Foster on Barack Obama: Rhetoric vs. Record

The Five Biggest Myths about the Bailout

After much arm twisting and second guessing, the House of Representatives passed the Senate version of the $700 BILLION dollar bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It should be noted that, once signed, this legislation will cost $50 Billion MORE than the total amount paid to all Social Security recipients this year. This bill will cost over $100 Billion dollars MORE than has been spent on the 5 years of the Iraq War. If fact, it will cost $150 Billion dollars MORE than ALL non-military discretionary spending in the 2008 federal budget.

When something this colossal is passed this quickly and with such limited debate it is often difficult to get accurate information. In this case, a number of myths have been promoted by the supporters of this bailout and echoed by the Mainstream Media.

MYTH #1: Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, claims the economic policies of President George W. Bush's caused the current financial crisis.

NO, it was the Clinton Administration's aggressive expansion of the powers of the Community Reinvestment Act which forced banks to make loans to high risk borrowers in low income neighborhoods. President Bush tried multiple times to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but all new attempts at regulation for these fiscal black holes were foiled by the democrats.

MYTH #2: Barack Obama claims John McCain's support for deregulation caused this problem.

No. Senator John McCain was one of four co-sponsors of bill S. 190 Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005 which sought to tighten the regulations on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while there was still time to save the financial collapse were experiencing today. Then, Freshman Senator Barack Obama -- along with nearly every other democrat on Capitol Hill -- opposed adding more oversight to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Washington Post noted “he (Senator McCain) pushed for stronger regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- While Mr. Obama was notably silent.”

MYTH #3: The Republicans in the House stopped the original bailout bill from passing.

No. Unlike the Senate where a bill can be filibustered, in the House all you need is a majority. The Democrats have enough seats in the US House of Representative that they can pass whatever bill they want without a single Republican vote. Ninety-five democrats -- including 5 Committee Chairmen -- voted against the bill. This means over 40% of the DEMOCRATS didn’t support their own bill. If only 12 of the 95 nay votes on the Democratic side had gone with Pelosi, the bill would have passed.

When the Senate version of the bill – which passed 74-25 – came to the House, this time it passed 263 – 171. In this vote an additional 32 Democrats and 26 Republicans voted for the bailout.

First Vote Second Vote

Democrats 140-95 172-62

Republicans 65-133 91-108

MYTH #4: This meltdown was caused by greedy Republicans looking for Special Interest campaign contributions.

No. Exactly the opposite is true. According to “OpenSecrets.org”, a non-profit that tracks political donations, the Democrats who have shielded Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from additional regulation have been the largest recipients of cash from the PACs created by the two now bankrupt companies. In all fairness, a number of Republicans had their snouts deep in the trough as well but generally they also supported tighter oversight. One of the most troubling items in the article titled: “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Invest in Democrats” concerned Senator Obama. Despite being in office less than 4 years, the Illinois Senator was #3 on the list of top cumulative recipients for the past 20 years. Which raises the question of why did a freshman senator with no seniority, who is not even on the Banking Committee, receive so much money?

MYTH #5: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are dominated by Republican Fat Cats.

No. It is dominated by Fat Cat Democrats. James A. Johnson, who was the head of Fannie Mae from 1991 -1998, ran Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign. Johnson served on the Barack Obama VP search committee until it became public he had gotten a sweetheart mortgage from Countrywide Financial Corp. Johnson was replaced by Franklin Raines who was CEO from 1999 through the end of 2005. Raines served as President Clinton’s Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. Raines was involved in accounting scandals that pocketed him millions of dollars he later had to repay.

MUST SEE VIDEOS

Red Flags were raised as early as 2001

Democrats Defending Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2004

Sarah Palin verses the Mainstream Media

Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer, a psychiatrist by training, was the first to give the recent phenomena in American politics a name; he called it the “Bush Derangement Syndrome.” Krauthammer describes this affliction as “the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency — nay — the very existence of George W. Bush.”

This disorder is not limited to President Bush, an earlier equally virulent strain affected many Republicans during the Clinton administration. The virus appears to be spreading beyond the White House and now you can see outbreaks in the media as well as politics. If you are at a cocktail party where the attendees have mixed political views, the mere mention of Dan Rather or Rush Limbaugh can send the host scrambling to pack away the breakables.

