The McCain campaign is putting out some of the most confused mixed messages in political history. Just before making his much mocked Blackberry comment, McCain's economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin said this about McCain's service on the Senate Commerce Committee:
"He didn’t have jurisdiction over financial markets, first and foremost."
Which makes sense, since the financial industry is under the jurisdiction of the Banking Committee. But meanwhile McCain himself is making a completely different claim:
"The point is, I was chairman of the Commerce Committee. Every part of America's economy, I oversighted."
Leaving aside questions of whether or not "oversighted" is a word, we have the puzzle of how to reconcile these statements. Could this be another "joke" by Holtz-Eakin? If so, he is the most subtle and misunderstood comedian since Andy Kaufman.
More likely, we can expect another "clarification" from McCain explaining that financial markets are not "part of America's economy".
Updated: In case anyone had any doubt about just what McCain did or didn't "oversight", here is part of the Commerce Committee's jurisdiction as stated on their website (emphasis mine):
- Regulation of consumer products and services, including testing related to toxic substances, other than pesticides, and except for credit, financial services, and housing.