Conservatives, and libertarians, do themselves no good service in harping on TARP, particularly since few of them actually faced having to make a vote with the nation's financial system hanging in the balance. Hindsight is reputed to be 20/20 but even with it, it is not clear than the financial markets wouldn't have collapsed absent something like TARP. And a broad consensus of economists, of all political stripes, agreed on the matter. Focusing on TARP does far worse than that; it serves then to ignore what caused the problem in the first place and how those fundamental conditions, caused by government, have not changed. That's the real issue; government spending and regulation.

Even some, of a libertarian bent, such as Kevin Williamson of National Review, have had cause to revisit the issue and consider it in a different light. Below, a persuasive case made for Milton Friedman supporting TARP:
http://www.nationalreview.com/nrd/article/?q=NThkZTQ0ZGFlN2FhOWRmNWE4NTY4NmU5Y2Y0NDVkMTk=