Transcript: Sen. John McCain

Dec. 14, 2008 — -- ABC'S "THIS WEEK WITH GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS" DECEMBER 14, 2008 SPEAKERS: GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, HOST SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning and welcome to "This Week."

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MCCAIN: Fight for what's right for our country!

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STEPHANOPOULOS: He wanted to be president.

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MCCAIN: I don't want to talk about the bleeping campaign.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: How's he dealing with defeat?

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PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA: We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Can he work with the winner? And what's the future of his party?

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GOV. SARAH PALIN, R-ALASKA: That sounds like years away.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: In his first Sunday interview since the election, Senator John McCain is our exclusive headliner.

Then, will President Bush bail out the big three? Can the Illinois governor survive those tapes?

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GOV. ROD. R. BLAGOJEVICH, D-ILL.: If anybody wants to tape my conversations, go right ahead.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: That, and all the week's politics on our roundtable, with George Will, Gwen Ifill of PBS, Gerry Seib of the Wall Street Journal, and fresh from receiving his Nobel Prize, Paul Krugman of the New York Times. Then, as always, the Sunday Funnies.

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STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE COLBERT REPORT": You've got to give the man credit. He prepared for the media attacks by wearing a helmet.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Hello again. We begin today with a man who won more than 58 million votes for president. Senator John McCain, welcome back to "This Week."

MCCAIN: Thanks, George. Thanks for having me back.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Absolutely. And there's so much to talk to you about since the campaign, but let's begin with the news of the week. You saw that joke about Governor Blagojevich in Illinois. Fifty Democrats in the Senate have called on him to resign. Do you think he should resign?

MCCAIN: Oh, I'm sure that he should have. President-elect Obama also called for that. He should. You know, there's a lot of corruption amongst Republicans and Democrats, and this kind of thing doesn't help in these kinds of difficult economic times. So I would hope that he would resign, but we also look -- ought to look at systems that breed this kind of corruption, and unfortunately, it isn't confined to one city or one state.

STEPHANOPOULOS: The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mike Duncan, has been highly critical of the way President- elect Obama has dealt with this. He's had a statement every single day, saying that the Obama team should reveal all contacts they've had with Governor Blagojevich. He says that Obama's promise of transparency to the American people is now being tested. Do you agree with that?

MCCAIN: I think that the Obama campaign should and will give all information necessary. You know, in all due respect to the Republican National Committee and anybody -- right now, I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy stimulus package, reforms that are necessary. And so, I don't know all the details of the relationship between President-elect Obama's campaign or his people and the governor of Illinois, but I have some confidence that all the information will come out. It always does, it seems to me.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me pick up on what you're just saying there, because I remember well back after Bill Clinton won in 1992, Senator Bob Dole said it was his job in the Senate to represent the 57 percent of the country who didn't vote for Bill Clinton. How do you define your role now as President-elect Obama heads to the White House and you're in the Senate?

MCCAIN: I think my job is, of course, to be a part of and hopefully exert some leadership in the loyal opposition. But I emphasize the word loyal. We haven't seen economic times like this in my lifetime. We haven't seen challenges abroad at the level that we are experiencing, certainly since the end of the Cold War, and you could argue in some respects that they're certainly more complex, many of these challenges. So let's have our first priority where we can work together, where we can -- I don't think the average citizen, who has either lost their home or is in danger of losing their home, lost their job or in danger of losing their job, cares much about party labels right now. What they care about, I think -- I know, I know, because I spent too much time on the campaign trail -- for us to sit down and work together. Will there be areas of disagreement? Of course. We are different parties and different philosophy. But the nation wants us to unite and work together.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, let's get to some specifics on that.

MCCAIN: Sure.

STEPHANOPOULOS: President-elect Obama has said his number one priority is an economic recovery package to create 2.5 million jobs. Take a look.

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OBAMA: We need to act with the urgency this moment demands to save or create at least 2.5 million jobs, so that the nearly 2 million Americans who've lost them know that they have a future. And that's exactly what I intend to do as president of the United States.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: He wants the Congress to get to work even before he's inaugurated. The plans are to build roads and bridges, have a new electric grid, energy-efficient buildings. It's likely to cost several hundred billion dollars. Can you sign on to this?

MCCAIN: Obviously, I want to see the details of it. But we also have to enact some fundamental reforms about the way we do business. The system, now, cries out for reform: elimination of earmarks and pork barrel spending, which have led to corruption, as we all know; a budgetary system that really works; examination of the agency of government to find out whether they are doing what they were designed to do; defense procurement reform. Defense spending, as far as cost overruns, of major weapons systems is completely broken. There's so many areas. We also need -- this is an opportunity, not only to create those jobs, but this is an opportunity for us to clean up the system.