Worst Pep Talk Ever

I couldn't make up shit like this. Factory workers in Youngstown, Ohio were given this pep talk by John McCain.

"A person learns along the way that if you hold on — if you don't quit no matter what the odds — sometimes life will surprise you," McCain said in a speech at Youngstown State University after meeting the five remaining workers at Fabart, a steel-fabricating factory that had more than 100 employees a few years ago.

Who the fuck on McCain's staff pick this campaign stop. It's obvious that the Maverick is clueless on economic matters. Sadly, I'm not shocked that McCain would lecture five factory workers, about to get laid off, to pick themselves up by their bootstraps.

McCain went on to preach how wonderful free trade is. I'm not anti-free trade, but I am politically astute enough to understand that no presidential candidate should preach the virtues of free trade to a town that lost 40,000 jobs. Obama's people need to use McCain's Youngstown visit in the general election. McCain will lose Ohio if he keeps telling the state's voters how great NAFTA is.

McCain jokingly pointed out that NAFTA in fact is composed of five letters, though O'Connell seemed to be equating it to a "four-letter word," as in a curse word.

In response, McCain said again that those jobs were gone forever and he defended NAFTA as an overall plus for the U.S. economy, even as he conceded that wage discrepancies and product dumping have hurt U.S. workers.

"I've met too many people who've been displaced as a result of free trade to say, 'Aww, it's all been good for our economy, don't worry about it,' " McCain said. "But I think the adjustment is not to erect barriers and protectionism. I think the answer is to understand that free trade or not, we are in an information technology revolution. ... We've got to be part of that new economy rather than trying to cling to an old economy."

McCain's message to Ohio voters, 'Your jobs are gone.' Not that he has to worry. The Straight Talker is one of the richest members of the Senate.