Seems McCain did say that.
Here’s the video to refresh your memory …
TPM Reader BY just sent in this clip from the Boston Globe …
Like Mike Huckabee, who joked recently that he “may not be the expert that some people are on foreign policy, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night,” McCain suggested to reporters Monday that American consumer culture offered a short cut to expertise. “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” McCain said. “I’ve got Greenspan’s book.”
I guess it was too much to ask to have Russert crash and burn on this one.
Russert’s quote was: “I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.” Apparently there’s a more word for word one out there. McCain responded: “I dont know where you got that quote from, im very well versed in economics.”
Now TPM Reader KK checks in with the exact quote, from Stephen Moore in the Wall Street Journal: “I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.”
Later Update: TPM Reader RE comes up with another similar quote in the Baltimore Sun …
That subject area might be the economy, an area McCain said he has never been completely comfortable with.
“The issue of economics is something that I’ve really never understood as well as I should. I understand the basics, the fundamentals, the vision, all that kind of stuff,” he said. “But I would like to have someone I’m close to that really is a good strong economist. As long as Alan Greenspan is around I would certainly use him for advice and counsel.”
McCain said his staff hates it when he discusses his shortcomings on economics, even though he has read widely and studied the subject.
