Dep’t of Surrogate Follies: Oops, McCain = Bush

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When one of your surrogates can’t think of a single difference between you and the President on economic issues, you’re in serious trouble.

Did Sanford have a momentary lapse? Sure. But if Blitzer had given Sanford 20 minutes, he wouldn’t have found a substantive difference between McCain and Bush other than McCain’s lower tolerance for pork, which, because earmark spending is a relatively small portion of the federal budget, is more a good government issue than an economic one. On taxes, trade, CEO salaries, and so on, McCain and Bush are nearly identical. Other McCain surrogates have admitted as much.