Sen. Maria Cantwell Should Not Trust John McCain On Reinstating Glass-Steagall - Foreclosure Phil!

[TomCADem]

Repealing and rolling back Glass-Steagall is a good idea. However, Sen. Maria Cantwell should be careful about trusting John McCain who has been loudly making noise about how he is looking into the idea. Now, there is not actual bill on the table, but this has not stopped McCain from publicizing the fact that he is interested in the idea. Now, why would Senator McCain be so interested? Could it be because McCain is facing a conservative challenge in Arizona, and John McCain needs to put distance between himself and his past?

I am not talking about John McCain's role as a member of the Keating 5. Rather, there is John McCain's recent and ongoing connection with Phil Gramm, who has been known as John McCain's economic brain, as well as "Foreclosure Phil." John McCain likes to fashion himself as a deregulator, and it is now catching up to him, so he is making noise about Glass-Steagall. If push comes to show, John McCain will abandon any effort to repeal Glass-Steagall the way McCain abandoned his support of cap and trade as the Senate began to consider it.

http://motherjones.com/politics/2008/05/foreclosure-phil

Foreclosure Phil

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Who's to blame for the biggest financial catastrophe of our time? There are plenty of culprits, but one candidate for lead perp is former Sen. Phil Gramm. Eight years ago, as part of a decades-long anti-regulatory crusade, Gramm pulled a sly legislative maneuver that greased the way to the multibillion-dollar subprime meltdown. Yet has Gramm been banished from the corridors of power? Reviled as the villain who bankrupted Middle America? Hardly. Now a well-paid executive at a Swiss bank, Gramm cochairs Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign and advises the Republican candidate on economic matters. He's been mentioned as a possible Treasury secretary should McCain win. That's right: A guy who helped screw up the global financial system could end up in charge of US economic policy. Talk about a market failure.

* * *

Gramm's record as a reckless deregulator has not affected his rating as a Republican economic expert. Sen. John McCain has relied on him for policy advice, especially, according to the campaign, on housing matters. The two have been buddies ever since they served together in the House in the 1980s; in 1996, McCain chaired Gramm's flop of a presidential campaign. (Gramm spent $21 million and earned only 10 delegates during the gop primaries.) In 2005, McCain told a Wall Street Journal columnist that Gramm was his economic guru. Two years later, Gramm wrote a piece for the Journal extolling McCain as a modern-day Abraham Lincoln, and he's hailed McCain's love of tax cuts and free trade. Media accounts have identified Gramm as a contender for the top slot at the Treasury Department if McCain reaches the White House. "If McCain gets in," frets Lynn Turner, a former chief sec accountant, "we'll have more of the same deregulatory mess. I like John McCain, but given what I know about Phil Gramm, I wouldn't vote for McCain."

[TheKentuckian]

1. McCain is just talking crap. He's had no Saul of Tarsus moment

Remember that he hooked up with Teddy on immigration and then failed to vote for his own bill. He's just working on his bipartisan and responsible statesman rep but will never actually do squat of any worth for the people.

[TomCADem]

3. Exactly. If It Was Snowe Maybe, But McCain?

This is classic John McCain. He has preliminary talks with Senator Cantrell, but before a bill is even written or proposed, McCain starts taking a victory lap and claiming credit for his bi-partisanship. Where is McCain on cap and trade? If reinstating Glass-Steagall gains momentum, McCain will come up with a reason for opposing it.

[pscot]

2. Cantwell can probably take care of herself

n/t

[TomCADem]

4. Perhaps, But The Media Is Likely To Ignore Her and Feingold

For example, the Bloomberg article does not even mention Russ Feingold even though he is also involved. There two Democrats and one Republican, and McCain is getting top billing on DU's Breaking News thread despite McCain's past.

[rollingrock]

5. Repealing Glass-Steagull a good idea?

it has already been repealed, and look where it got us.