The Guinness World Record for Hypocrisy
For the last week or so, the McCain campaign has been aggressively trying to tie Barack Obama to the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and to suggest that Obama has somehow been improperly influenced by them. First, the McCain campaign released an ad linking Barack Obama to former Fannie Mae executive Franklin Raines, a guy Obama had spoken to once in his life and who immediately denied having ever given Obama any advice.
Then the McCain campaign claimed that Obama was on the take, that he had received more money from Fannie and Freddie than anyone else in Congress. Of course, that's only true if you count campaign donations from employees of the company, and by that standard Obama has raised more money from just about every company in America than anyone else. And here's the kicker. If you look at donations from Fannie and Freddie's executives, board members, lobbyists, McCain received $169,000 in donations compared to Obama's $16,000.
But the New York Times tonight provides the ultimate coup de grace. It turns out John McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, has literally been on the payroll of Freddie Mac from 2005 until last month, when the company was taken over by the government. And not only that, he didn't actually provide any services to the company other than access to John McCain:
If Guinness gave out world records for political hypocrisy, this particular line of attack would have to make the book. It really is incredible.
Then the McCain campaign claimed that Obama was on the take, that he had received more money from Fannie and Freddie than anyone else in Congress. Of course, that's only true if you count campaign donations from employees of the company, and by that standard Obama has raised more money from just about every company in America than anyone else. And here's the kicker. If you look at donations from Fannie and Freddie's executives, board members, lobbyists, McCain received $169,000 in donations compared to Obama's $16,000.
But the New York Times tonight provides the ultimate coup de grace. It turns out John McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, has literally been on the payroll of Freddie Mac from 2005 until last month, when the company was taken over by the government. And not only that, he didn't actually provide any services to the company other than access to John McCain:
Mr. Davis’s firm received the payments from the company, Freddie Mac, until it was taken over by the government this month along with Fannie Mae, the other big mortgage lender whose deteriorating finances helped precipitate the cascading problems on Wall Street, the two people said.That's amazing. You criticize your opponent for supposedly being unduly influenced by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac--despite having no evidence to back up your claims--and it turns out that not only have you taken much more money from executives and lobbyists of those companies, but your campaign manager has been receiving $180,000 a year from Freddie Mac solely in exchange for access to you.
They said they did not recall Mr. Davis’s doing much substantive work for the company in return for the money, other than to speak to a political action committee of high-ranking employees in October 2006 on the approaching midterm Congressional elections. They said Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis Manafort, had been kept on the payroll because of his close ties to Mr. McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, who by 2006 was widely expected to run again for the White House.
If Guinness gave out world records for political hypocrisy, this particular line of attack would have to make the book. It really is incredible.
posted by A.L. at 9:05 PM
7 Comments:
On Friday, Obama has to communicate this simply to the American people. Here's what he should say (yeah, I know too many people are doing this, but still):
"Markets, like football games, need referees and rules but for the last 8 years, John McCain and Republican Party have tried to blindfold the referee and take away the rules. This is what they call "deregulation". John McCain said in March this year that he was, quote, "always for more deregulation". Let me state plainly - deregulation caused this crisis. The refs were powerless and the rules were weakened and what happened? The teams cheated! They cheated us all, and that is why your house is worth less today. That is why your savings are at risk today. So this is a problem for John McCain, because he knows that if people get to see his role in this, it looks bad for him in November. So what does he do? He blames it on me and makes up entirely false connections between me and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Now here's the kicker... It turns out that John McCain's campaign manager has been taking $15,000 a month from Fannie Mae until last month - and to do what? To provide "access" to John McCain! I'm not making this up. So, McCain and Republicans blindfold the ref, stripped away the rules, let the teams cheat and took money directly from the team owners. Then they blame the whole mess on Democrats and ordinary Americans. Now, that's not just "stretching the truth" or "playing politics". The people who push these lies are dishonest hypocrites. Let me call the McCain campaign what it is - it big, it is fat and it is dirty. Ladies and gentlemen, with or without lipstick, it is a PIG."
Forgot to leave my name on the above comment.
Why is this political race still close?
"Why is the political race still close"
Beats the hell out of me.
On the Hotline/ Diageo poll recently, roughly 50% believed that McCain could run the economy better! Where does that come from?
I guess we have to judge the race by the fact that politics have seldom been less partisan in American history. There is a congealed "Red State/ Blue State" base for both camps, and at the moment McCain has a firm Red State base that is keeping him alive.
Also, loath though I am to admit it, the evidence is that Sarah Palin has re-energized that base and thrown McCain a lifeline.
Thirdly, John McCain was probably the best possible candidate for the GOP to run. He is a war hero with a reputation for independent actions, tarnished though it may be at the moment. Would Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani be able to maintain a challenge for this long?
This may be an election like 1982, when many voters withheld judgment on Ronald Reagan until the debates showed he was not the buffoon he was made out to be. Perhaps when Obama displays a suitably Presidential demeanour in the upcoming debates, he will begin to pull in more swing voters.
My own feeling is that this won't go to the wire and Obama will enter November with a commanding lead.
Rachel Maddow did a particularly good job exposing this (latest) hypocrisy on last night's show. She had a clip from just a few days ago of McCain categorically denying any connection between Rick Davis and Freddie or Fannie since he had supposedly ended his $30K/month relationship at the end of 2005. What she alleged was that immediately after disconnecting from Fannie he approached Freddie to ask to for the ongoing consulting fee and they didn't dare turn down a senior adviser to McCain. The implication was that he basically shook them down.
So either Rick Davis was doing work for Freddie for $15K/mo. all these years or he wasn't. If he was and McCain knew, then McCain has been lying about his connection. If he was and McCain didn't know, then it's a cover-up by Davis and McCain should get indignant (a la Chris Cox) and fire him. If Davis wasn't doing any work then it smells like an illegal campaign contribution. So I think this story goes well beyond the daily hypocrisy we expect from these despots.
In other news, the MSM is shocked to learn that McCain has lied once again.
First, the McCain campaign released an ad linking Barack Obama to former Fannie Mae executive Franklin Raines, a guy Obama had spoken to once in his life and who immediately denied having ever given Obama any advice.
Nowhere in the linked story does it say Obama has spoken to Raines only one time. Second, the linked story actually confirms the Obama campaign and Raines talked about housing and economy issues.
If you look at donations from Fannie and Freddie's executives, board members, lobbyists, McCain received $169,000 in donations compared to Obama's $16,000.
I'm not sure how the math was figured out based on a link to a New York Times story. In any event, linking to the Times instead of the actual CRP data the Times uses pretty much kills the credibility of the highlighted figures.
...but your campaign manager has been receiving $180,000 a year from Freddie Mac solely in exchange for access to you.
Or, those two anonymous sources, probably Freddie Mac higher-ups who have donated to Obama, are telling a lie to the Times, who decide it isn't worth verifying any further. Chances are the two sources are probably being looked at in the new FBI investigation of Freddie Mac and others.
First off, Davis Manafort isn't just a lobbying firm, but it also does political consulting, which encompasses far more than lobbying (like setting up forums so that Paul Begala can speak to Freddie PAC contributors). Second, if Freddie Mac the company were paying for lobbying, this would be a violation of the law. The company can't even use its own funds to pay its PAC. Third, no indication has been made what Freddie Mac the company is paying for, which could all be non-lobbying type operations, which is perfectly legit.
I'm still waiting on what the real story is. Because this ain't it.
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