Republican presidential candidate John McCain is due to speak with an invited group of about 200 Iowa business people later this morning at a Des Moines business.
McCain landed in Des Moines at about 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon, after the Wall Street bailout bill failed to pass the U.S. House. McCain read a brief statement to a small group of reporters. "I share the anger and frustration that many Americans feel toward reckless and corrupt mismanagement on Wall Street and in Washington," McCain said.
McCain called the bill considered yesterday "far from perfect" but a "significantly improved" rescue plan. McCain blamed presidential candidate Barack Obama and other Democrats for its failure. "Our leaders are expected to leave partisanship at the door and come to the table to solve our problems. Senator Obama and his allies in congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process," McCain said, reading from a prepared statement. "Now is not the time to fix the blame. Now is the time to fix the problem."
State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald, an Obama supporter, suggests McCain is scrambling. "He cancelled his campaign last week, wanted to cancel the debate, went back to Washington, took credit for putting this together," Fitzgerald says. "Now it’s all collapsed and he’s trying to lay blame across the aisle at Senator Obama and teh Democrats, and it just won’t wash."
Three of Iowa’s five congressmen voted against the deal. Republicans Tom Latham and Steve King, along with Democrat Bruce Braley voted no. Democrats Dave Loebsack and Leonard Boswell voted for the Wall Street bailout.