There’s a difference?

(CNN) — The $700 billion financial plan for Wall Street failed in the House of Representatives because people are not convinced it is a “rescue effort,” Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain told CNN’s “American Morning.”

“We haven’t convinced people that this is a rescue effort not just for Wall Street but for Main Street America,” McCain said from the campaign trail in Des Moines, Iowa Tuesday. “We didn’t do a good enough job.”

Semantics. See, "rescue" sounds better. It's an easier sell. "Rescuing" someone is noble, and has life-saving connotations. As in, if we don't do the

rescue, people are gonna die.

But “bailout” has negative connotations in politics.  It evokes thoughts of welfare, and that’s not what people want to think of when they think about powerful finance industry companies.

In short, this is a rather ham-handed attempt by McCain to re-brand the crap sandwich Congress is currently trying to make us eat.