Update: McCain: "Let's not call it a bailout"

Updated post: The Bush White House is now complaining that the media has unfairly labeled the $700-billion bailout bill as a ... bailout. Sen. John McCain, also chafing at the "b" word, is suggesting, "Let's not call it a bailout."

From CNN today: "The first thing I'd do is say, Let's not call it a bailout," McCain said this morning. "Let's call it a rescue. Because it is a rescue of Main Street America..."

"We haven't convinced people that this is a rescue effort not just for Wall Street but for Main Street,'' McCain said in an appearance on CNN's American Morning. "All over America, people are going to lose credit. ... We didn't do a good-enough job.''

Here's the update: Alert commenter Nancy points out that Laura Tyson, an economic adviser to Sen. Barack Obama, made the same argument last night on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC. Highlights of Tyson's comments:

You know, all along, this has been called a bailout bill. It's such a misnomer. We are in the midst of a massive credit contraction. It's strangling the economy. ...

So, yes, we have to communicate this to the American people so the American people understand this is not about Wall Street. It's not about a bailout. It is about Main Street and jobs.

The Bush White House was making the same case yesterday, whining really, complaining that critics of the $700-billion Paulson plan had somehow tarnished the bailout bill by labeling it as a "bailout":

"It's really unfortunate shorthand for a very complicated issue," said Deputy White House Press Secretary Tony Fratto.

"Our critics took the language of a 'bailout for Wall Street,'" he said, and the news media adopted it as the shorthand to describe the administration's aid package.

He insisted at the daily White House news briefing: "It is not a bailout for Wall Street. It is not a bailout for CEOs."

Two cents: This is kind of silly. If you take $700 billion in public money and use it to buy nearly worthless toxic securities from overpaid bankers, that, my friends, is a bailout. That's not the same thing as saying it is wrong or foolish. Perhaps it's necessary. Perhaps it's the only way to avoid financial Armageddon. But it's still accurately described as "a bailout."

As always, the comment section is open to those who would like to agree, or disagree.

-- Peter Viles

Photo credit: Getty Images

More from McCain, via the Swamp blog:

Comments

[George]

Remember on 9/10/2001 when Rumsfeld announced that $2.3 trillion dollars went missing from the pentagon? They need to go find it, now! Waste, fraud and treason. I think pink slips should be issued to the folks that are pushing for this bailout or oops, I mean rescue.

[ABM]

If it looks like a pig, walks like a pig, eats like a pig, you can put all the lipstick you like on it; it's still a pig.

Conservative estimates put the amount of collateralized debt securities at $32 trillion, or sixteen times the value of the actual mortgages, good and bad. How on earth, and why on earth, is the U.S. or any other government supposed to cushion the hard fall of the greatest Ponzi scheme in world history?

[Nancy]

Can't help but notice that Obama's economic advisor, who was on Rachel Maddow's show just last night, made this exact same plea and TODAY, all of a sudden, McCain and the White House are recognizing the problem of language.

I think the language IS important. If it turns people against the idea who need to be protected from Wall Street's greed and their politicians pander to these voters, then the "fix" will not be in and we could all be OUT of work.

[er]

Hey McCain, "you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig." You can call it a rescue bill if you want be we all know that in order for congress to "rescue" us then you have to "bail out" Wall Street. Are there any other republicans like me getting tired of this old fart thinking we are really that stupid?

Obama/Biden '08

[SandraL]

Oh yes. I'm against the bailout, but I could get behind it if they started calling it a rescue, because that would make all the difference.

Puh-leeze. I know Republicans are all about "framing" things for public consumption - they're quite good at it, frankly - but they're rarely so open and honest about the fact. Kudos to McCain for that - it would make a great campaign ad...

"McCain: Honest. (Even when he's lying.)"

[jy2008]

"
That's Mcain for you, skirting substance to tell you what you what you want to hear. Regardless of what it means, because you Americans aren't bright enough to see through the smoke an mirrors.

Just look at his anti-lobby cabinet, I mean staff, of lobbiers. Clinton was more conservative than Bush, and Obama is more conservative than Mcain - the "Maverick".
"

This is typical group of Obama people who cry loudly for fire rescue BUT do not want to burn themselves.

Trust me those people will not survive in real battle field (assuming they dare to hold guns).

Simply say, it would be easier to ask their wifes to protect those liberals!!!!

[Jessie]

This bailout/ rescue is insane.

