CQ Transcriptswire

Sept. 17, 2008

SPEAKERS: SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.

CINDY MCCAIN, CINDY MCCAIN, WIFE OF SEN. JOHN MCCAIN

DIANE SAWYER, ABC ANCHOR

ROBIN ROBERTS, ABC ANCHOR

ROBERTS: But, of course, we are here -- the reason that we are making this trek across the country is to get your questions to ask the presidential candidates.

And good enough to join us -- excuse me, Diane...

SAWYER: Yes.

ROBERTS: ... (inaudible) going to walk right across this beautiful Lipps family farm: Senator John McCain .

J. MCCAIN: How are you? Good to see you again.

ROBERTS: Good to see you. Thank you very much.

We just thought we’d stop the train here. We heard that you were here.

J. MCCAIN: Oh, thank you for making that unexpected stop.

(LAUGHTER)

I’m glad there are always camera people there to...

ROBERTS: Just so happens.

J. MCCAIN: ... anticipate it. Yes.

ROBERTS: I know. You love coming to this part of the country.

J. MCCAIN: Oh, yes.

ROBERTS: Hard-working people. They wake up and they hear the news that the federal government is going to bail out an insurance giant AIG by the tune of $85 billion. Do you agree with that?

J. MCCAIN: Well, I agree with you, these are hard-working Americans. Last night I had dinner with a man who’s a teacher, his wife -- his wife is a teacher. He’s a locksmith. Another family, the mother is a nurse. They’re the fundamentals of America. They’re still strong.

But they’ve been betrayed by the top of our economy, by the greedy Wall Street excesses -- that sometimes I think may even be corruption. And they have -- they have had their lives harmed because of the greed and excess.

We’ve got to fix it. We’ve got to say that it’ll never happen again. As president I will make sure that it never happens again.

Now, on the bailout itself, I didn’t want to do that. And I don’t think anybody I know wanted to do that. But there were literally millions of people whose retirement, whose investments, whose insurance were at risk here, and they were going to have their lives destroyed because of the greed and excess and corruption. When I say “corruption,” many of these executives, these Wall Street CEOs, said everything’s fine, as you know, up until a short time ago -- “Everything’s fine. Not to worry.”

Meanwhile, Congress, the regulators paid no attention whatsoever to it. We have an alphabet soup of regulatory agencies; all of them were asleep at the switch. And the Congress, particularly as far as Fannie and Freddie are concerned, went right along with it, and the special interests and the lobbyists took over.

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.

ROBERTS: Well, Senator McCain, we appreciate you being here. And your wife, Cindy, I see over there. She’s going to join us in just a moment.

J. MCCAIN: Yes.

ROBERTS: And Diane will join in the conversation, as well.

But what do you think about the weather? Don’t you think we should check with that first? J. MCCAIN: I think so.

(LAUGHTER)

But I just want to also say, look, America, can get through this. Our best days are ahead of us, not behind us. They need a government that works for them, not for the special interests in Washington. That is my record.

Thank you.

ROBERTS: And we will continue that conversation in just a moment.

ROBERTS: Thank you, senator.

J. MCCAIN: Thanks a lot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: We are back in Gustavus, Ohio. It is our Whistle Stop Tour, day three.

And good enough to join us, Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his wife, Cindy McCain.

And it was cute when Diane asked you, “How many days left until...

(LAUGHTER)

You were quick at “48 days.”

C. MCCAIN: Forty-eight days.

ROBERTS: Forty-eight days.

C. MCCAIN: Who’s counting?

(LAUGHTER)

ROBERTS: Everyone seems to be counting.

You’re never far from your husband’s side. Does he confide with you? Does he talk with you about the major issues and get your advice on some things?

C. MCCAIN: Certainly at the end of the day the issues are not what we’re talking about. We usually are checking in with our children and things like that. But, certainly, we talk, absolutely.

J. MCCAIN: I think we should have full disclosure there. It’s a critique.

(LAUGHTER)

C. MCCAIN: That’s true. I was trying to be nice.

(CROSSTALK)

J. MCCAIN: ... performance and those kinds of things.

(LAUGHTER)

SAWYER: How does she think you’re doing?

