MORE McCAIN-ONOMICS….This is amusing. A couple of Politico reporters called some of the 300 economists who “enthusiastically support” John McCain’s “Jobs for America” plan and found that their support was somewhat less enthusiastic than advertised:
In interviews with more than a dozen of the signatories, Politico found that, far from embracing McCain’s economic plan, many were unfamiliar with — or downright opposed to — key details. While most of those contacted by Politico had warm feelings about McCain, many did not want to associate themselves too closely with his campaign and its policy prescriptions.
….Constantine Alexandrakis, a professor at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, expressed second thoughts about signing. “I would describe myself as an Obama supporter,” he explained. “Maybe I shouldn’t have rushed into signing the letter.”
Maybe he shouldn’t have! As for the others, it turns out that they merely signed on to a brief statement of intent (low taxes, low spending, free trade, etc.), not the 15-page number-free plan that McCain released on Monday. So there’s no telling how much of his plan they actually support.
Now, this is good sport, to be sure, but there’s also a serious side to this stuff. Somebody who’s not me ought to start dialing up the other 280+ signatories and find out just how much of McCain’s plan they really support. Do they think the current Social Security funding mechanism is a disgrace? Are they in favor of a gas tax holiday? Do they think his multi-trillion tax cut will increase revenues? Inquiring minds want to know.
