Newt’s Friend Freddie

National Review Online ^ | November 22, 2011 | RICH LOWRY

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Newt Gingrich racked up between $1.6 and $1.8 million in payments from Freddie Mac through the years for, the former speaker maintains, essentially doing nothing.

It’s not inconceivable that he’s right. Such was the incredible largesse available to the government-sponsored mortgage giant that one or two million dollars over the course of a decade was practically chump change. Gingrich says he didn’t lobby for Freddie, and, in response to a question about his payments at one of the Republican debates, said he only offered advice to Freddie “as a historian” that its lending practices were insane.

Surely, though, there must have been historians available who were cheaper and had more expertise in the history of foolishly loaning money to poor credit risks. At the very least, Freddie wanted to keep Gingrich on a leash in order to prevent him from blasting it in public. Contra Gingrich, former Freddie officials say they paid him for his advice on its policy initiatives and his insight on how to reach out to conservatives. If Gingrich did chastise his benefactors, Frederick the Great’s line about the hesitant Austrian empress at the partitioning of Poland in the late 18th century applies: “She wept but she took.”

The Gingrich flap is a reminder of the dollar-fueled Washington-based influence peddling that contributed to the housing collapse and contributes to our economic misery to this day.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Rick Perry on Congressional Insider Trading [:24]

******************

Nov. 13, 2011: “Pelosi fires back at ‘60 Minutes’ report on ‘soft corruption’”

“Pelosi and her husband participated in an initial public offering of Visa in 2008, according to CBS. They bought 5,000 shares at the initial price of $44; two days later, shares were trading at $64, CBS said.”.......... Source

Pelosi Bashes Catholics: 'They Have This Conscience Thing'... “After having some of her behind the scenes shenanigans exposed, Nancy Pelosi has turned to her friends in the MSM to help her with damage control. The effect is something akin to watching what scrambles out after you overturn a large rock.

Pelosi sought to defend herself from allegations that she and her husband made millions from insider trading in what the Washington Post calls a wide ranging interview……..

……Pelosi added a startling, if inadvertent, admission. Addressing the effects such [ObamaCare] legislation would have on Catholic health care providers, Pelosi said:

"I'm a devout Catholic and I honor my faith and love it . . . but they have this conscience thing."…….

[Cincinatus' Wife]

[ANOTHER FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE]

November 16, 2011

Dear Leader Pelosi,

After reading about House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer’s outburst over my “Overhauling Washington” plan, I wonder if his obstructionism reflects your own opposition and that of the Democratic Caucus to urgent reforms the American people so vehemently demand.

After increasing the debt by $4 trillion in less than three years, no one can believe that Americans are satisfied with business as usual, and that a permanent political class in Washington can get us out of the mess you and your colleagues have created.

A part-time Congress with half the pay would still make $38,000 a year more than the average American family. Do you truly oppose lawmakers spending more time in their districts? Is it so important for the Washington power brokers to build their fiefdoms of influence, including providing bailouts to Wall Street while businesses on Main Street are being boarded up every day?

Here is the fundamental question: do you believe Washington is broken? Before answering that question, consider these facts:

1) the Washington Metro area is now the most affluent metropolitan area in the country because lobbyists, contractors, elected officials and bureaucrats have been insulated from the economic ruin prevalent in the private sector;
2) Congressional office budgets have doubled since 2000 while employers all across America are laying off workers;
3) Our nation’s total debt is nearing the size of our nation’s economy, increasing our dependence on competitors like China;
4) The number of Americans out of work has increased by more than two million since January 2009, despite the massive stimulus package Democratic leaders promised would revive the economy, and;
5) on top of the job-killing spending policies of the previous Congress, employers are faced with a staggering $1.1 trillion in costs related to federal regulatory compliance.

Do you truly believe the answer to massive debt, over-regulation and bloated big-government policies is to continue to protect the status quo, which enriches and empowers Washington insiders at the expense of the American People?

My plan would overhaul Washington, eliminating certain agencies and reducing the size and scope of others. It will force Congress to make the tough decisions to balance the budget or require a further reduction in their pay. It would end lifetime appointments to future appointees to the federal bench. I don’t want to tinker around the edges when the American People demand a complete overhaul of Washington.

Let me conclude with an invitation: I am in Washington Monday and would love to engage you in a public debate about my Overhaul Washington plan versus the congressional status quo. I think it would be a tremendous service to the American public to see a public airing of these differences. Let the people decide. If Monday doesn’t work, perhaps we could find a time in Iowa over the course of the next month to discuss these issues in front of the people of America’s heartland.

Should you choose not to respond or engage in such a healthy discussion, I will take it to mean you will continue your obstructionist ways in the face of much needed Washington reform.

