MSNBC Interview - Transcript

Interview

MS. MITCHELL: Congresswoman Heather Wilson, a John McCain supporter. Thanks for joining us. You've just heard as well this agreement on at least the principles that will be in the package.

So we go on to the politics and whether or not, first of all, the American people are getting the right ingredients here and whether it's going to be politically palatable.

REP. WILSON: Well, it's always been easier to deal with this on the Senate side, frankly. The problem is in the House side where Speaker Pelosi has said she's not going to do this alone with only Democrats and there are some real concerns among Republicans as to whether, you know, whether this is the right way to do this and the right thing to do.

MS. MITCHELL: But you can understand that the Speaker didn't want to send her troops out in an election year.

REP. WILSON: That's right --

MS. MITCHELL: If conservative House Republicans were going to take shots at them for doing something that the White House, Republican White House demanded.

REP. WILSON: Which is one of the reasons why it's important for both Senator McCain and Senator Obama to indicate their support for whatever final deal there is because it will help to mute some of this political problems.

MS. MITCHELL: Well, they were prepared to do that, I mean, the scenario, the sequence yesterday was that Barack Obama at 8:30 in the morning called John McCain and said, there's a lot of overlap here between what you're saying, what I'm saying, let's agree on some principles. They didn't connect. Senator McCain was already in a meeting.

So at 2:30 in the afternoon by both sides' reporting, Senator McCain called Senator Obama and says, you know, I'm thinking that maybe we should interrupt campaigning, suspend campaigning and go back and meet with the White House and, for the first time, the president gets involved directly with a primetime speech and a call for a summit, which Senator McCain announces before Senator Obama can get back to his hotel and even talk to the press, seemingly blindsided by this.

REP. WILSON: Well, there were a lot of things that were happening very quickly yesterday, both driven by the markets, by meetings up here on Capitol Hill where my colleagues were saying, the White House, look, you've got to explain to the American people what will happen if we don't act because this isn't clear to people and the calls in my office are running that way.

I also think it was important for the two potential presidents will have to implement this to indicate one way or the other, are they okay with this? Because that helps to take the politics out of it. I'm glad that they're both back here today, particularly on the House side so that we can get something done before the markets open on Monday morning.

MS. MITCHELL: Let me ask you about Sarah Palin because she has done her third interview. She did Charlie Gibson, then Sean Hannity on Fox and now Katie Couric on CBS and this is one segment of the interview that aired last night.

MS. KATIE COURIC (From video.): You've said, quote, "John McCain will reform the way the Wall Street does business." Other than supporting stricter regulations at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more examples of his leading the charge for more oversight?

GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN [R-AK] (From video.): I think that the example that you just cited with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie -- that's paramount. That's more than heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

MS. COURIC (From video.): I'm just going to ask you one more time not to belabor the point -- specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

GOV. PALIN (From video.): I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

MS. MITCHELL: Congresswoman, should she have known what examples she was citing? She has not been given great reviews for that interview and for some of her other interactions as few as they've been.

REP. WILSON: Well, she sure is by the American people. She had a whole lot better week than Joe Biden. But let me give you two that John McCain has done. If it wasn't for John McCain, the tanker deal that the Air Force did wouldn't have uncovered corruption in the Pentagon. The second one has to do with his leadership position on Indian affairs and uncovering the fleecing of American Indian tribes by lobbyists.

He was the one who drove that oversight and he is an iconoclast. He's a maverick and he always has been.

MS. MITCHELL: Well, maybe you should be the running mate, Congresswoman Wilson.

REP. WILSON: I actually love Sarah Palin. I think I'll change my name.

MS. MITCHELL: Don't do that. Don't do that anytime soon.

REP. WILSON: Okay.

MS. MITCHELL: Okay. Thank you very much for being with us.

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