Democrats flail at John McCain's comment on economic fundamentals

As word circulated that John McCain -- even while acknowledging Wall Street's financial meltdown and the additional worries that has caused many Americans -- picked this morning to once again express his confidence in the "fundamentals" of the U.S. economy, the sense of Democrats getting ready to pounce was palpable.

Predictable sarcasm and criticism came from Joe Biden, speaking in Michigan, and shortly thereafter from Barack Obama, appearing in Colorado.

But other segments of the Democratic message machine also went into overdrive to flog McCain. And as typical of what to expect for as long as they can breath life into the matter, we pass along a release from Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois (the ex-Bill Clinton aide, at right, who in the 2006 election helped catapult Democrats into the majority in the House).

The release noted that McCain's remark about the economic fundmentals "came one day after former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said America was in a 'once-in-a-century' financial crisis." With that set-up, Emanuel's offered this:

John McCain keeps proving just how out of touch he really is. Last week, he said he was 'divorced from the day-to-day challenges people have.' Today, he said 'the fundamentals of our economy are strong.' All the while, unemployment is up, costs are rising, incomes are declining, and Alan Greenspan says we're in a once-in-a-century financial crisis. Only George Bush and John McCain can say the economy is strong and keep a straight face."

Bush, by the way, weighed in today on the Wall Street tumult after providing no comment over the weekend. He stressed the positive, as The Times' Countdown to Crawford blog reports.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Bloomberg News

Comments

[sangjmoon]

The savings and loans debacle, the sub-prime loan mess, and the current collapse of brokerage firms have their root in one thing - the attempt to mask investment risk. By allowing investment companies to mask the riskiness of their investments either by repackaging bad loans or relying on the backing of the government have only replaced short term risks and smaller downturns with big ones that come less frequently. It is time to remove the abstraction and let the riskiness of investments become naked for all to see without any significant assurance of the government bailing them out. Let each bad loan and investment fail and hurt those who made them directly. Forget all this layer of bureaucracy that tries to hide or push back the bad news. If you are looking for the ones to blame for setting us up for failure, just look at congress including Obama, Biden and McCain.

[Martin, GA]

on economy /energy Obama/Biden

[PulSamsara]

WHY would America REWARD complete Republican FAILURE ?

Why ? Why would we ?

Never mind your spin ! The GOP IS to blame for this god-damned mess. Deregulation in the financial sectors have led to this mess. As for the 'housing crisis' - see Bush speech 5 years ago about how deregulation has led to great gains in home ownership... Yes- and now home foreclosure. Great Job!

[derek89]

Even McCain and Palin are at odds... even while he says the fundamentals are strong, she says that they're all wrong and they're going to change everything about Wall Street...
he says, she says, opponents, partners or cover all bases?....

[Connie in Texas]

"long as they can breath life into the matter" - should be breathe. Thanks!

[Inkfingers]

Democrats 'flail' but Bush 'stressed'?

Biased writing. I resent it mightily.

[lucy2008]

Mr. Don Frederick,

What is your point? Your article appears to be flailing. Huh?

[Graniteman]

What exactly did McCain by good economic fundamentals? Compared to Europe, the US has a hardworking labor force (including immigrants), innovative small businesses, physical room to grow, domestic energy reserves (if the government permits us to tap them), the best universities and researchers in the world, etc., etc. Wall Street has brought us another financial crisis, yes. But that doesn't mean the US economy as a whole is in the toilet.

[dan]

The democrats have to claim everything is horribly wrong ...so they can claim they are the only hope to fix it. So when McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound they have to attack him as being wrong.

The only thing I see that needs to be addressed is for the dems to get out of the way and stop delaying a comprehensive energy plan that includes all resources currently available to us and to get out of the way of free markets and let them resolve the housing problem.

It don't matter to me, if McCain gets elected investments into our economy will continue. If Obama gets elected we will quickly return to a Jimmy Carter economy where instead of investments we saw it tied up in CD's paying 20%.

If Obama is elected I can not only wait out the four years before he is replaced, but I can safely increase my wealth without risk that comes with investment. So I will say sorry in advance to those I would have hired...but with the Obama tax plan you can always be retrained in caulking windows and filling tires with air in his government retraining program.

[Anand]

Where was congress when all this was going on?
Don't they share any responsibilities?

[Michael]

Wise up people - the Republicans had eight years of power - and look where we are.

If you look up history you will see the economy allways does best with a Democrat in the White House.

Reagan, Bush 1 and 2 were all "fiscal conservatives" and we had huge deficits.

With Bill Clinton we had prosperity and a surplus, from a "tax and spend liberal"

McCain says hes a "fiscal conservative" too.

[Lou]

This is a strange report--is it spin or what?

Democrats "flail" and "flog"--their readiness "with predictable sarcasm" to "pounce was palpable"...

Why is the main point here to unflatteringly typify the Democratic response?

McCain makes remarks from the looney bleachers and most of the language in your report takes not-so-subtle swipes at his critics.

Here's an idea: report McCain's remarks, report the Democratic response, and later even the McCain campaign's pushback, etc.

You know. Journalism.

But keep the instant cynicism-spin to yourself.

