1 second ago 2009-11-27T20:47:24-08:00
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called Thursday for the firing of the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — Chris Cox, a former Republican congressman.
"The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the president and has betrayed the public's trust. If I were president today, I would fire him," McCain said at a "Road to Victory" rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
President Bush said he fully supports Cox, CNBC reported.
The SEC monitors and regulates the securities industry, including stock trading.
The tough, headline-grabbing remark is part of an effort by McCain to recover after an initially shaky response to the Wall Street meltdown. In remarks in New Mexico, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) plans to attack McCain for being a past champion of regulation, leaving working people vulernable to Wall Street shenanigans.
"The primary regulator of Wall Street, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), kept in place trading rules that let speculators and hedge funds turn our markets into a casino," McCain said. "They allowed naked short selling — which simply means that you can sell stock without ever owning it. They eliminated last year the uptick rule that has protected investors for 70 years. Speculators pounded the shares of even good companies into the ground.
