McCain's Croc of Hooey

Marc Ambinder at theatlantic.com [1] notes that Crocs (which are probably what your children are wearing right this minute) seem to be a perennial favorite when GOP presidential candidates come to Colorado and need to call out a Great American Company:

President Bush, on November 4, 2006:
One of the entrepreneurs with me today is Duke Hanson, the cofounder of a company called Crocs. Crocs produces a hugely popular line of lightweight shoes, and over the past three years, they've expanded dramatically. Three years ago, Crocs had just 11 employees. Today, Crocs provides jobs for hundreds of Americans, and his shoes are sold all over the world. Duke calls this, "rocket ship growth." Here's what he says: "We're bringing a lot of money in. We're employing people and providing a product that millions of people love."

Sen. John McCain, Monday:
Five years ago, the outdoor footwear company, Crocs, was started by a couple of entrepreneurs with a great idea, ingenuity and drive. This former small business now employs 600 people in Colorado alone, and sells over 50 percent of its products in 90 countries around the world. Building barriers to Crocs or any American company's access to foreign markets will have a devastating effect on our economy and jobs, and the prosperity of American families.

Once again, they either have incompetent fact-checkers, or they're lazy, or they're just plain lying.

Truth be told: Crocs weren't invented by "a couple of entreprenuers" in Colorado, let alone by Duke Hansen.They weren't even invented in America. They were invented in that Great Frozen Socialist Paradise to the north. You read that right: Ugly neon-hued foam shoes are another diabolical innovation for which we can Blame Canada.

The company that invented them was subsequently bought by Hansen and two other aforementioned Colorado entrepreneurs, who added the cute name and the marketing gloss. But the shoes are still made abroad, in the original factory in Quebec, where the employees come pre-equipped with their own health insurance. Or at least, they will be for a few more weeks: in April, the company announced that they will close down the Quebec City plant in July, sending the 670 jobs there to plants in Mexico, Brazil, and beyond.

In other words: it's another Great American Business that does most of its business elsewhere. Six hundred U.S. jobs is a fine thing—but it could be twice that many if they were actually made here, too.

It's also not a robust business, at least not at the moment. Following a solid IPO in 2006 and a strong 2007, their sales have been off dramatically this year. The company's published fundamentals look OK, but sell-through sucks, and their current stock price is down 82 percent from this time last year.

In other words: it's a Great American Business that's showing signs of getting hammered in a Republican recession.

Also, there are now at least three shareholder lawsuits [2] in the offing. Evidently, some investors suspect that the owners knew more than they were telling when they dumped large quantities of their own stock late last year, just before it all went to hell.

In other words: It's a Great American Business that's run by Republicans, who are evidently getting everything their generous donations to the GOP paid for: presidential puffery, scrupulously indifferent SEC oversight, low taxes— and a tanking economy that's left fewer and fewer families in a position to pay $35 for a pair of kids' shoes.