The Staright-Talk Express: Professor Irwin Corey, Conductor
Sam Stein
McCain Camp Can’t Get Story Straight On Bailout
September 28, 2008 11:26 AM
At the same time that Sen. John McCain was saying that he didn’t deserve credit for getting an economic bailout package to the brink of completion, his campaign’s chief strategist was arguing that the Senator played an integral role.
Appearing on Meet the Press, McCain aide Steve Schmidt offered a bound-to-be-disputed version of what happened this week.
“When Senator McCain came back to Washington, there had been no deal reached,” he said. “What Senator McCain was able to do was to help bring all the parties to the table, including the House Republicans… he came back and he listened and he helped put together the framework of getting everybody to the table which was essential in getting the package [together].”
The remarks conflicted deeply both with contemporaneous testimony and what the Senator himself was declaring at the very same moment on ABC’s This Week.
“Whether I helped or hurt, I’ll be glad to accept the judgment of history, but I’m never going to not get engaged when the taxpayers and middle class of America are in danger of losing everything literally that they’ve worked all their lives for,” McCain told host George Stephanopoulos. “I’m going to be out working on it. I won’t claim a bit of credit, okay, if that makes them feel better. But I’m going to be there working and trying to help solve this crisis.”
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Image: (Corey) via affordablehousinginstitute.com; (Johnny) via blog.oregonlive.com