John McCain is spending millions of dollars to convince you that he's not really a Republican.

He wants you to believe that although he is in the party that has unfailingly opposed financial deregulation, that he is somehow different.

You cannot find one instance of McCain supporting regulation of the finance industry - not a single instance - until, of course, the Day the Dam Broke, September 15.

FEDERAL HOUSING ENTERPRISE REGULATORY REFORM ACT OF 2005
The United States Senate

May 25, 2006

...
The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator's examination of the company's accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.


http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd...p;bill=s109-190

All Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008

Top 3
Name Office State Party Grand Total Total from
PACs Total from
Individuals
Dodd, Christopher $165,400, $48,500, $116,900
Obama, Barack $126,349, $6,000, $120,349
Kerry, John $111,000, $2,000, $109,000
http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/up...nd-freddie.html

The two institutions have long been run not by bankers but by retired political figures, predominantly Democrats. From 1991 to 1998, Fannie Mae was headed by James Johnson, a longtime aide to former Democratic vice president Walter Mondale. Johnson’s successor, Franklin Raines, had served as budget director to Bill Clinton. Jamie Gorelick, vice chair of Fannie Mae from 1998 to 2003, served as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration.

These figures have paid themselves impressive private-sector salaries. Johnson earned US$21-million in just his last year at Fannie Mae. Raines earned US$90-million for five years’ work at Fannie Mae. Gorelick got US$26-million.
http://tsfiles.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/wh...-strikes-again/

Obamas greatest strength in this election is that democrats are reeeaaally ignorant of the issues

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs--and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO's report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO's report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.

Awwww, shucks, dixon. You beat me to it. But, I'll add a little more from that site.

Ahem! Will this do, MrLeft?



Spoken by Senator John McCain: The United States SenateMay 25, 2006, Section 16

Solo: your link isn't working for some reason.

Awwww, shucks, dixon. You beat me to it. But, I'll add a little more from that site.

Ahem! Will this do, MrLeft?



Spoken by Senator John McCain: The United States SenateMay 25, 2006, Section 16

In this speech, McCain managed to predict the entire collapse that has forced the government to eat Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with Bear Stearns and AIG. He hammers the falsification of financial records to benefit executives, including Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson, both of whom have worked as advisers to Barack Obama this year. McCain also noted the power of their lobbying efforts to forestall oversight over their business practices. He finishes with the warning that proved all too prescient over the past few days and weeks.

BTW, dixon, I addressed the issue of campagin funds here. As usual, no response from the libbers.
But, you know we conservatives are the ones that don't want to "discuss" anything.

John McCain is spending millions of dollars to convince you that he's not really a Republican.

He wants you to believe that although he is in the party that has unfailingly opposed financial deregulation, that he is somehow different.

Try this, boys: The United States SenateMay 25, 2006, Section 16

It was the same link as dixon had given earlier. I can see you didn't read his, either. yur little guy came over to my side, Grizz.

Senator Phil Gramm marshaled through the bill that allowed investment banks and insurance companies to run wild. I have Missouri families who have lost jobs. I have a lot of autoworkers who are losing their jobs in Missouri. One of the things that is hard--one of Senator McCain's economic advisers, Senator Gramm, did this massive deregulation. We have another one who was a CEO of a major corporation who walked away from a company with $42 million in her pocket. Because she did well? Because she got that company to the stratosphere? No. She was fired. The board of directors fired her and then gave her a $42 million payday.

I have to tell you, in Missouri that doesn't compute. It just doesn't compute. When you lose your job because you haven't done a good job, you should not get paid for it. I know I am offended at the notion that any of this taxpayer money is going to go to multimillion-dollar payouts to anybody who ran any of these companies. It is one of the things we have to pay very close attention to because now that taxpayer money is on the line, we have to make sure it is spent appropriately.

CEO salaries are out of control in this country, and it is not a matter of being competitive. It is not that we have to pay our CEOs so much more because everybody else is. Right now in America a CEO is making 40 times the average worker's salary. Do you know what it is in Japan, one of our competitors? Ten times. It is only ten times.

I want to mention Social Security because my colleague from Georgia mentioned Social Security. I want everyone to dwell just a minute on this notion. At the same time Senator McCain, Senator Gramm, and many others were saying deregulate, deregulate, what else were they saying? The future of Social Security depends on privatization. Privatization of Social Security was our ticket to the promised land for stability in the Social Security Program. Think about that today. Think about what that means today, yesterday, Monday. Think about the consequences. We need to realize we have to learn from our mistakes. We have to fix what is broken and, for gosh sakes, we cannot talk about privatizing Social Security on Wall Street right now. I am hopeful this will be a wake-up call to all those people who advocate the privatization of Social Security.