McCain: I’d Fire A Guy I Don’t Have The Power To Fire

2:45 pm EST September 18th, 2008 | News | 14 Comments

McCain says he would fire the SEC chairman. Now, aside from the fact that this crisis in the markets goes beyond the actions of one person (ie. FEMA was incompetent not because of Brownie but because George Bush neglected the basic function of government), the President does not have the power to fire the SEC chairman. “Maverick” John McCain once again pulls stuff out of his butt and calls it gold.

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14 Responses to “McCain: I’d Fire A Guy I Don’t Have The Power To Fire”

  1. Dennis says:
    September 18, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    What a gaffe. I’m sure there were a lot of Democrats who harbored thoughts of saying they’d fire Don Rumsfeld and Alberto Gonzalez and Karl Rove and Scooter Libbie and Dick Cheney and ad infinitum, but held their collective tongues because they knew they didn’t have the power to.

    I know that’s the case but I can’t prove it and I can’t google it, so it’s just conjecture on my part, I’ll admit.

  2. essrog says:
    September 18, 2008 at 3:31 pm

    Faith-based trolling

  3. MobiusKlein says:
    September 18, 2008 at 3:45 pm

    Dennis, the President can dismiss members of the cabinet.
    But not the SEC chair.

    As a lefty-commie-subversive, I would have fired Many above IF I HAD THE POWER TO. The thing I do have power to do is to vote for the guy who can do it for me.

  4. C.S.Strowbridge says:
    September 18, 2008 at 4:04 pm

    “Faith-based trolling”

    Exactly. They are so used to dealing with leadership that thinks evidence is not only unnecessary, but that asking for evidence is a sing of weakness.

    It would be funny, if they didn’t have so much political power.

  5. Quaker in a Basement says:
    September 18, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    I know that’s the case but I can’t prove it and I can’t google it, so it’s just conjecture on my part, I’ll admit.

    In other words, you’re making it up.

  6. Duros Hussein 62 says:
    September 18, 2008 at 5:00 pm

    How is it that McCain is still a viable candidate, again?

    Even the trolls must be getting a little nervous.

  7. Dennis says:
    September 18, 2008 at 5:21 pm

    Even the trolls must be getting a little nervous.

    Go back in the archives to Monday and the prior two weeks if you want to see nervousness. Then you can get a more accurate compare/contrast. It took a stock market crash and unprecedented set of brokerage house bankruptcies to give you guys a little spring in your step again.

  8. Duros Hussein 62 says:
    September 18, 2008 at 5:35 pm

    It took a stock market crash and unprecedented set of brokerage house bankruptcies to give you guys a little spring in your step again.

    Oh, is this part of the tired old saw about how leftists want the economy to fail?

    Yeah, no. Not even close.

  9. midderpidge says:
    September 18, 2008 at 5:58 pm

    Two weeks ago McCain selected an unknown to bolster his campaign. It worked for 2 weeks. Now people know her and her negatives have overtaken her positives. Her bump is gone.

  10. Parthenon says:
    September 18, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    Dennis, he didn’t say “If I were president and had the power to do so, I’d fire him.” He said “If I were president.” Isn’t that a rather clear implication that he thought the president had that power?

  11. buma says:
    September 18, 2008 at 8:07 pm

    It took a stock market crash and unprecedented set of brokerage house bankruptcies to give you guys a little spring in your step again.

    No, it only took a few years of wall-to-wall GOP policy. Remember that for six years bush had not a single veto. Six years of no-compromise Republican legislation. This is the inevitable result of relaxed regulation.

  12. Dennhis says:
    September 18, 2008 at 9:58 pm

    Dennis, he didn’t say “If I were president and had the power to do so, I’d fire him.” He said “If I were president.” Isn’t that a rather clear implication that he thought the president had that power?

    Looks like the President does have that power:

    Massive Misinformation: The President Can Fire the President

    Cheetos. Mom’s basement. Pajamas.

  13. Jay Tea says:
    September 19, 2008 at 7:37 am

    John McCain’s actual words:

    “If I were president today, I would fire him.”

    Actual legal expert (lawyer who worked at the FTC) on the matter:

    http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_09_14-2008_09_20.shtml#1221792170

    Short version: the president can not fire him from the commission, but can “fire” him from the chairmanship and appoint — WITHOUT Congressional approval — a new chairman, as long as that chairman is already a commissioner.

    So Bush (who — sigh — has stated his full faith in the current FTC chairman) can remove him from his position and put someone else in his place entirely at his discretion. The president can, at any time, for any reason or no reason, remove the chairman of the FTC and name another member the head entirely of the president’s own authority.

    J.

  14. Bring It On! » Blog Archive » Our National Village Idiot is Missing says:
    September 20, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    [...] McCain: I’d Fire A Guy I Don’t Have The Power To Fire [...]