A Chicken in Every Pot

Thursday, September 18, 2008 | 11:25 AM

By William Rabbe

Herbert McCain? There's been a lot of chatter about John McCain's quote that "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" and that, ironically, the very same sentence was uttered by Herbert Hoover just prior to the great depression. Harry Reid first made the comparison, to McCain's detriment -- Hoover, of course, was blamed for the largest economic downturn in history and was defeated overwhelmingly by Franklin Roosevelt in 1932.

McCain quickly corrected his statement, first saying that he was referring to "American workers" or the "spirit of innovation," then saying that the fundamentals are "strong" but "threatened."

His inadvertent historical reference is not helpful, but luckily, not many Americans: 1. remember Herbert Hoover, 2. study history that closely.

So, for anyone interested, here is a glimpse of the man -- clips from Herbert Hoover's campaigns in '28 and '32:

Also, this isn't the first time John McCain has been compared to Herbert Hoover -- Hillary Clinton criticized him in March for sounding "remarkably like Herbert Hoover" when he espoused his views against Government interference in the housing crisis, saying "it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers." Perhaps an equally regrettable statement in hindsight considering the necessity of AIG's bailout? This bailout was no "reward" to a financial institution that would have broken the economy's back had it been allowed to fail.

Look for McCain's position on the economy to further merge with Barack Obama's in the coming weeks. Economic populism is suddenly the trend in this election...