Palin on FOX's 'Hannity & Colmes': Transcript (9-17-08)

Read the full transcript(part1). (part 2)

HANNITY: Let's talk about, Governor, obviously, the economy is on the minds of many Americans. We've got Lehman, we've got Merrill, we've got AIG. Senator Barack Obama yesterday was attacking Senator McCain for saying that the "fundamentals of the economy are strong."

Do you believe that the fundamentals of our economy are strong?

PALIN: Well, it was an unfair attack on the verbiage that Senator McCain chose to use because the fundamentals, as he was having to explain afterwards, he means our workforce, he means the ingenuity of the American. And of course, that is strong and that is the foundation of our economy.

So that was an unfair attack there, again, based on verbiage that John McCain used. Certainly it is a mess though, the economy is a mess. And there have been abuses on Wall Street and that adversely affects Main Street.

And it's that commitment that John McCain is articulating today, getting in there, reforming the way that Wall Street has been allowed to work, stopping the abuses and that violation of the public trust that too many CEOs and top management of some of these companies, that abuse there has got to stop.

It is, somebody was saying this morning, a toxic waste there on Wall Street, affecting Main Street. And we've got to cure this.

HANNITY: Through reform?

PALIN: Through reform, absolutely. Look at the oversight that has been lax, I believe, here it's a 1930s type of regulatory regime overseeing some of these corporations. And we've got to get a more coordinated and a much more stringent oversight regime.

Not that government is going to be solely looked to for the answers in all of the problems in Wall Street, but government can play a very, very appropriate role in the oversight as people are trusting these companies with their life savings, with their investments, with their insurance policies and construction bonds and everything else.

When we see the collapse that we're seeing today, you know that something is broke and John McCain has a great plan to get in there and fix it.

[...]HANNITY: Well, you know, both you and Senator McCain supported the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. You both opposed the bailout of government intervention as it relates to Lehman or Merrill. But now we read this morning that AIG is going to get some type of government bailout.

Was that the right call?

PALIN: Well, you know, first, Fannie and Freddie, different because quasi-government agencies there where government had to step in because of the adverse impacts all across our nation, especially with homeowners. It's just too impacting, we had to step in there.

I do not like the idea though of taxpayers being used to bailout these corporations. Today it was AIG, important call there, though, because of the construction bonds and the insurance carrier duties of AIG. But first and foremost, taxpayers cannot be looked to as the bailout, as the solution to the problems on Wall Street.

McCain's Tampa Speech on the Economy: Transcript (9-16-08)

Read the full transcript.

If Governor Palin and I are elected in 49 days, we are not going to waste a moment in changing the way Washington does business. And we’re going to start where the need for reform is greatest. In short order, we are going put an end to the reckless conduct, corruption, and unbridled greed that have caused a crisis on Wall Street.

The working people of this state and this nation are the most innovative, the hardest working, the best skilled, most productive, most competitive in the world. This foundation of our economy, the American worker, is strong but it has been put at risk by the greed and mismanagement of Wall Street and Washington. The top of our economy is broken. We have seen self interest, greed, irresponsibility and corruption undermine the hard work of the American people. It is time to set things right, and I promise to get the job done as your president.

Americans put a lot of trust in the bankers and brokerage firms of Wall Street. They depend on the financial service sector to protect their savings, IRA’s, 401k’s, and pension accounts. But many leaders in finance have proven unworthy of that trust. Government has a clear responsibility to act in defense of the public interests, and that is exactly what I intend to do. We are going to make sure that American’s accounts are protected. I pledge that FDIC and SPIC will have all the support they need to fully back the savings of the American people.

Too many people on Wall Street have been recklessly wagering instead of making the sound investments we expected of them. And when their companies collapse, only the CEO’s seem to escape the consequences. While employees, shareholders, and other victims are left with nothing but trouble and debt, the people who helped cause the collapse make off with tens of millions in severance packages. I have spoken out against the excess of corporate executives, and I can assure you that if I am president, we’re not going to tolerate that anymore. In my administration, we’re going to hold people on Wall Street responsible. And we’re going to enact and enforce reforms to make sure that these outrages never happen in the first place.

