McCain, whose home state of Arizona is suffering from 9.1 percent unemployment, responded, “I would certainly look at any proposal that helps small businesses in America. I would look at proposals that help create jobs. This unemployment in my state is devastating – devastating around America.”
However, he added his thoughts on the previous instances of government intervention – where Congress, through the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), authorized the federal government to bailout the troubled financial sector – giving the Treasury Department broad authority to act as they saw fit.
“What we’ve done, unfortunately, is we bailed out Wall Street, now they’re making billions, they’re making the deals, they’re giving the bonuses, and because they were too big to fail, we pumped – I don’t know, we still haven’t had a full accounting – into those major financial corporations and told financial institutions.”
However, during the 2008 financial crisis, McCain was at the forefront of supporting the bailout. Both he and his opponent, then-Sen. Barack Obama, voted for the TARP bailout. And just two weeks after McCain’s election defeat, his chief economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, admitted it was a “strategic blunder” for McCain to support a bailout designed for Wall Street financial institutions.
The question remains – because King didn’t ask it – whether McCain regrets voting for TARP in 2008. But McCain did express his disappointment in how the bailout unfolded and how it was perceived by other Americans.
This is why John McCain is quite possibly the most abhorrent person in the US Senate. He never admits he’s wrong, never explains himself, and always shuttles his decisions off on others and speaks in generalities.
McCain could’ve come out and admitted he was wrong, but instead pointed out the bailouts and the way they were done were the problem, completely ignoring the fact that he voted for them! Everyone in opposition apparently saw it, but somehow the “Maverick” didn’t.
I’m glad he didn’t win the Presidency. If you think things are bad with Obama, imagine what they’d be like with this dope running the show?