[raybbr]

I am not saying that the dems are not to blame. I am saying that the pubs HAVE to share the blame for the GSE debacle. You just can’t have it both ways.

[syriacus]

I am saying that the pubs HAVE to share the blame for the GSE debacle.

The DEMbacle might have been averted if Democrats had permitted oversight of Fannie Mae.

The Republicans did not have the 60 votes necessary to bring their reform to the floor of the senate.

[fluffdaddy]

Just because Republicans were complicit doesn't mean they can't effectively blame the Dems. That's the way politics works. You get the blame for the policies you are closely identified with even if the people pointing the finger were also involved. Remember Iraq. Both parties got us in, only one got the blame for the difficulties we encountered.

If Republicans could just point out that the subprime mortgage mess results from decades of government efforts to use the mortgage market to provide affordable housing and that Democrats spearheaded those efforts, the public’s preconceptions would do the rest. Most people don't know much, but they do know that Democrats are the party of welfare.

McCain, Bush and Republicans in Congress just blew it. They had the ball on the opponent's two yard line and they fumbled. The plummeting Dow should be dragging Dems down, but it isn't because the Republicans couldn't bring themselves to point the finger of blame. All these years of catching flack and they still haven't figured out that in politics it matters more who gets blamed when things go wrong than who gets credit when things go right.

Can anybody here play this game?