Move over boys; there is a new player in town. Meet Sarah Palin.

The Mainstream Media (MSM) has trouble hiding their personal preference for democrats in normal times and the unexpected selection of Governor Palin to be John McCain’s running mate has caused them to drop any pretense of impartiality. Need proof? Do a Google search for “hate Palin” and you get 8.6 MILLION sites.

In a recent Wall Street Journal editorial, Why Feminists Hate Sarah Palin, Cathy Young observed:

Left-wing feminists have a hard time dealing with strong, successful conservative women in politics such as Margaret Thatcher. Sarah Palin seems to have truly unhinged more than a few, eliciting a stream of vicious, often misogynist invective.

On Salon.com last week, Cintra Wilson branded her a "Christian Stepford Wife" and a "Republican blow-up doll." Wendy Doniger, religion professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, added on the Washington Post blog, "Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman."

The same folks who would have branded as a Neanderthal anyone who suggested that Nancy Pelosi was a bad mother for trying to be a congresswoman while raising her 5 kids; firmly believes Palin should be headed back to Wasilla instead of to Washington.

Those who would have needed smelling salts if Barack Obama’s personal email had been hacked by the son of an elected Republican, instead demanded to know why she – like millions of other Americans -- had a private Yahoo account? What was she hiding?

While the MSM has ignored the sweetheart deal the Obamas got on their home from a convicted embezzler; they demand to know more about a tanning bed which was installed in the Governor’s mansion which Palin bought with her own money.

These same people think Michelle Obama – despite actively campaigning for her husband – is off limits, while attacking Sarah Palin’s 17 year old daughter and new born son is fair game. Apparently “Palin Derangement,” in addition to causing a total loss of reason and logic, also causes the moral compass to malfunction as well.

The saddest thing for the MSM, all of these wild eyed, frothing at the mouth attacks on what appears to be a perfectly nice lady you would love to have as next door neighbor are only making them look angry and, well, demented. Palin’s popularity has been going up while the MSM approval rating has slid below used car salesmen and trial lawyers. With the internet and cable news, the MSM has lost its monopoly on the news outlets and they don’t like it one bit and its desperation is starting to show.

This Sunday the Associated Press, after weeks of digging, found, at least in their minds, the smoking gun. While Palin didn’t have her political career launched in the living room of an admitted terrorist or be #2 in political cash received from Fanny Mae whose corruption is a major cause of the current financial mess or even have her spouse's salary tripled as soon as it was clear a senate seat was at hand, she did get....wait for it... a free facial! But it gets worse. The AP has irrefutable proof that Sarah Palin, while Mayor of Wasilla, also received a bouquet of flowers and some fresh salmon.

The AP’s paper trail consists of copies of “Thank You” notes Sarah sent to the people who had given her the personal gifts. What an awful woman.

If you want to have some fun, here are links to videos of some of the more outrageous attacks on Sarah Palin and some of her most eloquent defenses.

From the Mainstream Media

Why does Sarah Palin hate women? “ABC News”

NBC Sarah Palin Fact Check (Clue: She's Lying)

MSNBC “Fact: Sarah Palin is Stupid”

CNN’s Jack Cafferty Tells Us How He Really Feels About Sarah Palin

Roland Martin of CNN Goes Off on Sarah Palin

From Hollywood

(Note we didn’t include a link to infamous Sandra Bernhard’s video where she wished Sarah Palin would be sexually assaulted by a gang of Blacks in Manhattan. After deleting out the vulgarities there was less than a handful of words left from her diatribe.)

Matt Damon Rips Sarah Palin

“The View” Gets Heated Over Sarah Palin

Stars Slamming SARAH PALIN: Politically Hollywood! (CNN)

Palin’s Defenders

There are still those that will point out the Mainstream Media’s hypocrisy

The Media Lies about Palin Fox News

The Extreme Liberal Bias of Journalism Today Dennis Prager

Fred Thompson Slams Media on Palin Attacks

Rush (Limbaugh’s) Comments on the Media Treatment of Gov. Palin

This week is the Vice Presidential Debate between Sarah Palin and Joe Biden. Any bets the MSM hasn’t already been searching their thesaurus for new ways to say “unqualified” and “stupid” without sounding too biased or sexist?