Given what's happening on Wall Street today, it's a good time to take a fresh look at the economic thinking of "maverick" Republican John McCain. And as Jon Cohn reminds us at The New Republic today, virtually the only evidence that McCain's economic policies would be better than those of George W. Bush is his campaign's habit of renouncing advisors who are honest about them, the latest example being an economist who suggested there was no reason to worry about Americans without health insurance (they can go to emergency rooms for care!). Generally, McCain's pattern is to express sympathy for people struggling to make ends meet, while advancing policies that would do absolutely nothing to help them.

Cohn's piece is useful in no small part because it offers a good, succinct analysis of McCain's health care plan, which would probably destroy the current system of employer-based health insurance while actually making it easier for insurance companies to deny coverage to people with health problems. Check it all out.