I am repeatedly amazed that politicians (especially older ones, like McCain) don’t seem to get the fact that everything they say is now available on the Internet for instant review. That must be why they keep denying things they said against solid evidence to the contrary.
For example, McCain’s repeated statements that he doesn’t know much about economics:
- In December 2007 “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should. I’ve got Greenspan’s book.”
- In November 2005 to the Wall Street Journal “I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.” He repeated the same quote a month later in an interview with the Boston Globe.
- In 2000, during his run for the presidency, the (former maverick) McCain rejected “tax cuts for the rich” and said he had previously been in favor of supply-side economics because “he didn’t pay … attention to those issues in the past”. But now that he has clinched the Republican nomination, he has once again flip-flopped to become a born-again supply-sider, even though his (new) claims that cutting taxes for the rich stimulates the economy have been debunked.
- Carly Fiorina, one of his advisors on the economy, even acknowledged on Fox News that McCain has said that he knows little about economics “he did say it one time, no question, maybe twice.”
Pretty clear, yes?
So in an interview on Fox News last week, McCain was asked “Was it a mistake for you to suggest that overall your attentiveness to the economy is subordinated by national security?” His response was to claim that was a statement taken “out of context”.
And back in January, Tim Russert asked McCain about his “I still need to be educated” comment, McCain denied it, saying “I don’t know where you got that quote.”
Regardless of what he has said, it is clear that McCain doesn’t know much about economics. He still claims that he can save $100 billion a year by eliminating earmarks and pork-barrel spending, a claim that seems to be based entirely in fantasy.
