Oh, dear. John never really meant it

Remember the one really new, original, mavericky (if not entirely sensible) thing McCain said at the debate? You know, that out-of-the-blue proposal that the government should buy up everyone's mortgage at the current value and let people keep their homes by paying off the new value? (Despite having called, just a few moments earlier, for a "complete freeze on spending" and a massive cut in taxes that would mean, even without the freeze, that we would have to borrow this money, from China probably...) It was kind of bold, this government-stepping-in-and-lenders-cutting-their-losses plan.

Well, turns out it he didn't really mean it. Turns out, his plan, as currently posted on his website, doesn't actually call for lenders to recognize their losses. In other words, it calls for the government to simply buy up all the mortgages at their original prices.

Meaning it's the government that would own all those houses that aren't worth their mortgages and that people can't afford to keep paying for. It's the government that would take the losses.

Meaning it's the taxpayers. While the lenders who (according to McCain) "were really the match that lit this fire", the ones that "that went out and made all these risky loans", walk away with every penny of the money they so unwisely lent.

So, once again, we see that "maverick? not so much" is the best way to describe McCain.