WurfWhile

[Hat tip Matt Yglesias]

The Politico reports:

“The endorsement could hardly have been stronger. On Monday, John McCain’s campaign released a statement signed by 300 economists who ‘enthusiastically support’ his ‘Jobs for America’ economic plan, providing a heavyweight testimonial to the presumptive Republican nominee’s ‘broad and powerful economic agenda.’

There’s just one problem. Upon closer inspection, it seems a good many of those economists don’t actually support the whole of McCain’s economic agenda. And at least one doesn’t even support McCain for president.

In interviews with more than a dozen of the signatories, Politico found that, far from embracing McCain’s economic plan, many were unfamiliar with — or downright opposed to — key details.
….
It’s easy to see why some of the economists might seem less than enthusiastic when asked directly about the McCain plan. The McCain campaign’s economic team, led by adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, began collecting signatures from economists several months ago, with the intention of showing support for McCain’s broad economic priorities, rather than the specific items in his Jobs for America proposal.

The statement they signed is 403 words long….

But the Jobs for America plan is a 15-page document….”

The McCain campaign has not only defrauded the economists, but more importantly they have lied to the American public about a major campaign proposal - what to do about our ailing economy. I think Matt Yglesias right - this isn’t going to have much traction in the press - but it should. The lie is shameful and dishonest.

Since this isn’t likely to go far on its own merits, I think we should consider how ridiculous it is that John McCain’s campaign thought no one would notice. Does John McCain really think we’re that stupid? I took a closer look at the signatures myself, having gotten hold of part of the original signature page (you can view it here) - and yes, apparently the McCain campaign really does think we’re that stupid.