McCain Is Really Being Helpful

[Tarheel]

I've been hatin' on Carter so much in another thread in this Forum I almost missed this really helpful, uplifting, and motivating piece about McCain on the economy.  Didn't he say something about not being an economist and not knowing much about the economy not too long ago?

This is really helpful John!  Thanks for your input! 

Does he even know what a recession is?  Here's the definition just in case:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession

All emphasis and sub-texts are my own.

McCain says he believes U.S. is in a recession
By Klaus Marre 
Posted: 04/14/08 11:03 AM [ET] 

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Monday that he believes the country is in a recession, adding that “these are very, very tough times in America.”

_{>>>Is it too much to ask for a politician to say something nice about America.  I mean we are the greatest and most generous nation on earth!}

“Americans are hurting today,” McCain said at an Associated Press forum in Washington, D.C. “They’re hurting in the towns and cities across America. They’re sitting around the kitchen table, saying, ‘Are we going to be able to make our home loan mortgage payments? Are we going to be able to -- do I have to try to get a second job? Can I keep my job? Why was I laid off?’”

_{>>>He can't possibly be talking about the sub-prime mortgage "crisis", can he?}

While McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, said he thinks the country is in a recession, he noted that he is more worried about helping people who are facing “enormous challenges,” rather than figuring out what the technical definition of a recession is.

_{>>>There...I knew he didn't know the definition of a recession!}

The senator indicated that both Congress and President Bush are partly responsible for the situation, but argued that others are also playing a role.

“I think that there’s plenty of that blame to go around, including very greedy people that happen to be in Wall Street today ... like the CEO of Bear Stearns who decided the day before he was bailed out by the federal government to cash in millions of dollar's worth of stock,” he stated, adding that there needs to be “a lot more accountability” on Wall Street.

_{>>>Yes, John, that is exactly what Wall Street needs (sarcasm).}

After reading these quotes from Sen. McCain I'm not clear on whether he really is a Republican.  I guess that he is better than the alternatives but why should he needlessly use that dreaded "R" word when it is not happening?  Does he really want to loose this election because this kind of talk will NOT help him win.  I'm really going to have a hard time voting FOR him this Fall.

Here's the link to the article:
http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/mccain-says-he-believes-u.s.-is-in-a-recession-2008-04-14.html

[kirkAU]

i agree with you, he's probably the best choice of the candidates.  If Hillary or Obama get elected, we will surely go in recession with all the government spending they propose and higher taxes they'll try to get through Congress (which is democratic at the moment)

I think much of the recession talk is generated by the Main Stream Media.  They constantly report on things such as: rising oil prices, the housing market, food prices going up, etc etc.  All of these things should be reported on, the American people should be informed.  But the media doesn't need to constantly "scare" people with recession chatter.  An average American constantly being bombarded with 'recession' talk will not spend as much money, and become more conservative with investments, spending, etc.  This slowing of monetary circulation slows the economy which can help push the country towards a true recession.  Multiply it by millions of Americans, and you have a slowing of the economy.  This is why Bush is giving everyone $600 this year from the tax thing, hoping everyone will go out and spend it, giving a jump start to the economy.  who knows if will work.

John McCain is probably jumping on the alarmist band wagon for now and then come later this year, (probably late summer) he'll start offering 'solutions.'  It will sound a lot like his Iraq "surge" bullshit when he said Pres. Bush's strategy wouldn't work, so he came up with the surge strategy, and wow, look, it is working.  We all know McCain didn't come up with the Surge, some General in Iraq thought it up, and McCain wants the credit for it.  Come August he'll say, "I recognized before (Hillary or Obama) that the country was heading towards recession, and now i'm offering strategy X. That's what I'll do as President, offer solutions."  It will probably work in getting him elected.

Reality and Politics can be two completely different things.

[Kaos]

i agree with you, he's probably the best choice of the candidates.  If Hillary or Obama get elected, we will surely go in recession with all the government spending they propose and higher taxes they'll try to get through Congress (which is democratic at the moment)

I think much of the recession talk is generated by the Main Stream Media.  They constantly report on things such as: rising oil prices, the housing market, food prices going up, etc etc.  All of these things should be reported on, the American people should be informed.  But the media doesn't need to constantly "scare" people with recession chatter.  An average American constantly being bombarded with 'recession' talk will not spend as much money, and become more conservative with investments, spending, etc.  This slowing of monetary circulation slows the economy which can help push the country towards a true recession.  Multiply it by millions of Americans, and you have a slowing of the economy.  This is why Bush is giving everyone $600 this year from the tax thing, hoping everyone will go out and spend it, giving a jump start to the economy.  who knows if will work.

