Last Friday, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner reportedly exploded in an "expletive-laced" rant "blasting" Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, FDIC head Sheila Bair, and SEC head Mary Schapiro over their public challenging of his proposed consumer protection agency, according to the Journal. But in an interview with the Times today, Geithner suggests he was being more passive aggressive than aggressive-aggressive.

He said it was understandable that the regulators had tried to preserve their jurisdiction over consumer issues.

But he said he also warned them not to lose sight of the broader objective — getting approval of legislation that all of them largely support — instead of being used by opponents of the plan to kill or substantially dilute the legislation because of relatively modest policy differences.

“I have told them, ‘Don’t let your effort to defend your turf add to the complexity of getting legislation done,’ ” Mr. Geithner said. “I said, ‘You all have a huge amount of credibility at stake.’ ”

Right. So, like, if they want to destroy the entire economy and their own reputations, Geithner's not going to stand in the way. But why don't they just think about it overnight, mmkay?

Geithner Takes Regulators to Task on Turf Battle [NYT]
Earlier: Geithner Loses It