In an ABCNews.com post describing his March 17 interview with Sen. John McCain on Twitter -- a “twitterview” -- This Week host George Stephanopoulos uncritically reprinted McCain's claim during the interview that he “would have never bailed out AIG.” Stephanopoulos did not note that while McCain originally stated in September 2008 that he opposed a federal bailout of AIG, McCain later stated that he supported it, as Media Matters for America has documented. Indeed, appearing on the September 16, 2008, edition of NBC's Today -- hours before the federal government announced up to $85 billion in loans for AIG -- McCain said that the situation could “harm the average American worker,” but that “I do not believe that the American taxpayer should be on the hook for AIG” and that “we cannot have the taxpayers bail out AIG or anybody else.” But then, after the government intervention had been announced, McCain appeared on ABC's Good Morning America and while saying “on the bailout itself, I didn't want to do that,” he then suggested it had been necessary, saying, “but there were literally millions of people whose retirement, whose investments, whose insurance were at risk here, and they were gonna have their lives destroyed because of the greed and excess and corruption.” Further, a September 17, 2008, article on the Good Morning America interview, ABCNews.com reported: “Doug Holtz-Eakin, a senior economic adviser to McCain, sought to clarify McCain's position on the bailot [sic]. 'The senator supports the particulars of the action but regrets that circumstances forced us to actually have to do it.' ”

During the Twitter interview, Stephanopoulos and McCain had the following exchange about AIG:

GStephanopoulos@SenJohnMcCain AIG: Would a President McCain break bonus contracts? Obama teams says that would cause more harm than good

SenJohnMcCain@GStephanopoulos i would have never bailed out AIG, the real scandal is billions to foreign banks.

GStephanopoulos@SenJohnMcCain ok, but today: should bonus contracts be broken? Dodd wants a targeted tax on bonuses OK with that?

SenJohnMcCain@GStephanopoulos i haven't seen it but i would explore every option. i repeat, we wouldn't have this problem if we hadn't bailed them out

GStephanopoulos@SenJohnMcCain RIght, but didn't you vote for first TARP, which went to AIG?

SenJohnMcCain@GStephanopoulos i voted for first tarp but that doesn't mean i voted to bail out AIG.

GStephanopoulos@SenJohnMcCain Obama says GOP can't “just say no” on budget Will you offer a full alternative to Obama budget?

SenJohnMcCain@GStephanopoulos to follow up - first AIG bailout was pre-tarp.

GStephanopoulos@SenJohnMcCain Take point on 1st AIG bailout How about budget? Will you offer alternative?

In his post-interview account of the “twitterview,” Stephanopoulos did not note that McCain had previously expressed support for the initial $85 billion loan to AIG, after originally opposing such action. In McCain's Today appearance, co-host Matt Lauer asked McCain of the possibility that the government would intervene on behalf of AIG, “What should the government do? First of all, do we even have that kind of money in the system?” McCain responded, “The government should not -- the government -- of course, this is one of the outstanding and glaring examples of the -- of the terrible problems and corruption and greed and excess that has caused all of this fallout, which is going to harm the average American worker. No, I do not believe that the American taxpayer should be on the hook for AIG, and I'm glad that the [then-Treasury] Secretary [Henry] Paulson is apparently taking the same line.” Lauer then asked, “So if we get to the point, middle of the week, as we heard in that report, where AIG might have to file for bankruptcy, they're on their own?” McCain responded, “Well, quote, 'on their own,' we have to -- we cannot have the taxpayers bail out AIG or anybody else.”

During the Good Morning America interview, the day after the Federal Reserve Board announced up to $85 billion in loans to AIG, co-host Robin Roberts asked McCain, “You love coming to this part of the country -- hard-working people. They wake up and they hear the news that the federal government is going to bail out an insurance giant, AIG, by the tune of $85 billion. Do you agree with that?” McCain responded:

Well, I agree with you. These are hard-working Americans. Last night, I had dinner with a man who's a teacher, his wife is a teacher. He's a locksmith. Another family, the mother is a nurse. They're the fundamentals of America. They're still strong. But they've been betrayed by the top of our economy, by the greedy Wall Street excesses that sometimes, I think, may even be corruption, and they have had their lives harmed because of the greed and excess. We've got to fix it. We've got to say that it'll never happen again. As president, I will make sure that it never happens again.

Now, on the bailout itself, I didn't want to do that. And I don't think anybody I know wanted to do that, but there were literally millions of people whose retirement, whose investments, whose insurance were at risk here, and they were gonna have their lives destroyed because of the greed and excess and corruption. When I say corruption, many of these executives, these Wall Street CEOs said everything's fine, as you know, up until a short time ago -- everything's fine, not to worry. Meanwhile, Congress, the regulators, paid no attention whatsoever to it.

In a September 17 statement on the bailout, McCain said the government “was forced” to intervene on behalf of AIG and also said: “The focus of any such action should be to protect the millions of Americans who hold insurance policies, retirement plans and other accounts with AIG.”

Reporting on McCain's interview with Roberts, ABC News correspondent Ron Claiborne wrote:

Asked whether he agreed with the government bailout of insurance giant American International Group on today's “Good Morning America,” Sen. John McCain answered ambiguously, in stark contrast to a Tuesday interview where he adamantly opposed it.

“I didn't want to do that. And I don't think anybody I know wanted to do that. But there are literally millions of people whose retirement, whose investment, whose insurance were at risk here,” the Republican presidential nominee told ABC News' Robin Roberts, sounding somewhat accepting of the Fed's action on AIG.

“They were going to have their lives destroyed because of the greed and excess and corruption,” McCain said.

But on Tuesday, the day following Lehman Brothers' collapse after the government declined to bail out the 158-year-old bank, McCain was opposed to the notion that the government should act to save AIG, teetering on the brink of collapse itself.

McCain was adamant in an interview with “The Today Show.” “No, I do not believe that the American taxpayer should be on the hook for AIG, and I'm glad that the Secretary [Henry] Paulson has apparently taken the same line.”

NBC's Matt Lauer pressed McCain: “So, if we get to the point, in the middle of the week when AIG might have to file for bankruptcy, they're on their own?”

McCain replied, “Well, they're on their own. We cannot have the taxpayers bail out AIG or anybody else. This is something that we're going to have to work through.”

Language in an e-mail statement today from McCain on the financial markets and AIG seemed to follow suit.

McCain said any actions “should be to protect the millions of Americans who hold insurance policies, retirement plans and other accounts,” and in the next sentence insisted, “We must not bailout the management and speculators who created this mess.”

Doug Holtz-Eakin, a senior economic adviser to McCain, sought to clarify McCain's position on the bailot. “The senator supports the particulars of the action but regrets that circumstances forced us to actually have to do it.”