Chris Cox to John McCain: I'm not quite ready to go

Chris Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission targeted today for a pink slip by fellow Republican John McCain, plans to hang onto his job -- at least for a few more months, thank you.

Cox, whose public profile got raised exponentially when McCain called him out, issued a lengthy statement that said, in part:

"History will judge the quality of our response to this economic crisis, but now is not the time for those of us in the trenches to be distracted by the ebb and flow of the current election campaign.

"And it is precisely the wrong moment for a change in leadership that inevitably would disrupt the work of the SEC at just the wrong time. I have long made clear my intention to leave the SEC after the end of this administration. The next president will have an opportunity to look at the major structural questions so important to the regulation and oversight of our financial markets.

The McCain quote that grabbed attention -- "If I was president today, I would fire him" -- technically was a rhetorical flourish. Although named to his post by President Bush in 2005, once Cox was confirmed by the Senate he became his own boss on the independent agency. Realistically, however, a clamor by the nation's chief executive that he step aside would be hard to ignore.

In his statement, Cox said (using the accepted parlance of Washington) that, "While I have great respect for Senator McCain, we have sometimes disagreed, and this is one such occasion."

He continued:

"There is much more work to be done, and the current crisis is presenting new challenges on an hourly basis. What America and the world needs now is steadiness and reduction of uncertainty. ... I very much appreciate the strong and immediate support of the president.

"As someone who has been in public life for over 20 years, I know as well as anyone that occasionally this sort of thing can come with the territory. The best response to political jabs like this is simply to put your head down and not lose a step doing the best job you can possibly do on behalf of those you serve. For my part, I plan to do just that. I leave the political campaigns to pursue their own course."

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[egc52556]

Infighting among Republicans is indicative of the strain within the McCain campaign.

[jimh]

To Chris Cox: Why wait for history? I'll call you out for the piece of crap you are right now instead of waiting 20 years. So do you still believe that getting rid of the uptick rule and naked shorting was the great idea you thought it was in 2007? Classic croney republican that hews to personal loyalties rather than actually try to good for the most number of people. Number of dollars is more important than the number of people affected.

[Chuck Cardiff]

This Cox idiot is the guy who stood idly by and allowed naked short selling to create a liquidity crisis. Cox is a moron who couldn't manage the third shift at Burger King. McCain need not apologize for stating this obvious fact.

[Down Comforter]

Ouch

[Thomas Williams]

Does McCain even dress himself? So hard to be a right wing bootlick and a populist, all at the same time.

[kh]

McCain has already admitted his lack of knowledge regarding economic issues.

So, being President, he would charge in and seek to fire someone in the midst of a crisis - not knowing, apparently, that he would lack such direct power in the first place; not considering that firing someone at that level in the midst of a crisis might not be too bright an idea; not knowing, from anything I have seen, what this guy's precise role in the crisis has been and what he is now doing to avert it.

Could it be that Mr. so-called Maverick is just being a grandstanding politican making vapid comments illustrating, as he has been doing repeatedly the past month, what a desperate arrogant thoughtless tool he is?

And I say this, of course, with great respect for him as a soldier who was a POW 30 years ago. Thank you for your service Senator. But being a POW doesn't mean you know a darn thing about how to handle an economic crisis - and you are proving daily how clueless and thoughtless you truly are.

[Vernon Delights]

I would like to see McCain or Obama fire Cox immediately. (Hopefully McCain gets the honor.) I am a resident of Newport Beach and will let people know that Cox was a very bad congressman. I say this as someone who is staunchly Republican!

Chris Cox's wife Rebecca Cox was on the 1993 base closure commission that voted evict the United States Marine Corps from El Toro. The Marine Generals were very much against this. But the Irvine Company wanted El Toro closed so that they could add thousands of new homes to the noise buffer zone surrounding the base.

To the good people of Los Angeles who wonder why LAX and its surrounding freeways are clogged with (South) Orange County NIMBYs, you can thank Chris Cox for abusing his power to prevent El Toro International Airport from being opened for business. Even though the voters of Orange County had already voted TWICE for it to happen.

Cox delayed the Navy from releasing El Toro to Orange County for reuse as an airport and arranged for Lennar to buy the property for pennies on the dollar. Lennar has lost 2 billion dollars in the past year alone and CANNOT afford to finance the "Great Park" that was promised to gullible Orange County voters.

El Toro is a 10 billion dollar aviation asset that ALL the nation's taxpayers financed. They should have a chance to reuse it for their convenience.

eltoroairport.blogspot.com

[revolt!]

could it be that chris cox either owns treasuries or stocks or has buddies that do?
Seems like a manipulator to me.