Context for Journal Entries: I'm in the process of compiling all the columns/articles written by "conservatives" either (a) against McCain/Palin, or (b) for Obama/Biden. While these articles are often posted in Editorials or Other Articles, or other forums, they're included/mixed in with the many articles on other topics. My goal is to create a "set" of conservatives against McCain/for Obama in one place, so I'm posting all I can find in my journal. McCain's Scapegoat By: Editors, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 19, 2008 John McCain has made it clear this week he doesn't understand what's happening on Wall Street any better than Barack Obama does. But on Thursday, he took his populist riffing up a notch and found his scapegoat for financial panic -- Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
To give readers a flavor of Mr. McCain untethered, we'll quote at length:
***(see
article for complete quote)***
"The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the President and has betrayed the public's trust. If I were President today, I would fire him."
Wow. "Betrayed the public's trust." Was Mr. Cox dishonest? No. He merely changed some minor rules, and didn't change others, on short-selling. String him up!
Mr. McCain clearly wants to distance himself from the Bush Administration. But this assault on Mr. Cox is both false and deeply unfair. It's also un-Presidential.***
While he was at it, Mr. McCain added the wholly unsupported assertion that "speculators pounded the shares of even good companies into the ground." It wasn't very long ago that he blamed speculators on the long side for sky-high oil prices. Then oil prices fell. Now Mr. McCain wants voters to believe speculators are responsible for driving mismanaged financial companies to ruin.
The irony is that this critique puts Mr. McCain in the same camp as some of the Wall Street CEOs who have led their firms so poorly. They also want someone (else) to blame.***
In a crisis, voters want steady, calm leadership, not easy, misleading answers that will do nothing to help. Mr. McCain is sounding like a candidate searching for a political foil rather than a genuine solution. He'll never beat Mr. Obama by running as an angry populist like Al Gore, circa 2000. Per other DU-ers' requests, I'm cross-posting links to these articles in the Research Forum: Conservatives Against McCain/Palin and Conservatives For Obama/Biden.