Tucker Bounds and Andrea Mitchell on John McCain
"MSNBC Live" 1:00pm
Interview
TRANSCRIPTION
MITCHELL: Tucker, there is no question that there has been an exaggeration in a lot of the things in a lot of the things that Sarah Palin has said about the relationship [between Obama and Ayers]. Why do that? What are you trying to suggest? Are you trying to make Barack Obama seem to be some sort of terrorist himself? This man has been running for president for, at least, two years and has been vetted through, you know, 22 primary debates, already two debates in the general election. What's your point?
BOUNDS: Well, I think there are a couple different points here, Andrea. I think that the presidential election process is the ultimate vetting process for the American people to determine what type of leadership they want in the White House and I think most Americans who are sitting at home, watching these television sets know that they don't have any friends that they've gone to their living rooms and helped with their career that are also--
MITCHELL: Even calling him a friend, Tucker [...] is an overstatement according to all the fact-checking that we've been able to do.
BOUNDS: Andrea, it's the same overstatement that his chief strategist said when he said that the Ayers and Barack Obama are certainly friendly. I don't know what else we could describe it as as not friends if they're not certainly friendly. They've served on the same boards and he invited him over to his home to help him launch his political career. I wish I had friends so nice.
[...]
MITCHELL: The [mortgage] plan that was first put forward by John McCain on Tuesday night now has been changed so that the lenders would not have to take a haircut, that they would be reimbursed for the full value--the stated value of these mortgages or original value of these mortgages. Isn't this rewarding some really bad lenders with more taxpayer money?
[...]
BOUNDS: What we think American voters will recognize is that when you have alloted $700B to help rescue this economy that prioritizing, at least, half of it to go directly to homeowners is a better idea than allowing most of it to go to Wall St. [...].
MITCHELL: Why structure so the lenders get the benefit and have the taxpayers paying, in this case. Why not make the lenders, if they are bad lenders, and they're not in crisis, why not force them to take some share of this burden?
BOUNDS: Well, there's an unfortunate by-product of a mortgage, which is you have to go buy it from a lender and so, if you are homeowner that has a mortgage and you would like to have a fixed rate because you've been backed into a predatory place where you cannot afford your mortgage payment, John McCain has said, 'The rescue plan that taxpayers are paying for, that Barack Obama has supported, that Joe Biden has supported should go to homeowners so they can get a fixed rate loan and not to Wall St. There is no way to re-finance the loan without dealing with the financial institutions that give the loan. [...]
TB2 JM MSNBC 10-09-08 13.00 (JR#527) Part Two
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