"Majorly" Inadequate on Addressing the Mortgage Crisis

Yesterday, on the same day one leading indicator showed home values dropping 11 percent in January compared to a year before, John McCain gave a speech addressing the housing crisis. McCain spent most of his time telling us what he would NOT do, and failed to offer any new proposals to help Kansas' families and communities struggling in the wake of the crisis.

McCain even tried to minimize the impact of the crisis and blame it on speculators and Americans who “bought homes they couldn’t afford,” and asked “how could 4 million mortgages cause this much trouble for us all?”

Well, 4 million mortgages accounts for roughly two-thirds the entire population of his home state of Arizona. Perhaps he didn't realize that. And —in the fourth quarter of 2007 alone, more than 5,300 Kansas families were delinquent on their mortgages.

McCain's speech showed that, just as he can’t tell the difference between Sunni and Shiite, McCain just doesn’t understand the complexities of the issue.

"Majorly" Inadequate on Addressing Iraq

Today McCain gave another "major" speech - over his plans for Iraq. We were hoping to hear John McCain’s plan for bringing our troops home from Iraq, but all he has offered is war without end.

McCain talked about his commitment to a more collaborative foreign policy that doesn’t alienate our allies. McCain failed to mention, however, that when it mattered most, he stood silent as President Bush’s unilateralist foreign policy tarnished our nation’s reputation in the world and made it more difficult to work with our allies.

Yesterday we heard nothing new from McCain on the mortgage crisis, and today we’re hearing more of the same on Iraq. It’s clear that on the issues families in Kansas care about most, McCain offers just a third Bush term.