McCain Says Taxpayers Should Not Bail Out Wall Street, Criticizes Obama for “Nasty” Campaign

From CBS News' John Bentley:

(JACKSONVILLE, FLA.) – Promising to “never put America in this position again” with regards to the turmoil on Wall Street, John McCain said he would bring transparency and accountability to America’s financial markets.

“We believe the time has come and gone where the taxpayers should be viewed as the solution to the problems that are not of their making,” McCain said. “We will reform the regulatory bodies of government.”

Speaking to a noticeably smaller crowd here at his first rally without running mate Sarah Palin, McCain told the 3,000 in attendance at the half full arena that the economy was not in jeopardy.

“The fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are very, very difficult times,” he said.

McCain also addressed what he perceives as a negative tone from his Democratic opponent.

“Sen. Obama's been saying some pretty nasty things about Gov. Palin and me,” McCain said. “That's okay. That's okay. He can attack if he wants, but all the insults in the world aren't going to bring change to Washington.”

The McCain campaign has leveled some harsh critiques itself. Last week, McCain’s camp released ads that accused Obama of supporting sex education for kindergartners, alleging sexism over the “lipstick on a pig” comment, and that Obama did not support the troops in Iraq.