Too many people on Wall Street have forgotten or disregarded the basic rules of sound finance. In an endless quest for easy money, they dreamed up investment schemes that they themselves don’t even understand. With their derivatives, credit default swaps, and mortgage backed securities they tried to make their own rules. But they could only avoid the basic rules of economics for so long. Now, as their schemes unravel in bankruptcies and collapse, it’s once again the public who is left to bear the costs. And I promise you that on my watch, we are never going to let these kinds of abuses go uncorrected or unpunished.

Obama Speech in Elko, Nevada: Transcript (9-17-08)

Read the full transcript.

We are in the midst of the most serious financial crisis in generations. Three of America's five largest investment banks have failed or been sold off in distress. Our housing market is in shambles, and Monday brought the worst losses on Wall Street since the day after September 11th. Monday brought the worst losses on Wall Street since the day after September 11th, and today we learned that the Fed had to take unprecedented action to prevent the failure of one of the largest insurance companies in the world from causing an even larger crisis.

While we do not know all the details of the arrangement with AIG, the Federal Reserve must ensure that the plan protects the families that count on insurance. It should bolster our economy's ability to create good-paying jobs and help working Americans pay their bills and save their money. It must not bail out the shareholders or management of AIG.

Everywhere you look, the economic news is troubling. But for so many Americans, it isn't really news at all.

600,000 workers have lost their jobs since January. Home values are falling. Your paycheck doesn't go as far as it used to. It's never been harder to save or retire; to buy gas or groceries; and if you put it on a credit card, they've probably raised your rates. In so many cities and towns across America, it feels as if the dream that so many generations have fought for is slowly slipping away.

I have every confidence that we can steer ourselves out of this crisis. That's who we are. That's what we've always done as Americans.

But the one thing I do know is this - we can't steer ourselves out of this crisis by heading in the same, disastrous direction. And that's what this election is about.

It's been an interesting week for John McCain. It's been really interesting to watch him respond to this economic news. His first reaction to this crisis on Monday was to stand up and repeat the line he's said over and over and over again throughout this campaign - quote - "the fundamentals of our economy are strong."

Now, his campaign must've realized that probably wasn't a smart thing to say on the day of a financial meltdown, so they sent him back out a few hours later to clean up his remarks.

But it sounds like he got a little carried away, because yesterday, John McCain actually said that if he's President, he'll take on the - quote - "ol' boys network" in Washington. I am not making this up. This is someone who's been in Congress for twenty-six years - who put seven of the most powerful Washington lobbyists in charge of his campaign - and now he tells us that he's the one who will take on the ol' boy network. The ol' boy network? In the McCain campaign, that's called a staff meeting.

John McCain went on to say how angry he is at the greedy corporate interests on Wall Street. He's so angry he wants to punish them with $200 billion in tax cuts. And if they're not careful, he'll give them even more tax cuts for shipping our jobs overseas.

I mean, where is he getting these lines? The lobbyists running his campaign? Maybe it's Phil Gramm - the man who was the architect of the de-regulation in Washington that helped cause the mess on Wall Street, who also happens to be the architect of John McCain's economic plan and one of his chief advisors. You remember Phil Gramm - he's the guy who said that we're just going through a "mental recession;" who called the United States of America a "nation of whiners."

McCain on ABC 'Good Morning America': Transcript (9-17-08)

Read the full transcript.

ROBERTS: You talk about Congress and, of course, you’ve been there in Washington...

J. MCCAIN: Yes. Sure.

ROBERTS: ... for all these many years.

J. MCCAIN: Yes. Yes.

ROBERTS: And you’re saying that a little bit asleep at the switch.

J. MCCAIN: Two years ago I gave a speech and argued on several occasions that Fannie and Freddie were in trouble, that they were carrying out unsafe and unsound and even corrupt practices. And I said this has got to stop.

And I have fought for reform all the time that I’ve been in Congress. I’ve taken on my party; I’ve taken on the other party. I’ve taken on the president.

Senator Obama has never taken on his party on any major issue. This requires a reformer. That’s my record of reform. And we have to fix it, and we will fix it. And it’ll never happen again when I’m president of the United States.

