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AP Blames GOP For Freddie Mac Fiasco, Ignores Obama Donations
NewsBusters ^ | December 7, 2008 | Noel Sheppard

Posted on 12/07/2008 8:32:53 PM PST by St. Louis Conservative

Democrats, including president-elect Barack Obama and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, received more money in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than any other members of Congress.

You couldn't tell that from an Associated Press article published Sunday which completely blamed Republicans for the lack of regulation and oversight of Freddie Mac.

In fact, when you add it all up, Pete Yost's "AP IMPACT: How Freddie Mac Halted Regulatory Drive" is more like a blog posting at a Netroots website than something that should come from the nation's leading wire service (h/t NBer Dana Brown):

Internal Freddie Mac budget records show $11.7 million was paid to 52 outside lobbyists and consultants in 2006. Power brokers such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich were recruited with six-figure contracts. Freddie Mac paid the following amounts to the firms of former Republican lawmakers or ex-GOP staffers in 2006:

--Sen. Alfonse D'Amato of New York, at Park Strategies, $240,000.

--Rep. Vin Weber of Minnesota, at Clark & Weinstock, $360,297.

--Rep. Susan Molinari of New York, at Washington Group, $300,062.

--Susan Hirschmann at Williams & Jensen, former chief of staff to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, $240,790.

For some strange reason, Yost didn't inform his readers about contributions by this government sponsored enterprise and Fannie Mae to active members of Congress since 1989. Take a look at the top three recipients:

Dodd, Christopher $165,400 Obama, Barack $126,349 Kerry, John $111,000

(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Connecticut
KEYWORDS: 110th; ap; assininepress; barneyfrank; chrisdodd; deceit; donors; election; fanniemae; freddiemac; mediabias; medialies; obama

1 posted on 12/07/2008 8:32:55 PM PST by St. Louis Conservative
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Shocking-not!


2 posted on 12/07/2008 8:34:58 PM PST by johnthebaptistmoore (Conservatives obey the rules. Leftists cheat. Who probably has the political advantage?)
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To: St. Louis Conservative
which completely blamed Republicans for the lack of regulation and oversight of Freddie Mac.

They managed to convince the Blacks that the slave trading Democrat Party was their friend, and the Republican arty, which was formed specifically to free the slaves was their enemy.

They have a long history of big wins.

3 posted on 12/07/2008 8:38:25 PM PST by Balding_Eagle (OVERPRODUCTION......... one of the top five worries for American farmers.)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

That’s the same AP who announced the selection of Emanuel as chief of staff by giving a brief resume. After he left the Clinton admininistration, it was said that he went into “investment banking”. That was their description of Rahm taking a position on the board of Freddie Mac.


4 posted on 12/07/2008 8:41:30 PM PST by the_Watchman
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Why aren’t our Congressional Republicans or the RNC shouting from the roof tops Obama’s connection to Freddie and Fannie?

I’m so tired of liberal lies (including lies of omission) being met with silence or at best weak corrections.

I want Republicans to be loud and persistent in correcting the record. I want media savvy Conservatives in office.

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/we-demand-true-conservative-leadership.html


5 posted on 12/07/2008 8:43:27 PM PST by ensignbay ((We Demand True Conservative Leadership))
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To: St. Louis Conservative

And Frank, Dodd, Biden and all the other dimocrats who got money from Freddie and Fannie.


6 posted on 12/07/2008 8:47:54 PM PST by Salvation ( †With God all things are possible.†)
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To: ensignbay
Why aren’t our Congressional Republicans or the RNC shouting from the roof tops Obama’s connection to Freddie and Fannie?

It is definitely puzzling and demoralizing.

I want Republicans to be loud and persistent in correcting the record. I want media savvy Conservatives in office.

Same here. The Pubbies need less "harmless as doves" and more "crafty as serpents".

7 posted on 12/07/2008 8:50:29 PM PST by Yardstick
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To: St. Louis Conservative; holdonnow

This needs to be brought to the attention of Radio talk shows, Mark Levin and Laura Ingraham.
They are great at confronting situations like this.
The AP lemming needs to submit another article on this
subject only a correct one this time.


8 posted on 12/07/2008 8:55:01 PM PST by SoCalPol (Reagan Republican for Palin - Jindal 2012)
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To: Balding_Eagle

This is so typical of how the democrats operate .. they fought President Bush tooth and nail when he wanted to restructure the regulations .. and because the DEMOCRATS wouldn’t support it .. they couldn’t get the votes to pass it.

Now .. they say Bush is to blame for not doing it.

Good grief .. when are the repubs going to get the picture ..?? They’re damned if they do and they’re damned if they don’t .. SO THE LESSON IS - DO THE RIGHT THING AND IT WILL ALL COME OUT IN THE END.


9 posted on 12/07/2008 8:55:17 PM PST by CyberAnt (Michael Yon: "The U.S. military is the most respected institution in Iraq.")
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Huh... I don’t understand exactly what is surprising about AP supporting its political party with lies and spin. Isn’t that what the AP is expected to do, same as the networks, the big urban newspapers, and the rest of the Democrat newsrooms? Sorry, color me confused....


