Posted on 10/05/2008 2:20:37 PM PDT by hecht
If McCain Doesn't Want to Talk Fannie and Freddie, Why Is He Running?
Palin is bringing up Barack Obama's long connection to William Ayers... okay.
I don't doubt that not enough Americans know about Obama and his ties to Ayers, and what an unrepentant domestic terrorist and SOB Ayers is. But that message is going to come up against a media that is hostile, determined to downplay the ties and/or willing to lie. (What the heck got into CNN lately? The past few weeks, they're getting things 180 degrees flat wrong, again and again, about easily verifiable facts and the mistakes always benefit Obama. When all the mistakes point in the same direction, one suspects they're not really mistakes.)
But I cannot emphasize enough how much the Campaign Spot's readership is yearning for the Republican nominee to lay out the various ways that Democrats on Capitol Hill aided and abetted the mismanagement and risky gambles at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Atrocious management at Fannie and Freddie isn't the sole reason for our financial mess, but it's a big one. And there were certain voices in Congress, generally on the right, who saw it as risky, and a lot of loud voices on the Hill, generally on the left, insisting that nothing was wrong.
The RNC web ad is a pretty good start, but how many will see it? (About 155,000 so far, in an electorate that will be measured in the tens of millions, probably considerably more than 2004's 122 million.) Can the 1:30 version be cut down and put on television? Why can't John McCain and Sarah Palin make the points about the how the crisis was built illustrated in the "Burning Down the House" (with the revised music) YouTube video? Could McCain please, please bring up some of this in Tuesday's debate?
Don't the American people deserve to know that Democrat Barney Frank, the ranking member and now chairman of the House, said, “I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing”? Isn’t the fact that the ranking Democrat in charge of oversight of Fannie Mae was in a sexual relationship with a high-ranking Fannie Mae executive a glaring conflict of interest ? Isn’t it worth noting that Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters insisted, “we do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and in particular at Fannie Mae, under the outstanding leadership of Mr. Frank Raines”? Shouldn’t the American people know that Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks insist that “there's been nothing that was indicated that's wrong with Fannie Mae”?
If nothing else, shouldn’t we salute Democratic Rep. Artur Davis for saying, “Like a lot of my Democratic colleagues I was too slow to appreciate the recklessness of Fannie and Freddie. I defended their efforts to encourage affordable homeownership when in retrospect I should have heeded the concerns raised by their regulator in 2004. Frankly, I wish my Democratic colleagues would admit when it comes to Fannie and Freddie, we were wrong.” (His statement also criticized Republicans for lax regulation of Wall Street.)
One has to suspect that Obama's ties to Wright, Rezko and Ayers — sounds like a law firm of evil — have persuaded just about all the voters that they're going to persuade. But Americans are furious over the financial mess, and eager to blame somebody. The McCain campaign would be doing the nation a service by spelling out exactly whose bad decisions helped get us into this mess and how.
The excuses given by an unnamed source to U.S. News and World Report will not fly, and Spruiell's objections are spot-on. I might even be harsher - does McCain want to be president and lead on all issues, or does he just want to handle the easily-explained issues? If John McCain doesn't feel that the Democrats' refusal to confront mismanagement of government-backed institutions that gambled and lost, requiring a massive infusion of taxpayer dollars, isn't worth making an argument about, then you might as well let Obama have the presidency.
(And ever since the convention speech, I've gotten several e-mails a day, with many readers saying, "Since you're in a position to suggest lines to Palin's team, why don't you tell her to say, 'blah blah blah.' Some are great, some are okay, and some are dreadful. But I haven't forwarded any, and don't plan on doing so, since my job is to write about the campaigns instead of writing for them. I'd urge readers to use their best lines themselves.)
If it were me, I’d make a HUGE deal out of it in the LAST DEBATE! Call that the “October Surprise!” and let the cards fall where they will!
I really disagree with this column. Ayers and Rezko and Wright will win this election. The economy stuff is too complicated for most voters.
I fired off some emails to RNC etc and I'm just hoping they are smart enough to take action. RNC has been lame for many years. RNC doesn't understand the need to run even a radio ad in the South. We're still fighting Dems down here and could use some support. People need a reminder of what conservatism is, and that the DNC is a socialist monster that cannot be trusted.
I certainly agree with the point about Fannie and Freddie but, in addition, maybe even more so, for crying out loud, the McCain campaign has got to talk about what happens to the Supreme Court after this election. Two openings probably, maybe more. I cannot accept that people want the Hillary Clintons, Ted Kennedys, Terry McCauliffes, etc. creating our national ethic for years to come. Except for nationa security, the other issues pale in comparison to this.
BS. This is how simple it is;
Clinton wanted to get more poor and minorities into homes. He lowered the standards at Fannie/Freddie creating risky subprime loans to accomplish that goal. When Republicans tried to regulate Fannie/Freddie they were blocked by Dems. (show video with testimony of Barney, Shumer, Dodd, etc say there were no problems at Fannie/Freddie) Democrats not only made statements against fixing the problem, they voted against or blocked every piece of legislation to control the run-a-way subprime loan problem.
What about that is so difficult to understand?
It is beyond me why the McIdiot campaign hasn’t tried to use the meltdown to their benefit.
They better start now, or it will soon be too late.
They need to hammer this unmercifully.
McCain must be worried about alienating the black vote...
Even that is arguable because Clinton recently pointed out that he wanted to do a better job of regulating Fannie and Freddie and the Democrats in his own party blocked him. Then you also have 2 or so state of the union addresses when President Bush spoke of home ownership and what it will do when we have more homeowners in the country (wink and nod to Democrats and his compassionate conservatism).
Let the RNC fight this battle because the electorate does not know who to believe at this point and the more McCain brings this up the more time it distracts from true winners like Rezko/Ayers connections.
McCain is alienating my white @$$.
Nope. People will blame Bush for the economy. Period. Fair or not, its a fact. The best we can do is change the subject. Moreover, it completely misunderstands the undecided voters who will decide this election — patriotic, blue collar and other common sense people in Ohio, Penn, Florida, Michigan, Virginia, New Mexico, etc. They really have not heard much about Wright, Rezko and Ayers ... and they have not seen the emotional, devastating type of ads that can be run about these associations. There will be a groundswell against Obama if done correctly.
Not this S*** again. If you want to bash McCain go on DU and do it.
That may be true, but the Congressional corruption and guilt-by-association stuff is not.
Palin should attack Obama, McCain needs to attack the corrupt Congress.
1. Economy. To win this battle it is a must to explain how this happened.
2. Energy independence. McCain has a much better plan than Obama, he needs to use this.
3. Obama's character.
“BS. This is how simple it is;
Clinton wanted to get more poor and minorities into homes. He lowered the standards at Fannie/Freddie creating risky subprime loans to accomplish that goal. When Republicans tried to regulate Fannie/Freddie they were blocked by Dems. (show video with testimony of Barney, Shumer, Dodd, etc say there were no problems at Fannie/Freddie) Democrats not only made statements against fixing the problem, they voted against or blocked every piece of legislation to control the run-a-way subprime loan problem.
What about that is so difficult to understand?”
Exactly, but start at 1977 and let’s not forget who’s taking money from whom: http://www.opensecrets.org/
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