The reason pracitcally nobody is critisizing the takeover/bailout is nobody can think of another solution.
The government was already on the hook for the money.
The alternative of letting both fail and plunging the economy into a deep recession may sound nice from a purists/libertarain standpoint, but not many people that actually live in the real work like the idea.
Both parties got us into this mess over several decades. The original premise of having a private instituion guranteed by the government was flawed because it didn’t take into accout the size Freddy and Fannie could grow to.
It looks like the people that owned stock in both are going to get screwed. Fine. No different that when any other company goes under.
What gaffe? Everyone in the banking industry knows that Fannie and Freddie are government-backed cronies. These two institutions had given significant campaign contributions to both parties over the years.