David Sirota: Maximizing McCain's Flip-Flop on Financial Regulation

[Larkspur]

Maximizing McCain's Flip-Flop on Financial Regulation

Last night on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow and I discussed John McCain's new rhetoric claiming he supports better financial regulation. But instead of focusing only on McCain's words, we examined the Arizona senator's career as a public official - and took a look at an issue that, until Sen. Sherrod Brown's statements today, no major elected Democrats have been willing to touch: the issue of McCain's formative regulatory experience coming as a member of the Keating Five pressing federal financial regulators to stop doing their job in advance of the S&L crisis. Though that crisis is the most analogous economic event to today's Wall Street meltdown, it is an issue that, until Sen. Sherrod Brown's statements today, no major elected Democrats have really touched.

McCain, as the S&L scandal first suggested, is no run-of-the-mill free-market fundamentalist. Yes, he voted for the ill-advised repeal of the key Depression-era law that might have prevented the rampant consolidation and speculation that brought on today's emergency. But, then again, Bill Clinton and his DLC Democrats supported it too. Yes, McCain's top economic adviser is Phil Gramm, the UBS investment banker who pushed through so much deregulatory legislation as a senator. But then again, Barack Obama's top economic adviser is Robert Wolf, Gramm's UBS boss.

Where McCain really leaps to the fringe and differentiates his extremism from others is in his use of the deregulatory label to publicly define himself. That's how you can really tell what a politician believes in.

SNIP

Sirota is my favorite progressive writer. I'm glad that Rachel Maddow has him on her TV show. As usual, David offers some real good advice on attacking McCain as well as warning us about some of Obama's flaws.

[Overseas]

1. K&R -- Yes please -- STOP the anti-regulation guy from pretending !

He's a tried and true Republican Deregulator. Glad Sherrod Brown spoke up and I hope others do too.

[Larkspur]

2. My brother from FL just emailed me and screemed...

Obama needs to focus on the ECONOMY, ECONOMY, ECONOMY......

He needs to STRONGLY attack the Republician administration for the last 8 years of this failed BUSHonomic that McCain would continue to perpetuate. The enemy is not Al-Quida but GREED from within this country and particularly the Republician party's failed economic policies.

I wholeheartedly agree with my brother.

Obama needs an ad showing McCain hugging Bush during Bush's privatizing Social Security tour and saying thank goodness we didn't listen to them and show picture of the stock market crumbling today.