"McCain's Bad Acronym." Also, he doesn't know what his own committee does

McCain commits economic gaffe, uses wrong acronym for Investor Protection Corporation.

During a speech in Tampa today, John McCain demonstrated again that the economy is not something he understands as well as he should. He twice incorrectly referred to the “SPIC,” when intending to refer to the SIPC (the Securities Investor Protection Corporation) — a corporation that “return(s) customers’ cash, stock and other securities” if a brokerage goes bankrupt. Watch McCain’s gaffe:

(Video: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/16/mccain-commits-gaffe/">McCain's Bad Acronym)

McCain called the “SPIC” a regulatory agency. In fact, as Andrew Jakabovics explains, SIPC’s own website states that it is “neither a government agency nor a regulatory authority.” He writes, “For a man concerned about protecting the average American from Wall Street greed, (McCain) seemed not to know who plays what role.”

Update During a second campaign rally in Vienna, OH, McCain repeated his gaffe, referring to the SIPC as the "SPIC" multiple times.

McCain doesn’t know what his own committee does.

With Wall Street’s financial institutions in turmoil, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) argued in a today that his experience on the Senate Commerce Committee meant he knew “how to fix this economy.” “I understand the economy. I was chairman of the Commerce Committee that oversights every part of our economy,” McCain told CNBC’s Squawk Box. Watch it:

(Video: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/16/mccain-commerce-committee/">McCain claims Commerce Committee oversees entire economy)

But, as the Washington Post points out, the Commerce Committee doesn’t oversee “every part of our economy,” let alone “the very areas now in crisis“:

In fact, it is the Senate Banking Committee that has oversight of “banks, banking and financial institutions; control of prices of commodities, rents and services; federal monetary policy, including the Federal Reserve System; financial aid to commerce and industry and money and credit, including currency and coinage.”

According to its Web site, the Commerce Committee oversees 13 areas, beginning with the Coast Guard, and continuing through “regulation of consumer products and services … except for credit, financial services, and housing” — the very areas now in crisis.

It’s not that surprising that McCain is confused about the Commerce Committee’s economic responsibilities, considering that he freely admits, “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”