The way they look at it, they didn't ask the government for a bailout.  In their slightly warped view of things, they believe that the bailout was forced upon them.  Now that some time has passed since the crisis, they delude themselves into believing with certainty that that they would have survived without the bailout.  Of course the reality is that their irresponsible behavior forced the bailout, and without it they all would have all fallen like dominoes, just like Lehman Brothers, taking the rest of us down with them.