Help voters understand "what just happened
If you'd like to help the rest of America see this ad -- on TV, not just the Internet -- so they can understand the role that Barack Obama and congressional Democrats played in the mortgage meltdown, please contribute to the American Issues Project
Hat tip to Ace, who urges conservatives to give to 527s who will spotlight the financial crisis.
McCain has been too gentlemanly to lay the blame for the crisis where it belongs. He was right on this issue, and he deserves credit for sounding the alarm when it mattered. Obama put a (metaphorical) pillow over his head to muffle the alarm (stuffed with all the -- metaphorical -- Benjamins he got from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), then rolled over and went back to sleep, only to call attention to the smoky smell when the roof was fully engulfed in flames. (Via Ace, again.)
If McCain and the RNC won't make the case, we should be giving money to organizations that will.
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I respect Batesline and the "maverick" sensibility of much of what you write. But, wanting to win an election is one thing while a respect for factual reporting is another. I think voters need to get the full story.
PolitiFact says there's "plenty of bi-partisan blame" for the problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/792/
The genesis of the bank meltdowns was through Republican Phil Gramm's amendment that deregulated the credit default swap market in 2000. The allowed banks and traders to speculate about the mortgage market and allowed it to way overinflate itself, to the tune of $62 trillion. It's like the derivatives market decades ago, except worse.
And 80 percent of subprime mortgages were given to white people. The percentage to minorities roughly matched the nation's population breakdown. Do you think a few minorities who couldn't make their house payments caused the collapse of entire financial systems? I don't.
W., there is no mention of minorities anywhere in that ad or in what I wrote about it. Where are you getting that?
W, I don't what race has to do with it. If you think its about African Americans just because some very bright African American politicians are featured in that ad making their misguided points, then I don't know what to say.
You know, everyone wants to help people. I don't know anyone who thinks we shouldn't help people less fortunate. Its the manner and the means of help that make the difference in politics. Most democrats I know would prefer the government to handle aid, which incidentally is probably the least efficient way to do it. Most poverty migrates from generation to generation in families. It has many roots, some of which is racism. But what would lift most people out of poverty is education. And that happens to be one of the things that is lacking most in the impoverished areas. We give our children the ability to pass a test, but we don't teach them how to think. Just think what would happen in one generation, if we focused not on housing but on education. Honestly, people can live anywhere. We've been doing since the beginning of time. But a quality education, with heavy doses of ethics and civic responsibility, with arts and physical fitness, would lift entire generations out of poverty. It would help a lot more than brainwashing families into some manufacutured and materialistic "American Dream." People have to learn how to make ends meet for they can actually do it.
As for bi-partisan blame, this issue is steeped in Democratic diatribe. It's got Bill Clinton and Barney Frank written all over it. The fact that it makes it into law at all is a tribute to Bill Clinton's tremendous ability to push his agenda. We need to help people. The way we help them makes all the difference between success and failure. This one was a failure, plain and simple.