I’ve never really trusted John McCain on the economy. On this issue, he’s simply the lesser of two evils. ***

Unfortunately, McCain’s shortcomings with respect to the economy are on full display in his attack on SEC Chairman Chris Cox:
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There’s so much stupidity here, it’s hard to know where to begin. So in no particular order:

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• If the SEC is to be criticized for its handling of naked short selling, the agency should be criticized for caving to political pressure to ban the practice not for having been tardy in doing so. .... In short, the hysteria over naked short selling is, well, hysterics.
  
• Even if naked short selling were a problem, it is not in any way related to the present financial crisis: ” Repeat after me: The trouble is not with short-sellers. The trouble is not with short-sellers. The trouble is with an over-levered financial system built on a house of cards comprised of under-collateralized toxic paper that was applauded all the way up by “housing is the American dream” nutters who couldn’t see that vast expansions in thinly-traded credit are a path to economic ruin.”
  
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• There is very little the SEC could have done to prevent the present financial sector problems. Sub-prime mortgages, commercial banking practices, use of the Fed discount window, and so on are all way outside the scope of the SEC’s jurisidiction.
  
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In sum, this is McCain at his worst. Populist. Hot tempered. Shooting from the hip