The Wonk Room

Stop Smearing Teddy Roosevelt!

Interviewed today on NBC, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) discussed this week’s downturn in the financial sector, claiming he called attention the problem “a couple of years ago. Just as he did in March, McCain compared his views on regulating the economy to Teddy Roosevelt:

The fact, is warned about this problem a couple of years ago. I am a Teddy Roosevelt Republican. Teddy Roosevelt believed that we needed a government to function — an economy that can function without government interference. But, he also said, unfettered capitalism can breed corruption. We are seeing Teddy Roosevelt’s words come true. I know how to fix it.

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As John Podesta and John Halpin wrote recently, Roosevelt pushed for a wave of progressive economic reforms, unlike McCain’s radical conservative agenda. Roosevelt pushed for “the graduated income and inheritance taxes, a living wage, the 8-hour workday, worker’s compensation, women’s suffrage, lobbyist reform, public infrastructure investments, conservation and fair treatment of immigrants.”

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