John McCain vows to 'clean up Wall Street'

In remarks in Jacksonville, Fla., this morning, McCain said he supported the Treasury Department's decision not to bail out Lehman Brothers and promised to "clean up Wall Street."

Democrat Barack Obama called the turmoil in the financial markets "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."

En route to Colorado to start a swing through battleground states in the West, Obama argued that the country "can't afford another four years of this failed philosophy." He blamed eight years of policies "that have shredded consumer protections, loosened oversight and regulation and encouraged outsized bonuses to CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans."

Noting that McCain is not to fault for the economic crisis, he argued that the economic "trickle down" philosophy he advocates is to blame. "Instead of prosperity trickling down the pain has trickled up -- from the struggles of hardworking Americans on Main Street to the largest firms of Wall Street."

McCain's campaign unleashed an ad in which he claimed that only "proven reformers" like him and his running mate Sarah Palin can fix the financial mess. His prescription: toughen financial rules, lower corporate taxes to create new jobs and approve offshore oil drilling to lower gas prices.

And, in remarks in Florida, McCain said, "We will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street."

Palin echoed the theme. "Washington has been asleep at switch," she said today in Colorado. Accusing Wall Street of putting its own interests first, Palin said, "John McCain and I are going to put an end to the mismanagement and abuses that have resulted in this financial crisis."

Obama's campaign meanwhile released its own ad hitting back at McCain's campaign, saying it has run a dishonest campaign with some of the "sleaziest ads" ever seen. And, amid grumbling from Democrats that Obama is not fighting back hard enough, the campaign also sent vice presidential candidate Joe Biden out to carry more of the message against McCain.

Saying that McCain is "launching a low blow a day," Biden said the Arizona senator is "with George Bush firmly in the corner of the wealthy and the well-connected."

Biden, campaigning in St. Clair Shores, Mich., said that McCain's economic policies mean that "a very few [of the] wealthy have a seat at the table and the rest of us are the menu." Reminding voters that George W. Bush promised to lead in a bipartisan way and to change the tone in Washington, Biden said, "Eight years later, another Republican candidate is telling us this time will be different. Folks we've seen this movie before. We know the sequel is always worse than the original."

"If you're ready for four more years of George Bush, John McCain is your man," Biden said. "Just as George Herbert Walker Bush was nicknamed 'Bush 41' and his son is known as 'Bush 43,' John McCain could easily become known as 'Bush 44.' "

johanna.neuman@latimes.com