In Phillidelphia today, McCain had this to say:

"We can't have taxpayers footing the bill for bloated golden parachutes like we see in the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy... My friends, the top executives are asking for $2-and-a-half billion in bonuses after they ran the company into the ground."

Isn't that special!  On the same day Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, Merrill Lynch was sold for pennies on the dollar to Bank of America.  Which makes us wonder about top McCain adviser John Thain.

From USA Today:

John Thain became CEO of Merrill Lynch in December. Thain's $81 million pay package made him the second highest-earning CEO in the nation this year. Bloomberg News reported  that Thain could make another $11 million.

Apparently, John feels a little different about compensation if it's one of his chief advisers.

Holtz-Eakin says he sees no conflict about consulting Thain, who joined the McCain team before taking over Merrill Lynch. He says Thain did a great job taking the company from a "troubled place" to a "successful purchase."

In less than a year the guy took down amost a BILLION dollars while running the company into a ditch.  But because he found a tow truck to pull the totalled chasis out, he is considered a success in McCainland.  How many Merrill Lynch shareholders walked with a profit?  You also have to wonder what access to an extra billion dollars may have done for Merrill Lynch's position at the time of acquisition.

And McCain is complaining about golden parachutes?