Senator Deregulator

As if the current "economic meltdown" weren't (alliteration alert) distressing, depressing, or debilitating enough, it is discouraging that the man who threatens to be the next President of the United States appears not to have learned anything from it.

In an interview on September 21 with John Harwood on CNBC, John McCain was asked about the impact of the current financial crisis upon his plans to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy:

HARWOOD: Would you concede, then, that you could not achieve your goal of balancing the budget in your first term with this huge bailout added?
MCCAIN: I believe we can still balance the budget.

Never mind that the cuts would cost the Treasury more than two million dollars over the next decade; bestow 58% of its benefits to the top 1% of taxpayers; and continue the shift of the tax burden from investment income onto earned income; lead to increased sheltering of income.

On the "Sixty Minutes" episode aired on Sunday, 9/21/08, interviewer Scott Pelley and John McCain discussed the deregulation impulse which has led to the virtual collapse of the American banking system:

Pelley: In 1999 you were one of the senators who helped pass deregulation of Wall Street. Do you regret that now?
McCain: No, I think the deregulation was probably helpful to the growth of our economy.

And on MSNBC on September 22, McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds got into this exchange with the network's David Shuster (transcript from crooksandliars.com) about former Texas Senator Phil Gramm:

BOUNDS: …Let’s talk about tissues. Let’s talk about honesty and which candidate is going to shoot straight with the American voters. And when Barack Obama says that John McCain has chosen Phil Gramm to be Secretary of Treasury when this election isn’t even over, and he is not advising this campaign, he is lying. And when you talk about it with me over national air, I don’t understand why we’re doing it.
SHUSTER: You can make it clear right now. Can you assure that John McCain will not pick Phil Gramm as Treasury Secretary if John McCain wins the election?
BOUNDS: He is not even an adviser on this campaign, David. I don’t know where the sorts of rumor mills come from.
SHUSTER: Why don’t you put them down…
BOUNDS: But I think they come from the Obama campaign, straight to you, straight to us on air.
SHUSTER: Well, Tucker, you can make your point better just to say Phil Gramm-John McCain has told me Phil Gramm will not be Treasury Secretary under any circumstance in the McCain administration.BOUNDS: It is an absurd thing to say. It would be as if I was to say Franklin Raines would head up the Housing and Urban Development wing for Barack Obama.
SHUSTER: Right, but the difference, Tucker, the Obama campaign said that will never happen and I have yet to hear you say -
BOUNDS: If I were to make that allegation, you’d call it a lie. You’d call it a lie and I’m not making it , but Barack Obama is.
SHUSTER: Tucker, Tucker. The difference is the Obama campaign will tell us flat out he will not be part of the Obama administration. I still haven’t heard you say Phil Gramm will not be part of a McCain administration.
BOUNDS: It is inherently true. He stepped down from this campaign. He is not advising the campaign. I mean, these are the sorts of absurdities that we’re talking about and it is all because Barack Obama gets away with saying things are not true and then people believe them to be some way based in fact. It is absurd.
SHUSTER: All right. Tucker, spokesperson for the McCain campaign. Pleasure as always.

Shuster gave Bounds at least four opportunities to say that the U.S. Senate's leading advocate of deregulation in the 1990's will not be part of a McCain administration, presumably Treasury Secretary, and Bounds chose not to address the issue, suggesting that Gramm isn't going away.

Intermittently, John McCain has played the populist card, railing against Chris Cox one day, corporate greed the next. However, his record belies such rhetoric, which would be welcome if it were thoughtful, focused, or sincere. Unfortunately, it's just the flavor of the moment for a candidate who has never found an issue (except, arguably, the surge) he can't be on both sides of.