10 posted on 12/07/2008 8:55:38 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: All

The MSM has been emboldened by the amount of lies by omission they were able to get away with during the campaign, and they will spend the next 2-4 years bashing the GOP and propping up the Dems.

4 years from now, we’ll be hearing how 0-bama needs another 4 years (at least) to fix the mess left behind by Bush.

Never mind that the Dems have control of everything - they will do what they do best and that is, blame others and the MSM will gladly play along.


11 posted on 12/07/2008 9:03:58 PM PST by Rodney Dangerfield (I didn't vote for "The Fresh Prince of Bill Ayers")
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To: St. Louis Conservative
You couldn't tell that from an Associated Press article published Sunday which completely blamed Republicans for the lack of regulation and oversight of Freddie Mac.

Of course it did. AP is a total propaganda branch for the new COMMUNIST party in America, formally known as the "Democrats."

(bs edited)

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, enacted in 1974, (CARTER) makes it unlawful for any creditor to discriminate against any applicant, with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, or age. Failure to comply can subject a financial institution to civil liability for actual and punitive damages in individual or class actions with punitive damages as much as $10,000 in individual actions and the lesser of $500,000 or 1 percent of the creditor’s net worth in class actions.[6]

By contrast, the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 defines discrimination in terms of loans made to individuals and business borrowers in different areas or neighborhoods, but does not mandate any civil or punitive damages

The Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA) was enacted by the 101st Congress and signed into law by President George H. W. Bush in the wake of the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. As part of a general reform of the banking industry, it increased public oversight of the process of issuing CRA ratings to banks (BUSH). It required the agencies to issue CRA ratings publicly and written performance evaluations using facts and data to support the agencies' conclusions.

During March 1995 (CLINTON) congressional hearings William A. Niskanen, chair of the Cato Institute, criticized the proposals for political favoritism in allocating credit and micromanagement by regulators, and that there was no assurance that banks would not be expected to operate at a loss. He predicted they would be very costly to the economy and banking system, and that the primary long term effect would be to contract the banking system. He recommended Congress repeal the Act.[25]

In 1999 Senators Christopher Dodd (D) and Charles E. Schumer (D) (CLINTON) broke another deadlock by forcing a compromise between Gramm and the Clinton administration which wanted to prevent banks from expanding into insurance or securities unless they were compliant with the CRA.

In 1999 the Congress enacted and President Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the "Financial Services Modernization Act," which repealed the part of the Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited a bank from offering a full range of investment, commercial banking, and insurance services. On signing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, President Clinton said that it, "establishes the principles that, as we expand the powers of banks, we will expand the reach of the Community Reinvestment Act".

Speaking to the February 2008 Congressional Committee on Financial Services hearing on the CRA, Sandra L. Thompson, Director of the Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection at the FDIC regarding the impact of CRA, noting that, "studies have pointed to increases in lending to low- and moderate-income customers and minorities in the decades since the CRA's passage." She cited a study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, that found that "data for 1993 through 2000 show home purchase lending to low- and moderate-income people living in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods grew by 94 percent – more than in any of the other income categories.

12 posted on 12/07/2008 9:10:50 PM PST by TLI ( ITINERIS IMPENDEO VALHALLA)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Osama admitted today that his Chief of Staff, congressman Rahm Emanuel, was on the the Freddie Mac board when it was misstating its profit numbers.


13 posted on 12/07/2008 9:55:40 PM PST by VeniVidiVici (All hail the Obamasiah! Kneel before Obamohammad!)
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To: St. Louis Conservative
Here is what really happened:

What Caused Our Economic Crisis?

Listen to Democrats resisting/blocking regulation in their own words on CSpan.

14 posted on 12/07/2008 10:00:15 PM PST by TruthWillWin
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To: the_Watchman

Wow. The Left’s lies and misdirection are comical, yet so very disturbing.

How incredible.


15 posted on 12/07/2008 11:45:22 PM PST by wac3rd (In the end, we all are Conservative, some just need their lives jolted to realize that fact.)
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To: TLI
The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, enacted in 1974, (CARTER)

Nixon was in office in 1974, up untill August when Ford assumed the Presidency. Carter didnt take office untill 1977.

16 posted on 12/08/2008 12:21:44 AM PST by lowbridge
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To: ensignbay
all the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae blame is down the convenient memory hole. You will NEVER see the f'ing video of Barney Frank and the rest of the democrat thugs making fun of the regulators and others who testified about what was going on there.

They'll raise their stupid hands and say,"Now, now, now... this isn't the time for blame. It's the time for fixing the problems of the people. Let's be bipartisan."

All that video needs to be found and downloaded onto hard drives cause I guarantee that it's going to disappear.

17 posted on 12/08/2008 6:40:51 AM PST by erman
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To: St. Louis Conservative
On a related note, from September...

Senator Hides His Sweet Deals When Will He Release Records?

Anyone heard any more about that?

18 posted on 12/08/2008 6:42:34 AM PST by mewzilla (In politics the middle way is none at all. John Adams)
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To: TruthWillWin
This one is better
19 posted on 12/08/2008 6:47:04 AM PST by erman
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