Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Why conservatives worry about John McCain dept

There's trouble on Wall Street, and so as you probably heard, John McCain the last couple of days has talked of the need for more "regulation" there. Unfortunately I think Ramesh Ponnuru of NRO had it right today when he said:

"Senator McCain's embrace of "regulation" as the answer to Wall Street's ills is vacuous: He isn't telling us what rules he would put in place, let alone how those rules would have helped in the past or would help in the future. He is, so far, getting away with it because journalists treat "regulation" in the same content-less way."

Senator McCain will never be able to win a regulatory war, or spending/bidding war, with the Democrats. They will always be able to promise (and will be glad to promise) more regulation, more spending, than he will. He shouldn't even try. Otherwise the energy his base has gained in the last few weeks will be right out the window...