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I am delighted that McCain has done what I recommended he do in a vanity authored three days ago, to wit: deliver a major address on the economy. I heard only part of the address beginning where he blamed greedy people on Wall Street and the Chairman of the SEC. Did McCain in fact blame Democrats, did he name names?

For someone who is so stentorian in his repeated calls for Chris Cox's scalp, McCain really ought to pin the blame for this mess on the Democrats where it mostly belongs. I believe his gambit to avoid personal political blame for the economic situation by throwing the Republican party, the president, and the administration including Chairman Cox, overboard will not succeed because the media will see to it that all Republicans, including McCain, are tainted.

To the degree that the speech called for transparency and consolidation of rulemaking and oversight, it should garner the support of conservatives. To the degree that he promotes giveaways, conservatives should be wary. His attack on Obama for raising taxes was well received by his conservative audience. I rather got the impression that some of the other observations are less warmly received.

His delivery was adequate; he was entirely believable.

I would love to read a transcript of the speech.

Naming names:

Two years ago, I called for reform of this corruption at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Congress did nothing. The Administration did nothing. Senator Obama did nothing, and actually profited from this system of abuse and scandal. While Fannie and Freddie were working to keep Congress away from their house of cards, Senator Obama was taking their money. He got more, in fact, than any other member of Congress, except for the Democratic chairmen of the committee that oversees them. And while Fannie Mae was betraying the public trust, somehow its former CEO had managed to gain my opponent’s trust to the point that Senator Obama actually put him in charge of his vice presidential search.

This CEO, Mr. Johnson, walked off with tens of millions of dollars in salary and bonuses for services rendered to Fannie Mae, even after authorities discovered accounting improprieties that padded his compensation. Another CEO for Fannie Mae, Mr. Raines, has been advising Senator Obama on housing policy. This even after Fannie Mae was found to have committed quote “extensive financial fraud” under his leadership. Like Mr. Johnson, Mr. Raines walked away with tens of millions of dollars.

Senator Obama may be taking their advice and he may be taking their money, but in a McCain-Palin administration, there will be no seat for these people at the policy-making table. They won’t even get past the front gate at the White House.