Alexander calls for economic clean up, Tuke calls for Paulson's head

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (left) wants the Senate to approve economic reform while Bob Tuke, his opponent in this fall's Senate race, wants Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to resign.

In a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander called on his colleagues to "clear up the massive wreck on the nation's economic highway."

Back in Nashville, Bob Tuke, Alexander's rival for the U.S. Senate race in November, called for Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to resign.

Alexander told his colleagues, "We've got to give the Secretary of Treasury enough money and enough authority to be able to buy all the junk in the middle of the economic highway and get if off the road and hope he is able to sell it for about what he paid for it, or at least to minimize our losses.

"That's why it's wrong to call it a '$700 billion bailout,' because he may need up to that amount to buy all this stuff in the middle of the highway. But he may buy much less. Then he's going to sell these assets. There might even be a profit, which, under the plan, would go to reduce the federal debt."

Alexander then made a bipartisan appeal that seemed to address those in the audience. "The United States Senate has not finished its work on the economic recovery plan, and we plan to continue our work, to discuss it [Tuesday] and [Wednesday], and to complete our work on that by the end of the week. That's our intention. We believe that will happen. We're united in that purpose in a bipartisan way."

Tuke has a different view as to why no economic package has passed yet. In an e-mail to supporters, Tuke said, "Then why did it fail? It failed because Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had "poisoned the well" when he first proposed the bailout in a three-page memo calling for his unfettered authority to spend $700 Billion of taxpayers' money to backstop his buddies' Wall Street firms that had caused the very crisis from which he sought to protect them.

"He then arrogantly defended this outrageous plan and sent a befuddled president out before the American people to call for its immediate adoption. He also orchestrated the utterly fruitless meeting of Congressional leaders, the president, both presidential candidates and himself to further his plan."

Not to leave his opponent unscathed, Tuke added this little nugget: "Henry Paulson should resign immediately, and he should be replaced with a moderate consensus-oriented person with experience in the commercial banking and mortgage industries, not another Wall Street investment banker.

"Paulson sought to protect his friends and his business interests, while duping his uninformed president and others, like Lamar Alexander, into supporting his flawed approach to this debacle. Until he is gone, it will be very difficult for the president and the rest of the lame Republican leadership to have any credibility in this crisis."

Tuke went on to criticize Alexander for not supporting bills called "The Economic Recovery Act of 2008" and the "Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008."