[Rob]

America has all but crumbled under Republican incompetence and corruption. Yet, the polls indicate that Americans have not learned a single thing in 8 years. Let McCain and his incompetent barbie have the presidency. It may as well be Mickey Mouse or anyone else. Let McCain, the senile old man inherit the mess that Bush and his corrupt Republicans have created. Good bye USA!!

[lucy2008]

For the post by sanjmoon,

He is simply in error. Mr McCain has been in Congress for 26 years without addressing this and over the time period when the republicans mostly controlled the Executive and Congress. You are hardly being honest.

In January 2008, the Congress is finally Democratic which means that they can override a veto potentially. However, the Republicans are quite active with the use of fillibuster. Only this election in process, will the Democrats take the Congress to the point that the fillibuster won't be the problem. Senator Obama has done an exceptional job in the Senate considering this Republican control and has worked in a bipartisan manner with many.

The problems with WallStreet, banking, etc. can hardly be blamed on Senator Obama.

Senator McCain who has always been a Republican was in a better position to put forth reform with his own party. This however did not happen with Senator McCain and the Bush/Cheney Administration and Republican Congress.

Please, if we have dialog let's be a little more honest and imaginative.

[Brad]

Exactly, sangjmoon. All the politicians' recommendations will make things worse, not better.

[Omidal]

How out of touch Mcsame can be. He still believes the fundamentals of our economy are strong. If you are like jhon Mcain who has 9 houses and a net worth of more than 100 millions dollars, then you can feel free to say the same thing. People are losing their homes and their jobs, businesses are failing right and left, and this guys has been so detached from our realities that he has the gall to run on change. What is he going to change? He already agreed 100% with Bushism policies and plan on continue that trend. Only stupid people with no rational behavior will continue to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. The Choice is clear. We must change course otherwise America are bound to become a third world country in just one short generation.

[Andrew Austin]

So he's supposed to rant about imminent economic collapse and send the citizenry into a panic?

Are Democrats now telling Americans that the country is in a depression?

[Frank Dlugoleski]

Anybody remember that Bush had tried to rein in both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the last two years and he was thwarted by, guess who? Yup, a Democratic controlled congress. Let's see . . . that would include Obama and Biden. Let's all check and see how McCain voted, shall we. You do realize that these two weren't the only problem but they do represent the dam cracking.

[Don]

Seriously? You title you article to demean the various democrats' responses to John McCain's obvious out of touch statement? You are a sham of journalist, Don Frederick. NOT fit to call yourself objective. You and all the other sham journalists are a big part of the fall of our democratic system. Try investigative reporting without your personal bias for once. REPORT THE NEWS!!!

[SamS]

I guess people missed the 3.3% GDP growth last quarter and record exports. Bill Clinton generated surpluses with a Republican Congress. A perfect example of how Checks and Balances work well in this country. See the Dollar's rally lately and falling oil prices? Unemployment is at 6.1% just a hair above the "natural" unemployment rating of 5.5-5.7.

Get a grip. Some of you have short memories. The recession of 1991 and the 1970s was much worse.

I guess you forget about NAFTA under Mr. Clinton that began the outsourcing movement and record low interest rates..

Sorry can't blame the Republicans for everything. Mr. Greenspan had a hand in this, stupid Wall Street firms had a hand in this, and extremely stupid individuals who had this "Buy now Pay Later" mentality had the biggest hand in this.

Those Wal Mart low prices come from somewhere you know...CHINA...

[Mandelay]

Looks like the Democrats are even willing to fuel a financial panic in order to win. What was it that Marxist king of the community organizers taught? "By any means necessary?"
Country first ... Nobama!

[Joe]

If you had as many houses as McCain does, would you think that times were tough? McCain is the kind of guy who, when told that people have no bread to eat, is sure to reply, "let them eat cake!"

[Jim Sweet]

To: Don Frederick

You really ought to try to hide your pro-McCain bias better. Nice verb choice: 'flail at' vs. "savage," "rip," "cut," or "tear into." You're a hack.

[Rob]

The reporter's prejudice (as pointed out by some commenters) aside, I keep reading how people point a finger at the current Democratic majority in the House and Senate and say, "so what are they doing to change things?" These are people who probably did not do their homework in American History class. If there are 41 or more Republicans in the Senate, and they vote in lock step (which they pretty much do), they can block any legislation by threat of a fillibuster. Without a 60 vote count, the Democrats (who don't have 60 Senators) cannot pass anything the Republicans block. That means only bills that are innocuous will be passed by this Congress. Anything substantive will be blocked. Some may argue that this ensures bipartisan cooperation, prevents "radical" legislation from being passed. But, it hamstrings the government from passing legislation that may help homeowners caught in the sub-prime mortgage horror show, or meaningful energy legislation. So, stop blaming Democrats. It is the 40+ Republican "robots" who block any significant legislation. And, by the way, even if Barack Obama wins, unless the Democrats pick up enough new senators to overcome that 40+ opposition, you're not going to see a whole lot of change without the Democrats energizing people to complain to their senators about their blocking tactics. That's a long shot.

[Rob D]

This is an unbiased report? To me, it is an extreme example of fully discredited YELLOW journalism. I have lost my respect for the Los Angles Times and what passes for it's editorial staff for letting this slanted piece to get through their editing. It belongs in the editorial section or wrapped around a dead fish.