differently than Bush. I'd also love to hear is comprehensive plan to fix our failing economy if he were to become president.

I cannot wait for our candidate to be facing McCain in some one on one forums. :D

[PA Democrat]

25. McCain: "I wish interest rates were zero."

You can't make this stuff up:

MCCAIN: I do know that this nation has faced some pretty good blows in the last month or so with the credit crunch and the subprime lending. I’m glad whenever they cut interest rates. I wish interest rates were zero. But we leave those responsibilities to the smartest people we can find, and I think that so far he’s done a good job.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21221689 /