I think part of the problem isn't just the CEO's walk away with a ridiculous amount of money each year. Or how most people use their personal money to save their business.

It isn't even giving money to people with bad credit. It is hitting people with bad credit the hardest and giving them deals they could not afford to turn a profit.

They are punishing people with bad credit. way too hard and taking away their homes and now need the money. i say look into your checkbooks to save your business. I need my tax payer money to go into education/health care and oh yeah a war!!

When President Bush became President I said he is going to try to bankrupt our nation. I was right. This is awful

[sailor7x]

When I can get through via email here is what I am writing. Feel free to use it. This battle in the theater of the absurd is not over!!!! Keep banging on them!

"A bailout transfers enormous wealth from taxpayers to those who knowingly engaged in risky subprime lending. Thus, the bailout encourages companies to take large, imprudent risks and count on getting bailed out by government. This "moral hazard" generates enormous distortions in an economy's allocation of its financial resources."

NO BAILOUT!!

[bkmur]

Poor old Doofus is just trying to show leadership. Too late. His credibility was totally flushed last nght when he and Sarah double teamed Katie Couric on her own newscast AND KATIE WON. Should have seen McCain while Sarah was blabbing on. He looked like he was choking on his lowers and wanted to slap the Cheney out of Moose Girl, just to make her shut up.

[Rocket Scientist]

Yeah, and a bank robber doesn't steal money, he's just making a "large withdrawal."

Memo to Grandpa McCain - Your buddy in the White House has maxed out the Republicans' quota of doublespeak. I swear there must be a retirement home in Florida that's missing a grumpy old resident who crazily thinks he will be President someday.

[Steve]

Come on, this is what Senator McCain has been doing to help the bailout package pass?
1. Do nothing. (My Friends, The fundamentals of our economy are strong!)
2. Change definition of economic fundamentals he realizes we now have a problem.
3. Suspend Campaign and anounce that he is putting country first.
4. Scuttle nearly completed bipartisan deal on arrival.
5. Blame Obama.
6. Take credit for package before the vote.
7. Package fails in House.
8. Blame Obama and the Democrats. (2/3 of republicans voted against)
9. Announce that this is no time to be laying blame.
10. Call for a name change of the plan to make it more palatable to us. (Does he think that this is the biggest problem with the deal?)

Is he fooling you?

[adoptivefather]

Quote by Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, who said these fiery words to a delegation of bankers in 1832:

“Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time, and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out.”

[Mtobias]

Well, the sky is not falling yet anyway.
Get it right.
Let some of the poorer banks fail.

However, keep out of the plan candidates.

“Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process,” Mr. McCain said, before adding in almost the same breath: “Now is not the time to fix the blame. It’s time to fix the problem.”

Come on! that is so dishonest.
I tremeber "suspending" the campaign, and f=going to D.C. last week and then debating and talking about suspending the campaign again.

Lost honor, POW or not.

[adoptivefather]

"Our job is to encourage banks to lend and invest in underserved markets," says Michael Frias, an FDIC official in Chicago. "We don't make distinctions of immigration status."

Oh really? And you're with the FDIC?

In other words you support making loans to people that can be deported at a moment's notice?

Bank of America and Wells Fargo are making loans to illegal aliens they know to be committing felonies by using stolen Social Security numbers to get jobs. The banks are using our federally insured deposits to make these loans to felons.

Here is a Wall Street Journal story going back to 2005 detailing the practices that got us into the mess we are in now.

http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/mortgages/20050711-jordan.html

[Mtobias]

He can't keep his mouth shut, can he?

[Edward Simek]

It will always be called the bailout no matter what they change it to. only now it will be in parentheses.
proposed "rescue bill", (bailout plan).

just like that. I personally believe that the issues lie in immigration and irresponsible lenders.

[David Rowe]

If we fork over $700B to Wall Street without actual reforms to help struggling homeowners its not a 'Bail Out'...its a "Hand Out" because the plan simply will not work without steming the tide of foreclosures.

David

[dagg]

You can put lettuce, pickle or whatever on a crap sandwich. it's still a crap sandwich no matter what. We are fed up. Vote all of them out of the office if they want us to eat this crap sandwich.

[Maggie Knowles]

Incumbents out! Lobbyists out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington nonprofit group that studies money and politics, reports that on average, lawmakers who voted in favor of the bailout bill have received 51 percent more in campaign contributions from sources in the finance, insurance and real estate industries — or FIRE industries, for short — over their congressional careers than those who opposed the emergency legislation."

