On Monday morning, as the nation was waking up to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the buyout of Merrill Lynch, John McCain continued his steady migration into obliviousness, declaring that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

Obama's campaign rightly plasters him for it:

"Today of all days, John McCain's stubborn insistence that the 'fundamentals of the economy are strong' shows that he is disturbingly out of touch with what's going in the lives of ordinary Americans. Even as his own ads try to convince him that the economy is in crisis, apparently his 26 years in Washington have left him incapable of understanding that the policies he supports have created an historic economic crisis," said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.

By the afternoon, McCain has realized his goof, and needs a way out. His response? Oh, he meant workers. So Obama is attacking American workers!

The Arizonan pushes back against Democratic criticism for his saying in Jacksonville that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong," suggests he was referring to American workers. Says during a town hall in Orlando that the working class is the backbone of the U.S. economy, and their industry, skill and competitiveness can help keep the economy afloat. "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."

Yep, "fundamentals" and "the working class" are pretty much interchangeable references. I can see why everyone else on the planet (aside from McCain) is confused.



I think at this point we're all pretty tired of this supposed maverick hiding behind everyone else's skirts. Can't criticize him, or you're criticizing POWs. Can't criticize Palin, or you're sexist. Can't criticize the war, because that makes the soldiers feel sad. Can't criticize the crappy economy, because that's attacking workers.

That's the McCain way -- and yet another thing he seems to have learned from the masters, the Bush administration, which piped up with similar crap to justify every one of their policy actions of the last eight years.

So according to McCain, everything's fine, and if you think otherwise you're attacking Americans. What a charmer -- you can really see why the press fell for him, those many months ago.