John McCain's communications team delves into a world of surrealism, wherein nothing is as it seems! The advertisement claims that "McCain and his Congressional allies led" while "Obama and his liberal allies [were] Mum on the market crisis."
Well, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke led, producing the first draft of the bailout plan. Obama's liberal allies, Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd, are now putting provisions in the bill to do all the things that McCain says he would do -- "Tough rules on Wall Street. ... Stop CEO rip-offs. ... Protect your savings and pensions" -- while McCain's congressional allies try to figure out if they can square the circle of supporting a huge market intervention. Question: Do the claims in this ad mean the largest socialist intervention in history was John McCain's idea?
As to his accusation that Obama was mum on the issue, as we saw last week, Obama issued a statement of principles that continues to be relevant as lawmakers debate the bailout, while McCain proposed a new agency that ... no one took seriously and isn't even part of the debate. Which one of these scenarios could be described as "no leadership"?
--Tim Fernholz