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/among-bailout-supporters-wall-st-donations-ran-high/
or
http://tinyurl.com/4kc7we

[Nick]

In fairness to McCain/Obama (who are both trying to change the term 'bailout' for the bailout bill), I kinda agree: it would be much better to call it a 'scum sucking insider payoff which rewards the people who created the market meltdown' bill, but I can see how that was probably too long a name, and you'd have more luck getting it passed as just the 'bailout' bill. If you're gonna change the terminology, though, at least get more accurate.

[fezco]

This just in from David Drier, congressman from Glendora:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.

Yesterday, I reluctantly voted to approve this legislation. This is not a vote I wanted to make, but it is one I ultimately decided was necessary to keep our economic crisis from worsening. The stock market plunge of more than 777 points after the vote failed was a sign that the emergency is real. That doesn’t just hurt Wall Street, it hurts Main Street as well. Our retirements, college funds, small businesses, and homes are being threatened by this crisis. Just yesterday, I heard from a small business owner in the San Gabriel Valley who had lost his line of credit and was concerned about making payroll. That’s what’s at the heart of this crisis – small business owners and consumers facing a potential credit freeze across our economy.

This debate has been a contentious one, and I have heard from a lot of you about your concerns. You, and I, vehemently opposed the Paulson Plan. It was too much of a blank check with no oversight or accountability. Your concerns are what pushed House Republicans to fight for changes to the plan initially put forward by the Treasury Secretary. We fought to make sure the final plan was much tougher on Wall Street, much more punitive for crooks, and had much more protection for every taxpayer. We insisted that there be no golden parachutes for failed corporate executives. There is absolutely no reason failure of this magnitude should be rewarded. We also fought to increase taxpayer protections by ensuring the treasury is repaid in full for its investment in these troubled assets. Some in Congress wanted to divert the recovered money to partisan groups like ACORN instead of directing it to pay down the debt. We said no. We fought to make sure ALL the money went back to the taxpayers. We also worked hard to significantly increase the oversight of this program. In the original version, there was none. By the time it came up for a vote, there were real checks and balances. Was this bill perfect? Absolutely not. Was it dramatically better than what we had originally been asked for? Yes.

The anger about why our economy is in such upheaval is very real and we all are rightfully concerned about the future. To be honest, I’d like to see some of the crooks who caused this crisis thrown in jail. In the meantime, I remain in Washington this week because I am convinced we have to take real steps to get our economy back on track. My vote yesterday was a good faith effort to do that. I don’t believe the blame game is going to help anyone save for retirement or college or keep their home and I’m not interested in playing it. We clearly have more work to do. I am committed to working toward a solution and feel confident that the House will work to come up with a proposal that can win support across party lines and begin to move the country away from the brink of financial disaster.

Please stay in touch with your thoughts and concerns as this process moves forward.

Sincerely,

David Dreier
Member of Congress

[JS]

This is not a partisan issue, idiots. McBama, O'Cain, take your pick, if it makes you sleep better at night.

The issue is greed and hubris, none of which is in short supply in either wall street or washington. This campaign will spend literally billions to be elected, who do you think they'll be beholden to?

The problem is, and continues to be, the underlying value of assets is overstated. I cannot invest until I see clarity in those values. No longer does the "you trust me, and I'll trust you" mantra work, because we've both been exposed as liars. Credit is frozen for good reason.

Throwing $700 bil into a multi-trillion $ abyss will solve nothing, other than give politicos talking points.

Vote NO, hunker down, and let the money boys take it in the nuts.

[SoCalJim]

Talk about lipstick on a pig. Bailout, rescue, buy-in. Whatever. Same BS no matter how you spin it. A big s__ sandwich.

[Darren]

I don't care what you want to call this "bailout", it's still a bad idea. We (America) being a capitalist market thrive on the growth and crashes of markets around us everyday.

Having tax payers save CEOs, and fat cats counter balances this market and will only maintain the million other problems we already have. However allowing those who have made their beds to sleep in them; will make room for new growth and new Markets.

Let that part of the market fall. We're a strong people we'll recover because that's what we're good at, and if you save them - then everyone else is gonna start crying because "it's not fair for them".

I don't remember anyone coimng to bail me out? I'm sorry "Rescue" Me?

[CompaJD]

Let's not call it Alzheimers and call it Mccain just forgetting what he just said yesterday.