J. MCCAIN: Sometimes I get mixed reviews...

(LAUGHTER)

... and sometimes I deserve them.

(LAUGHTER)

SAWYER: If I could ask about one issue, because we are here in the heartland and we keep hearing about a lot of social issues as we travel around here.

And I wanted to clear up something, if I could, because Mrs. McCain. CBS reported on Roe v. Wade that they had contacted your staff and that you had said that you do not, as Mrs. Bush, in fact, has said she does not, want the repeal of Roe v. Wade so that some states can outlaw abortion.

And yet, Senator McCain, you have indicated in previous interviews that you would like the repeal of Roe v. Wade so that the states can make their decisions.

What’s the difference in the two of your view of the issue?

J. MCCAIN: Well, let me just say, this is all about courage and compassion. It’s about changing the culture of America. I am pro- life and I support that position, and I know that Cindy does too. And we need to ask young American women who are faced with this terrible decision that we will help them have the courage to bring a baby into this world and we’ll have the compassion and help them in every way that they can address it.

And it will be, if Roe v. Wade is overturned, go back to the states and the states will make the decisions about it.

So that’s the issue here as to how we treat the issue of human life in America. And it’s got to be done with courage and compassion. And that’s both of our positions.

SAWYER: But, Mrs. McCain, do you oppose the repeal of Roe v. Wade? Was that report correct?

C. MCCAIN: You know, there are people that are without jobs, that are hurting, whose businesses have collapsed, who don’t know where they’re going to find money to feed their families. This is not the major issue on people’s minds right now.

What concerns me is when I talk to people, like people today on this farm, people we had dinner with last night, they’re having trouble making ends meet. A difference in how we stand on abortion or things like that are not what’s foremost in the voters’ minds right now, at all.

J. MCCAIN: So, look, this is an issue that we have to change the culture of America, those of us who respect the rights of the unborn. That’s the thrust of our effort. And I’m happy to know -- to note that we are adoptive parents, and it’s enriched our lives. And we hope that that will also encourage others to do the same.

ROBERTS: You talked about that people don’t want to get into personal issues, that that doesn’t help them, that they want to talk about the issues. But it has gotten very personal this particular time around, the campaign, on both sides. And a lot of people thought it was refreshing on 9/11 that no negative ads, you both, you and Senator Obama, appeared at the presidential forum on community service.

And can we make that kind of commitment? Why does it have to -- how does it really serve anybody when it becomes so, so bitter?

J. MCCAIN: It doesn’t. But I can tell you one way it makes it a lot better -- because I’ve been in previous campaigns -- have Senator Obama come to a town hall meeting with me. Let’s go to town hall meetings all over America; both of us stand before the American people. That’s what Barry Goldwater and Jack Kennedy had decided to do.

And I’ve asked time after time...

ROBERTS (?): Does it feel like...

J. MCCAIN: ... “Senator Obama, come to the town hall meetings with me. Have the people ask, we respond.”

I guarantee you that changes the tone of the campaign, because then people pay attention to the candidates, not the back-and-forth, not the surrogates, not the 527s. And so I asked Senator Obama again. We’ve got 49 days left. Let’s...

C. MCCAIN: Forty-eight.

J. MCCAIN: Forty-eight.

ROBERTS: She’s critiquing you, 48.

(LAUGHTER)

J. MCCAIN: Forty-eight. Let’s go to the town hall meetings, and then the American people will be focused on that. I don’t know why he’s refused to do that, because when he was first asked he said he would go anywhere, any time.

And so I hope that he will take up that request. And I look forward to it. I’ll fly with him. I promise not to fly the airplane.

(LAUGHTER)

SAWYER: Senator, the computer is going to cut us off here in just a minute. We want to thank you so much for this morning.

And we’ve frozen you to death Ms. McCain.

(LAUGHTER)

We owe you one on that, we really do.

(LAUGHTER)

J. MCCAIN: Thanks for having us.

C. MCCAIN: Thank you.

J. MCCAIN: Appreciate it. Thank you.

Source: CQ Transcriptions, Sept. 17, 2008

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