McCain and Palin: All talk, no action on the economy

Yesterday at a joint rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, McCain and Palin had some more insults to lob and even less ideas to share about the economy. The barbs came flying from both McCain and Palin:

McCain: "My opponent sees an economic crisis as a political opportunity instead of an opportunity to lead."

Palin: “He likes to point the finger of blame, but does he ever lift a finger to help?”

These two are getting to be a really bad comedy routine. Obama actually has an economic plan, what is McCain's plan? How is McCain leading on the economy? Instead of providing details, he and Palin talk about "fixing it" and "firing" people. I think the public deserves something more specific and productive than that.

McCain doesn't appear to have a plan or even a grasp of the basics. He said on Monday that the foundation of our economy is strong, he isn't clear what the Commerce Committe does, even though he was Chairman, and he thinks he can fire the head of the SEC, even though he can't. In his sabber-rattling style, McCain blamed the Security and Exchange Commission for being "asleep at the switch" adding if he were president, he would fire Chris Cox, the chairman of the SEC:

"The regulators were asleep, my friends. The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the president. And in my view has betrayed the public trust. If I were president today, I would fire him."

The president nominates the SEC chair and the Senate confirms the appointee, but a commissioner of an independent regulatory commission cannot be removed by the president. The courts have upheld the independent status of these commissioners, like in 1935 when FDR fired a member of the Federal Trade Commission and the Supreme Court ruled the president acted unconstitutionally.

Not that the Constitution has ever gotten in Bush's way, and perhaps McCain is ready to run ramshod through it too.