probably not the comparison that McCain was hoping for

With ‘fundamentals are strong’ comments, McCain borrows Hoover’s Depression-era rhetoric.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) continues to insist that the “fundamentals of our economy are strong.” As Eric Rauchway notes in the American Prospect, McCain’s response to this economic crisis is reminiscent of President Herbert Hoover’s “do-nothing” response to the Great Depression. On October 25, 1929, a day after what is now known as Black Thursday, Hoover declared:

The fundamental business of the country, that is the production and distribution of commodities, is on a sound and prosperous basis.

McCain’s Hooverism — in word and in deed — is also in line with another subscriber to “do-nothing economics,” President George W. Bush.

(Think Progress)