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On Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked McCain directly about the issue.

CHRIS WALLACE: But you did it indirectly, so let me ask you for some straight talk. Do you think that Senator Obama is a socialist? Do you think that his plans are socialism? 

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: I think his plans of the—are a redistribution of the wealth. He said it himself: we need to spread the wealth around. Now— 

CHRIS WALLACE: Is that socialism? 

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: That’s one of the tenets of socialism. But it’s more the liberal left, which he’s always been on. He’s always been in the left lane of American politics. That’s why he voted ninety-four times against any tax cuts or for tax increases. That’s why he voted for the Democratic resolution, a budget resolution that would raise—would impose taxes on—raise taxes on some individual who makes $42,000 a year. That’s why he has the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate. 

CHRIS WALLACE: But Senator, when we talk— 

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: So—so, is one of the tenets of socialism redistribution of wealth? Not just socialism, a lot of other liberal and left-wing philosophies. Redistribution of the wealth? I don’t believe in it. I believe in wealth creation by Joe the plumber. 

CHRIS WALLACE: But Senator, you voted for the $700 billion bailout that’s being used partially to nationalize American banks. Isn’t that socialism? 

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: That is reacting to a crisis that’s due to greed and excess in Washington. And what this administration is doing wrong and what Paulson is doing wrong is not going out and buying up home loan mortgages, home mortgages, and giving people new mortgages at the new value of their homes, so they can stay in their home. They’re bailing out the banks. They’re bailing out these institutions. 

CHRIS WALLACE: But you voted for that. 

SEN. JOHN McCAIN: Of course. It was a package that had to be enacted because the economy was about to go into the tank.

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So, I hope I'm not the only one who see's McCain's double standard here. 

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AMY GOODMAN: Well, is Barack Obama a socialist? 

RICK MacARTHUR: Barack Obama is a socialist like Harper’s Magazine is a media conglomerate. It’s the most preposterous charge I’ve heard in a pretty crazy campaign. When they keep saying that Barack Obama puts socialism ahead of entrepreneurship, I keep thinking of the vast amount of money he’s been collecting from Wall Street for his campaign. His number one bundler is Goldman Sachs, which is—has given him up to this point I think about $740,000. The New York Times, just the other day, has revealed that there’s a new way the two campaigns have come up with to get cash out of Wall Street, and this is Democrats and Republicans alike, with these joint campaign committees. Twelve Goldman Sachs employees were revealed in this latest report to have given more than $25,000 apiece to Obama’s campaign.

You could make the argument that Barack Obama always puts Wall Street first. I’m not going to make that argument, because I don’t know how he’s going to turn out as president. But up to this point, he’s been a champion of Wall Street interests. His number one economic adviser is Robert Rubin, the senior executive—or chairman of the executive committee of Citigroup, the former Treasury secretary, the guy who, alongside Alan Greenspan was arguing against a regulation of the derivatives market in the 1990s very forcefully. And in his own book, in The Audacity of Hope, Obama talks a lot about how much he admires investment bankers, how much he likes bankers, how he feels comfortable with them and with corporate lawyers. So, it’s an absurd charge.

But it’s even more absurd when you realize that, as Chris Wallace pointed out in that clip, John McCain, Robert Rubin, they’re all socialists now. The only one who’s not a socialist, apparently, is Alan Greenspan. He’s just shocked at what’s happened. He’s suddenly found a flaw in the plot of one of his Ayn Rand novels. I’m not sure exactly what the plot flaw is, because he doesn’t specify. But the notion that this is a left-right argument is absurd, is patently absurd, given where the money is coming from to finance these campaigns.

Now, if Obama gets out there and denounces Wall Street, that’s fine. The question is—and McCain is doing the same thing—greed on Wall Street is a constant in our history. The question now is, is a President Obama going to take this crisis, going to take this possible mandate? Because, apparently, it’s backfiring for McCain. The polls are widening. Obama is going further and further ahead. It seems to suggest that the American people are saying, “Hey, socialism, this sounds pretty good! If he’s a socialist, I’m for it.” Everybody seems to be for it. What’s he going to do with this mandate? Is he going to appoint one of usual suspects as Treasury secretary, or is he going to do something different? Is he going to do something more specific about regulating these markets, or is he going to rely on the advice of people like Robert Rubin?