McCain: ‘Not the duty of government to bail out’

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Sen. John McCain has just finished a speech in Santa Ana about the economy and the housing crisis, and I’ll be darned if I can spot the headline right now. Reuters leads with ‘McCain seeks solutions to housing crisis.’

Don’t we all?

Bloomberg News focuses a single line in the speech: ‘Republican presidential candidate John McCain said a government bailout of banks should be based ‘solely on preventing systemic risk’ and not on helping financial and property speculators.’

Here’s the Reuters lead: ‘Republican presidential candidate John McCain, looking to bolster his economic credentials, called on Tuesday for quick meetings of mortgage lenders and accountants to begin to tackle the U.S. housing crisis. McCain, who has been criticized as weak on the economy, said he was open to a variety of solutions to ease problems in U.S. housing markets but did not specify an immediate approach.’

The line that wants to be a headline: ‘I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers,’ he said.

On first read, it appears the speech leaves open the possibility that McCain will embrace one of the ascendant myths in Washington right now: that government is capable of carefully crafting a bailout for the blameless.

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