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Update: McCain: “Let’s not call it a bailout”

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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...’

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‘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.

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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:

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