John McCain Claims Responsibility for Bailout's Success

Before the $700 billion bailout plan failed to secure enough votes in the House today, Senator John McCain and members of his campaign were already patting themselves on the back for the GOP candidate's role in its passage. Here's McCain yesterday…

"I've never been afraid of stepping in to solve problems for the American people, and I'm not going to stop now."

And here's advisor Steve Schmidt, also yesterday…

"Sen. McCain knew time was short and he came back, he listened and he helped put together the framework of getting everybody to the table, which was necessary to produce a package to avoid a financial catastrophe for this country."

And here's campaign communications director Jill Hazelbaker just this morning…

"Sen. McCain interrupted his campaign, suspended his campaign activity to come back to Washington to get Republicans around a table," Hazelbaker said. "Without Sen. McCain, House Republicans would not have appointed a negotiator, which would not have moved this bill forward.

"It's really Sen. McCain who got all parties around a table to hammer out a deal that hopefully is in the best interests of the American taxpayer."

Other things McCain might as well go ahead and give himself credit for include The Mets' World Series win, The Love Guru's Oscar sweep and President John McCain's reelection.