Sure, fancypants Tim Fernholz with his education and knowledge of economic policy might think that the term "fundamentals of the economy" refers to markers like GDP or unemployment that economists generally use to understand how the economy is doing, but that's because he's a latte liberal who doesn't shoot moose or anything. John McCain on the other hand, understands that the term "fundamentals of the economy" refers to the strength and dedication of the American worker:
“My opponents may disagree, but those fundamentals of America are strong. ... Our workers have always been the strength of our economy, and they remain the strength of our economy today.”
Of course, by this measure, the fundamentals of the economy have always been strong, and will always be, unless McCain thinks that The Great Depression was caused by American workers simply becoming selfish layabouts. This definition also has the effect of labeling any criticism of how the economy is doing as a criticism of the American worker, much the same way as any critique of our Iraq policy is portrayed as slamming American soldiers.
In short, disagreeing with Republicans is unpatriotic. Disagreeing with John McCain, a former prisoner of war, is even more unpatriotic. Any questions?
UPDATE: Atrios beat me to it.
--A. Serwer
