Today the Congress failed to pass a measure seeking to address the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  At every step of this developing story, John McCain has show impotence and incompetence. Today, McCain has failed yet another major test.

Let’s take a moment to review how we got here.

First, John McCain came to power as a self-proclaimed “Reagan Revolutionary”. He has been devoted to “supply-side”, aka voodoo, economics throughout his career.  As a member of the Keating 5, and the closest senator to Charles Keating, John McCain set the tone for his career, failed economic policies bordering on criminal activity, the absence of regulation and a slavish devotion to the myth of free markets.

Next, he surrounded himself with the most tainted lobbyists in Washington. The clearest case is that of McCain’s own campaign manager, Charlie Black, who remains an officer of the lobbying company which has been receiving tens of thousands of dollars a month from Fannie and Freddie. Did he do any work for them?  Did he fight off regulation, or was he simply paid to deliver access to Senator McCain, potentially the next president of the United States.  

Moreover, McCain’s closest economic advisor and mentor, Senator Phil Gramm, was the ultimate leader of the charge for deregulation.  Gramm even said that the current recession is “mental” in nature and evidence that we are a “nation of whiners.”

John McCain was clearly under the influence of Phil Gramm, his likely Treasury Secretary if elected, when he failed to understand the economic issues that created this situation. When John McCain declared that “the fundamentals of the economy are strong”, he proved himself completely out of touch with working Americans.  

When John McCain finally realized his catastrophic failure to see the political disaster in this crisis, he became a radical drama queen and parachuted into the middle of the tense negotiations in Congress. McCain hadn’t voted in the Senate since April, but he decided he would make himself out as the great savior of the economy. He “suspended” (not really) his campaign and begged for a debate delay. McCain’s unhinged shenanigans shone a white hot spotlight of presidential politics in the middle of the Paulson bailout plan negotiations and destroyed them.

With his erratic power grab, McCain took full ownership of the Paulson plan. He made it his own and then failed to see it through. The Democrats delivered their votes, but McCain, who gave his support to the plan, failed to garner Republican support in the House. Instead, 133 Republicans told McCain to take a long walk off a short pier.

In sum, this is yet another massive failure for John McCain, demonstrating once again his instability and inadequacy.  McCain was unable, even in the face of pending economic disaster, to rally his party.  With this failure, McCain has gone from primary hero to Pee Wee Herman. Unworthy of trust, and unable to cash the checks his ego writes, John McCain is the one to blame more than anyone for today’s 689 point loss on the Dow.  

From ideology to ignominy, John McCain owns this disaster.