John McCain is probably jumping on the alarmist band wagon for now and then come later this year, (probably late summer) he'll start offering 'solutions.'  It will sound a lot like his Iraq "surge" bullshit when he said Pres. Bush's strategy wouldn't work, so he came up with the surge strategy, and wow, look, it is working.  We all know McCain didn't come up with the Surge, some General in Iraq thought it up, and McCain wants the credit for it.  Come August he'll say, "I recognized before (Hillary or Obama) that the country was heading towards recession, and now i'm offering strategy X. That's what I'll do as President, offer solutions."  It will probably work in getting him elected.

Reality and Politics can be two completely different things.

In other words, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[kirkAU]

exactly...
what politician isn't self-serving or self fulfilling?
if there was one, he wouldn't be a politician, rather a statesman.

McCain's biggest problem with conservative voters...He is too damn moderate, he doesn't want to piss anyone off.  I think the only issue he is really hard-core about is the War on Terror and Extremist Islam.  Ofcourse a vast majority of Americans believe the same thing, big surprise.

[Tarheel]

i agree with you, he's probably the best choice of the candidates.  If Hillary or Obama get elected, we will surely go in recession with all the government spending they propose and higher taxes they'll try to get through Congress (which is democratic at the moment)

I think much of the recession talk is generated by the Main Stream Media.  They constantly report on things such as: rising oil prices, the housing market, food prices going up, etc etc.  All of these things should be reported on, the American people should be informed.  But the media doesn't need to constantly "scare" people with recession chatter.  An average American constantly being bombarded with 'recession' talk will not spend as much money, and become more conservative with investments, spending, etc.  This slowing of monetary circulation slows the economy which can help push the country towards a true recession.  Multiply it by millions of Americans, and you have a slowing of the economy.  This is why Bush is giving everyone $600 this year from the tax thing, hoping everyone will go out and spend it, giving a jump start to the economy.  who knows if will work.

John McCain is probably jumping on the alarmist band wagon for now and then come later this year, (probably late summer) he'll start offering 'solutions.'  It will sound a lot like his Iraq "surge" bullshit when he said Pres. Bush's strategy wouldn't work, so he came up with the surge strategy, and wow, look, it is working.  We all know McCain didn't come up with the Surge, some General in Iraq thought it up, and McCain wants the credit for it.  Come August he'll say, "I recognized before (Hillary or Obama) that the country was heading towards recession, and now i'm offering strategy X. That's what I'll do as President, offer solutions."  It will probably work in getting him elected.

Reality and Politics can be two completely different things.

I couldn't agree with you more regarding this fake recession that the Dems and the Main Stream Media are causing with their alarmist talk.  I was having lunch again today with my Democrat co-workers one of whom kept saying "I have never seen it this bad...never seen nothing like it...with the economy so bad, housing so bad, gas at $4.00 a gallon, and on, and on...all because of Bush and the Republicans".  Just a lot of bullshit I had to say.

The real economic problem is the weak dollar.   A stronger dollar would effectively cause lower fuel costs because it would be worth more on the global market in buying fuel.  High gas prices do affect everyone though and it is a tangible issue that will cause some problems for the Republicans this fall.  Because of the shrill drumbeat of bad economic news by the Main Stream Media the masses will blame President Bush and, by extension, his Party.

Of course, the other real problem is the sub-prime mortgage shituation.  At least my Democrat co-worker and I are in agreeance on no bailout.  I think based on McCain's speech on the economy yesterday he may be reversing direction on this issue in that he's opened the door for a bail-out program.

In this particular situation regarding McCain's strategy I do hope that you are right (that it will help him win); but I think that he's not helping himself at all; he's pushing the independents towards the Dems as an alternative.  It is only fortunate that the Dems are too stupid to realize that if they had a strong candidate they might be able to capitalize on the situation.  As it is they look like the buffoons that they are in running weak candidates like Obama and Clinton; and hopefully the confused electorate will vote for the real experienced candidate and not a junior senator.

What we Republicans need is a strong conservative candidate.  Conservatism is proven to work, it works every time; instead, we have just another politician (experienced as he may be) rather than a statesman.