Free Republic

A hearing for the Senate Banking Committee went off the rails when Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) sparred with Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) over the insinuation that Saule Omarova is a communist... ...As the hearing got underway, Republicans accused Omarova of backing “radical” and “socialist” economic ideas, while Brown derided this line of thinking as “Trumpism meets McCarthyism.” When Kennedy got his turn to ask questions, he immediately focused on Omarova’s involvement in a communist youth group... ..From there, Kennedy ran through a number of written works and economic opinions Omarova expressed over the years. ... [video at link]

Alternate headline: “Feds leave dead fish on S&P’s doorstep.” And if you think this is shady, check out how Italy handled its own threat of a downgrade from S&P. Good lord. What happens if they downgrade Egypt? Does David Beers end up in the cage with Mubarak?Note to Fitch from the Senate Banking Committee: Choose wisely. Following S&P’s Friday night decision to reduce the nation’s credit standing from AAA to AA+, the panel has begun gathering information about the downgrade, according to a committee aide. Reuters first reported the committee’s interest in the downgrade.The unprecedented downgrade of the nation’s debt...

Why is Senate Banking Committee Chair Chris Dodd taking on not only the banking community but also President Obama? Could his efforts to distance himself from the financial industry that he has overseen for 24 years and from an administration that is off to a shaky start be a sign of things to come for Democrats facing reelection in 2010? ...Dodd’s dodgy associations may be one reason that he has emerged as a major thorn in the side of the new administration. He is so intent on distancing himself from the financial collapse and the banking community that he has...

It seems Barack Obama had a "senior moment" on Wednesday during his trip to Israel regarding which Senate committees he is a member of. On the same day's Special Report with Brit Hume, during the "Fox All Stars" segment, the Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes called out Obama for his claim, which the Illinois Senator made while trying to impress Israeli reporters, that he is a member of the Senate Banking Committee, and he took credit for the passage of legislation regarding Iran. Barnes: "[Obama] was trying to brag about how tough he was on the Iranians, and he said his...

Media: The gaffes Barack Obama has committed would have crushed the typical Republican politician. But the reporters who can't get over Dan Quayle's misspelling of "potato" have little to say about their man's slip-ups.Sometimes it's hard to tell if Obama is really fouling up or simply puffed up when he tries to live up to his media-fed image as a leader ready for prime time. Consider his claim during a news conference Wednesday in Israel that "just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to call for divestment from...

During the run-up to the primaries, Senator Obama did not appear in the Senate to vote on the (Kyl-Lieberman Amendment)calling on the government to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist entity and thus suffer the imposition of sanctions. On the day of the vote on the amendment, however, Obama issued a statement announcing that he would have voted against it. In the statement, the closest he came to addressing the merits of the amendment was his assertion that "he does not think that now is the time for saber-rattling towards Iran." The amendment passed the Senate 76-22 on...

The Obamamessiah is far too busy campaigning to keep track of what his responsibilities in the Senate are to the American people. Perhaps that is why we have this latest little gaffe: (see link for video) Here’s the transcript: This, this, uh, this past week we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to, uh, call for divestment from Iran. The only problem? The U.S. Senate Banking Committee isn’t Obama’s committee. He doesn’t serve on it, nor does he serve on any of its subcommittees. Yet Mr. Smooth Operator over there effortlessly lied...

Video. This one is a little unnerving. Either we’re missing something, or Obama needs medication and some quality time with a psychiatrist.

John at Power Line notices another in a seemingly endless series of gaffes from the Naive Messiah: The Fine Line Between Pandering and Lying. Obama continued: Now, in terms of knowing my commitments, you don’t have to just look at my words, you can look at my deeds. Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to call for divestment from Iran, as a way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don’t obtain a nuclear weapon. But Obama is not a member of the Senate Banking,...

(CNN) – Responding to an Israeli reporter’s question Wednesday on his commitment to protect the Jewish state, Barack Obama pointed to a bill “we passed” in the U.S. Senate Banking Committee that tightens sanctions and authorizes divestment from Iran. “My committee,” he called it. Except that he isn’t a member of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. “Just this past week, we passed out of the out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee - which is my committee - a bill to call for divestment from Iran as way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Senate Banking Committee leaders said Monday that they have come to a deal on a housing bill that would prevent foreclosures, create affordable housing and revamp oversight of two of the mortgage market's biggest players: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. A major part of the legislation would allow the Federal Housing Administration to insure $300 billion in new loans for at-risk borrowers if lenders agree to write down loan balances below the appraised value of borrowers' homes. The deal was struck between the top Democrat and Republican on the Banking Committee: Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and...