Reid likens McCain to Hoover

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid likened John McCain to former president Herbert Hoover on Tuesday, as the Democratic outrage continued over McCain’s statement that the fundamentals of the economy are strong.

“John McCain woke up yesterday, surveyed the state of the U.S. economy, summoned the ghost of his fellow Republican Herbert Hoover and declared — and I quote — ‘the fundamentals of our economy are strong,'” Reid said on the Senate floor.

“For whom are the fundamentals of the economy strong?”

Speaking at a rally on Monday, McCain repeated his assertion that the fundamentals of the economy are strong, despite the latest turmoil on Wall Street. McCain did acknowledge the trouble in the financial markets and vowed to reform Wall Street, but it wasn’t enough for Democrats, who have pounced on the statement.

Reid then went on to read a quote from Hoover, who has become a favorite punching bag of the Democrats of late, for his insistence that the economy was on solid ground throughout most of the Great Depression.

“On the morning of October 30, 1929, President Herbert Hoover woke the day after the biggest one-day stock market crash in American history, surveyed the state of the U.S. economy and declared — and I quote — ‘The fundamental business of the country … is on a sound and prosperous basis,’” Reid said.