Sincerely,

Rick Perry
Governor of Texas

[dirtboy]

The entire noxious episode explains why people are so desperate for Washington outsiders.

From the closing paragraph of this column - dovetails into our discussion yesterday.

[livius]

He was a consultant, and this is pretty standard procedure for NGOs or agencies... pay for advice just to make it look as if you’re doing something, and then never look at the advice again.

It’s definitely a waste of money, particularly when you realize that they probably hired a whole squadron of different consultants at that price every year (he made about $200,000 per year), all of whose advice they probably ignored.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

How can any of this insider profiteering be cleaned up, or even addressed, if Newt is elected president? How could Newt even bring the subject up w/o Congress laughing in his face?

[Doc Savage]

That’s it Lowry, kill anyone but Mitt! What a loser!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

You’re willing to just give Newt a pass?

There are other candidates — Newt’s “I am the best debater” proclamation isn’t going to cut it.

[Venturer]

If Newt offered advice to Freddie “as a historian” that its lending practices were insane. He was dead right.
They should have followed his advice.

So you are mad at Newt because he gave Freddie good advice, and got paid for it.

I wish some of the others who got paid by the Government gave such good advice.

[blueyon]

“How can any of this insider profiteering be cleaned up, or even addressed, if Newt is elected president? How could Newt even bring the subject up w/o Congress laughing in his face?”

Sorry but just because you get paid a fee to consult does not make you guilty by association. If I follow through with your line of thinking then I should have been in a teachers union when I read a book to my daughter when she was young.
Plus people to grow and change or wise up. Out of the field of people Newt has the best chance to shape up DC

[org.whodat]

Normally when you hire a consultant you hire someone that has more knowledge about the subject than a ninth grader. Newt was hired for who he knew not what he knew and that is an undeniable fact.

[freedomfiter2]

I don’t see any chance that Mitt or Newt will make any positive changes on the problems that most need dealt with. That leaves us with Cain or Perry. The next two weeks should reveal which one we need to get behind.

[LibLieSlayer]

Until chris dodd and bwaney "up the butt" franks are in jail... I will listen to nothing about any other pol and fannie and freddie. Those two parasites are 100% behind the collapse and should be tried for treason and sedition.

LLS

[Cincinatus' Wife]

...So you are mad at Newt because he gave Freddie good advice, and got paid for it....

If paid someone THAT MUCH $$$$ for advice, I would do it because I felt they were BRILLIANT and I could find it no one else who had such "depth" -- AND I WOULD USE that PAID FOR brilliance. Unless of course it was, as the article suggests, to keep him on a leash.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

This culture and practice of corruption runs deep. Once someone indulges in it they are vulnerable to exposure so they tend to keep mum about others.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

It will be hard to break through the MSM deciders and Thanksgiving-Christmas celebrations — the establishment is working hard to wrap this up.

[LibLieSlayer]

Congress are ALL corrupt and in on it... all of them... boehner as well as pelosi. All during the obamacare debate... boehner, kerry and pelosi and others were trading health insurance stocks and related stocks... all during their negotiations... and they all made $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

All of them deny knowledge but the facts uncovered by investigators appearing on o'bloviator last night have the SEC records to prove that they did it. boehner bought 5 stocks that surged bigtime on the day that obamacare passed. ALL of the leaders of both parties do it... the law allows them to. Any other government position... judicial or executive would go to jail for insider trading... but not those in Congress and the Senate... they are not bound by the very laws that they passed to stop this in every other branch and division of government... just like obamacare... they are exempt!

LLS

[Darkwolf377]

How can we claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility if we have as our party’s leader and presidential nominee a guy who took all that money from Freddie Mac?

Everytime we say “Freddie” they’ll say “Newt”.

Our attempts to convince the public of the seriousness of this will be met with “So why did you choose as your presidential nominee a guy who was in on the gravy train?”

I mean, come on. What’s Newt gonna say, “Freddie was a horrible mess and devastated our economy. Course I worked for it, but that’s different...”?

This alone makes Newt non-electable in this fiscal environment.

[montag813]

The lengths some FReepers will go to maintain their bizarre denial of Gingrich's obvious corruption is remarkable. All because he is 'brilliant' and 'the best debater'. I for one do not fancy playing the part of one of the mob of children in The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

[mo]

“....essentially doing nothing. “

Not quite. Those are “insurance payments”...in case he’s ever elected to high public office...he won’t be too forgettin’ of who his friends in DC are....

[LibLieSlayer]

I agree... see my post above. They are ALL in on it... there are no clean hands in DC... not one pair.

LLS