TAMPA, FL — Sen. McCain took on an extremely populist tone Tuesday as he rallied more than 1,500 supporters in Tampa, excoriating Wall Street for greed and casting himself as the fighter for the public good.

McCain ravaged the finance industry and big business for the practices he says have created and exacerbated the current crisis and highlighted the fact that called for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reforms two years go.

“We’ve seen self-interest, greed, irresponsibility and corruption undermine the hard work of the American people,” he said. “Too many people on Wall Street have forgotten or disregarded the basic rules of sound finance. In an endless quest for easy money, they dreamed up investment schemes that they themselves don’t even understand…(and) as their schemes unravel in bankruptcies and collapse, it’s once again once again the public who is left to bare the cost and I promise you that on my watch we are never going to let these kinds of abuses go uncorrected or unpunished.”

In essence McCain is calling for increased transparency, reforms and regulations but offered little in the way of specifics regarding his plan today. Instead, he focused most of his remarks on the perpetrators of the crisis–using extremely strong language in trashing Wall Street for “disgraceful” behavior and what he called financial recklessness.

He also released a new TV spot today (above), echoing this new line and promising, “experience and leadership in a time of crisis.”

FULL TRANSCRIBED REMARKS BELOW:

“If Governor Palin and I are elected in 49 days, we’re not going to waste a moment changing the way Washington does business. And we’re going to start where the need for reform is greatest. In short order we’re going to put an end to the reckless conduct and unbridled greet that have caused the crisis on Wall Street. We’re gonna put a stop to it.

The working people of the state of Florida and this nation are the most innovative, the hardest working, the best skilled, most productive, most competitive in the world. And this foundation of our economy, the American worker is strong, but it’s been put at great risk by the greed and mismanagement of Wall Street and Washington.

I’ll give you some straight talk my friends, the top of our the top of our economy is broken. We’ve seen self-interest, greed, irresponsibility and corruption undermine the hard work of the American people. It’s time to set things right and I promise to get the job done as your president.

You know, Americans put a lot of trust in the bankers and brokerage firms of Wall Street. They depend on the financial service sector to protect their savings, IRAs, 401ks and pension accounts. But many leaders in finance have proven unworthy of that trust. Government has a clear responsibility to act in defense of the public interest and that’s exactly what I intend to do. We’re gonna make sure that Americans’ Americans’ accounts are protected.

I pledge that the FDIC and SBIC will have all the support they need to fully back the savings of the American people. Too many people on Wall Street have been recklessly wagering instead of making the sound investments we expected of them and when their companies collapse it seems only the CEOs escape the consequences, while employees, shareholders and other victims are left with nothing but trouble and debt the people who helped cause the collapse make off with tens of millions in severance packages. Disgraceful.

I’ve spoken out against the excess of corporate executives and I can assure you that if I’m president we’re not gonna tolerate that anymore. In my administration, we’re going to hold people on Wall Street responsible and enact and enforce reforms that make sure that these outrages and they are outrages never happen in the first place.

Too many people on Wall Street have forgotten or disregarded the basic rules of sound finance. In an endless quest for easy money, they dreamed up investment schemes that they themselves don’t even understand. While their derivatives, credit default swaps and mortgage backed securities they tried to make their own rules, but they could only avoid the basic rules of economics for so long. Now as their schemes unravel in bankruptcies and collapse, it’s once again once again the public who is left to bare the cost and I promise you that on my watch we are never going to let these kinds of abuses go uncorrected or unpunished.

Too many practices on Wall Street have been kept hidden from public view to buy time and postpone the inevitable reckoning. Bad investments were made even worse and risks allowed to multiply by keeping them off the books. Derivatives, mortgage backed securities and other complicated instruments often disguise foolish investments and were sold to insurance companies, pension funds, mutual funds, banks and individuals. When the housing markets collapsed, and the values of these securities went way down, our banks couldn’t pay their debts. We saw Baer Stearns collapse, followed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. More recently Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and a troubled Merrill Lynch was sold to Bank of America in order to survive, and now. Now we have other banks and insurance companies at risk.

So much of the loss and damage to our economy could have been avoided if these practices had been exposed to the light of day. People have a right to know when their jobs, pensions, investments and our whole economy or being put at risk by the recklessness of Wall Street, and under my reforms for the financial sector, that fundamental right will be and must be protected.

Too many firms, too many firms on Wall Street have been able to count on casual oversight by regulator agencies in government, and there’s so many of these regulators that the responsibility for oversight is scattered, unfocused and ineffective. Among others, we’ve got the F, the SEC, the CFTC, the FDIC, and the SDIC and the OCC, the alphabet soup is there. But for all of their big and impressive sounding names the fact is they haven’t been doing their job right or else we wouldn’t have these massive problem son Wall Street and that’s a fact.

At their worse they’ve been caught up in Washington turf wars instead of working together to protect investors in the public interest. And we don’t need a dozen federal agencies doing the job badly, we need the best federal agencies to do the job right.

Under my reforms, the American people will be protected by comprehensive regulations that will apply the rules and enforce them to the full. There will be constant access to the books and accounts of our banks and other financial institutions. By law, it will reduce the debt and risk that any bank could take on and above all, I promise reforms to prevent the kind of wild speculation that could put our markets at risk and has already inflicted such enormous damage across our economy.

Two years ago I warned the administration and the congress that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac needed to be fixed and it turns out the problem was even bigger. They waited too long and now we have a housing crisis, 3 bail outs with taxpayers money and a financial crisis. As for the Congress, members in both parties must accept a share of the responsibilities. Some members seem to measure the financial health of the banks and lenders by the size of their political contributions instead of the extent of their debt. They listen to the lobbyists instead of the accountants.

I can promise you the days of dealing and special favors will soon be over in McCain-Palin administration and the public interest will always come first. (applause) The public interest will always come first.

Honest people on Wall Street, and there are many, will have a friend in the White House when I am president. The financial services industries plays a vital and honorable role in our economy and I will seek reforms to help them serve their shareholders, employees but when any wall street operator abuses the trust of the public then they will face the consequences and they’ll have fight on their hands with this president of the United States. (cheers)

I will fight to reform Wall Street and save the pensions and savings of the American people. I will make sure that Washington works for your interests, and not the special interests. I will fight to make it easier for small business owners everywhere to grow and hire. I will fight to make sure you can afford a home loan or a student loan or a small business loan. I will fight to make sure we create more jobs here at home and prosperity for all Americans. I promise you that.