ROBERTS: When you say...

J. MCCAIN: And we’ve got to grow the economy and create jobs. That’s the best way out of this.

ROBERTS: And how do you go about it? Because yesterday when you were talking to Chris Cuomo, you said that you perhaps would form a kind of 9/11 Commission. And talking with folks here, like you did, they said enough with the commissions, enough with the talk, what are the real solutions? What are the, you know, the practical solutions not the talk?

J. MCCAIN: Well, first of all, you need to get the best minds in America together. I mean, this is a crisis. This is one of the most severe crises in modern times. So you got to get the best minds in America together to say, “Look, not only did this happen, but we’ve all got to work together, Republican and Democrat.”

I mean, this calls for bipartisanship. This calls for patriotism.

J. MCCAIN: This calls for saving the economy of the people here, the Lipps family on this farm. They’re the heartland of America.

So, clearly, we have to have transparency, we have to have oversight, we have to combine these regulatory alphabet soup organizations. We have to make them work. They need a chief executive who knows how to crack the whip and knows how to reform Washington and reform the way that we do business, and, frankly, brings these people to account, hold these people to account that are responsible for this. And if many of them broke the law, then maybe some of them should be in jail.

ROBERTS: People hear you saying that and believe in your commitment to wanting to do that, but, Senator, they’re saying if you’re in office, they want something tangible. When they hear that they’re like, what’s the first thing that you will fix? What (inaudible) first thing you will change?

J. MCCAIN: The first thing I’ll fix is make sure that their taxes are not raised. I’ll make sure that they -- available and affordable health insurance. We will grow jobs.

We will get off alternate energy that -- frankly, this family who uses a lot of gasoline. We’ve got to get off that dependence on foreign oil. I know how to do that. (inaudible) I have a concrete plan to fix our economy.

And I’ll make their health insurance affordable and available, a quality education for their kids, and I’ll keep taxes low. They don’t need a tax increase in this very difficult time. And I will be opposed to that and I will make sure that it doesn’t happen.

But we can restore our economy again, but we’ve got to clean up this mess that -- and drain the swamp that’s causing so many problems and having so many innocent bystanders from being harmed by it.

Obama Speech on the Economic Crisis: Transcript (9-16-08)

Obama gave this speech on Tuesday at the Colorado School of Mines (Golden,Colorado). Read the full transcript and see the complete video.

Over the last few days, we have seen clearly what's at stake in this election. The news from Wall Street has shaken the American people's faith in our economy. The situation with Lehman Brothers and other financial institutions is the latest in a wave of crises that have generated tremendous uncertainty about the future of our financial markets. This is a major threat to our economy and its ability to create good-paying jobs and help working Americans pay their bills, save for their future, and make their mortgage payments.

Since this turmoil began over a year ago, the housing market has collapsed. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had to be effectively taken over by the government. Three of America's five largest investment banks failed or have been sold off in distress. Yesterday, Wall Street suffered its worst losses since just after 9/11. We are in the most serious financial crisis in generations. Yet Senator McCain stood up yesterday and said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong

A few hours later, his campaign sent him back out to clean up his remarks, and he tried to explain himself again this morning by saying that what he meant was that American workers are strong. But we know that Senator McCain meant what he said the first time, because he has said it over and over again throughout this campaign - no fewer than 16 times, according to one independent count.

Now I certainly don't fault Senator McCain for all of the problems we're facing, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to. Because the truth is, what Senator McCain said yesterday fits with the same economic philosophy that he's had for 26 years. It's the philosophy that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down. It's the philosophy that says even common-sense regulations are unnecessary and unwise. It's a philosophy that lets Washington lobbyists shred consumer protections and distort our economy so it works for the special interests instead of working people.

We've had this philosophy for eight years. We know the results. You feel it in your own lives. Jobs have disappeared, and peoples' life savings have been put at risk. Millions of families face foreclosure, and millions more have seen their home values plummet. The cost of everything from gas to groceries to health care has gone up, while the dream of a college education for our kids and a secure and dignified retirement for our seniors is slipping away. These are the struggles that Americans are facing. This is the pain that has now trickled up.