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Is Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel of Ohio a bailout truther?

Mandel went on a Cleveland radio station Tuesday morning and suggested that the financial meltdown of 2008 was created by Washington politicians—not predatory mortgage lenders, lax regulators, incompetent ratings agencies, too-clever-by-half bankers, or delusional homeowners—seemingly as a way to pass the bank bailout.

Mandel’s interviewer with station WMMS remarks that the US “would be in real financial ruin if some of those banks were allowed to collapse.” But Mandel doesn’t buy it. He fires back: “This is what happens in Washington: These politicians, they create a crisis and then they come in and try to take credit for solving the crisis. And it’s exactly what’s wrong with Washington.”

Here’s the clip of Mandel’s remarks, provided by Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s campaign, with a transcript to follow:

Transcript: