'Bailout' is such an ugly word

There have been a lot of theories as to why the $700 billion bailout didn’t pass. Nancy Pelosi poisoned the well with a pre-vote speech, House Republicans had their delicate sensibilities offended, some congressmen were more concerned with getting re-elected. But John McCain knows the real reason is just bad branding.

Crankypants went on CNN’s “American Morning” yesterday to discuss his new plan for saving the economy, since last week’s plan didn’t go so well, you could say. As with most “plans” unveiled by McCain or Obama this season, the details mostly consisted of “I have a plan.” He did leak one major spoiler, thought, and it’s that if we’re going to fix this economy once and for all, we’re going to have to start by arguing us some semantics:

“The first thing I’d do is say, let’s not call it a bailout,” McCain said. “Let’s call it a rescue because it is a rescue.” He’s so right! The only problem with the old plan was the word we were using to describe it. See? Everything’s fixed!

Obama’s camp, naturally, countered that their plan for a $700 billion fluffy bunny party was much better for Main Street.

[Politico]