Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John McCain says he shares Sarah Palin's opinion that Republican congressional candidates could suffer at the polls if they stray from the tea party's anti-spending, anti-tax message. (snip) The Arizona Republican said that when Republicans gained majorities in Congress in 1994, "they betrayed our base, particularly in the area of fiscal responsibility" and were repudiated in the next two elections. McCain said, "What Sarah is saying is, 'We've got to get fiscally responsible Republicans in.' "

WASHINGTON (AP) — One Republican senator lost his job because he voted for the 2008 bank bailout. Two other GOP lawmakers may be next. Former President George W. Bush's lifeline to financial institutions is roiling GOP primaries, with Republicans who reluctantly supported it facing the ire of conservatives furious about budget-busting spending and tea partiers grousing that Wall Street came before Main Street. Economists credit the bailout with staving off deeper economic turmoil. Banks have paid back much of the money — plus interest. And GOP lawmakers were being loyal Republicans in following the wishes of their president. Yet some...

As the Republican presidential candidate in the fall of 2008, Arizona Sen. John McCain had more power than anyone to upend the Wall Street rescue package. But McCain now feels duped by former Republican Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. “We were all misled,” McCain said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” speaking of Paulson. “What did he do? He started pumping money into the financial institutions. Now the financial institutions are fine — Wall Street’s doing great. Main Street is in deep trouble.” Paulson and other former Bush administration officials told Congress at the time that the $700 billion lawmakers approved...