Why Would You Trust a Life-Long Deregulator to Regulate the Markets?

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I want to reiterate as plainly as possible a point that David and Josh Marshall both made yesterday.

McCain is now responding to the turmoil on Wall Street by saying things like, “We will have transparency and accountability and we will reform the regulatory bodies of government.” American workers, he says, have been “betrayed by a casino on Wall Street of greedy, corrupt excess.”

But why should we trust this guy to bring the proper regulation to the financial industry? Who is he to play the populist? He is a life-long supporter of deregulation, his campaign staffers made millions lobbying for failed lenders, and his top economic adviser, Foreclosure Phil Gramm, helped pass the deregulation that created this mess in the first place.

Update: The NYT mines this vein.

Fact:

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