I agree. But their "choice" to accep TARP or not was not really a choice. They could accept the terms of the bailout, or die (go bankrupt). Whether or not it was their own fault that they were in that situation is irrelevant.
You talk as if these investment banks were poor helpless living creatures or something.
They gambled and they lost, then they had their government cronies bail them out. An analogy would be an idiot gambling away his entire live savings on the slot machine, and then going to the house and complaining: "I deserve all my money back because I didn't win."
Companies choose bankruptcy all the time. They don't like to do it, but sometimes it's their best option. GS clearly thought it was their second-best option.
