Latest rethug meme: McCain tried to warn about this financial disaster in '05

[Hugabear]

I had to run out for a few minutes, so I turned on my radio to Boortz to see what he was making of this whole fiasco. Seems the latest rethug talking points are that McCain tried warning about this back in 2005, and they're accusing Barney Frank and the rest of the Democrats of downplaying the upcoming crisis.

Right. So now they want us to believe that McCain - the very same McCain at the heart of the S&L crisis in the 80s - somehow changed? They want us to accept this Bizarro worldview?

[C_U_L8R]

1. If he did.. he was quite ineffectual

McCan't

[1awake]

4. he was very ineffectual

to say the least. But in the end it makes little difference because he has adopted the conservative line, and unfortunately that appears to have been what got us in this mess.

[renegade000]

2. he was a regular cassandra i tell you!

:P

[radfringe]

3. NYT - March 26, 2008

McCain Rejects Broad U.S. Aid on Mortgages
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/26/us/politics/26mortgage.html?ref=politics
By LARRY ROHTER and EDMUND L. ANDREWS
Published: March 26, 2008

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Drawing a sharp distinction between himself and the two Democratic presidential candidates, Senator John McCain of Arizona warned Tuesday against vigorous government action to solve the deepening mortgage crisis and the market turmoil it has caused, saying that “it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.”

Mr. McCain’s comments came a day after Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York called for direct federal intervention to help affected homeowners, including a $30 billion fund for states and communities to assist those at risk of foreclosure. Mrs. Clinton’s Democratic opponent, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, has similarly called for greater federal involvement, including creation of a $10 billion relief package to prevent foreclosures.

-------snip---------

“Rampant speculation” on both sides is the root cause of the crisis, Mr. McCain said. He placed part of the responsibility for the mortgage mess on lenders, who he said had grown “complacent” in a rising market and as a result acquired a “false sense of security” that caused them to “lower their lending standards.”

------snip-------

Mr. McCain has often addressed the mortgage crisis in general terms on the campaign trail, but in Tuesday’s remarks he offered a more comprehensive look at the challenge facing the nation — and the roots of the problem. He blamed a profusion of complicated and recently devised financial instruments “that weren’t particularly well understood by even the most sophisticated banks, lenders and hedge funds.”

Mr. McCain appeared to be trying to confront questions about his dexterity in dealing with the economy, a subject that he has admitted is not his strongest suit. But his remarks drew a quick, pointed rebuke from Mrs. Clinton, who criticized Mr. McCain’s hands-off, market-oriented approach, saying it would lead to “a downward spiral that would cause tremendous economic pain and loss” for Americans.

-----snip-----

While Mr. McCain left himself some room to support financial assistance for homeowners, saying he is “prepared to examine proposals” along those lines, his recommendations shied away from the large-scale relief that leading Democrats favor.

“Some Americans bought homes they couldn’t afford, betting that rising prices would make it easier to refinance later at more affordable rates,” he said. Later he added that “any assistance must be temporary and must not reward people who were irresponsible at the expense of those who weren’t.”

In place of large-scale government assistance, Mr. McCain recommended two immediate but limited measures. He said that accountants should meet to review the system by which real estate and related assets are valued, and he urged mortgage lenders to step forward voluntarily to help credit-worthy borrowers who may be strapped for cash at the moment.

“They have been asking the government to help them out,” he said. “I’m now calling upon them to help their customers and their nation out.”

---snip----

Overall, the approach Mr. McCain suggested is even more cautious about federal intervention than that of President Bush. The Bush administration is looking to lower down payment requirements, at least temporarily. Mr. McCain said that he opposed reducing the down payment required for mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration, a step meant to revitalize slumping housing sales.

----snip----

Mr. McCain spoke at some length about the problems caused by lenders and by Wall Street, which bundled mortgages into securities that were chopped into pieces and resold to investors in the United States and abroad. But he did not call for any kind of legislative or regulatory measures to fix those problems, other than to say that the government should eliminate obstacles to the ability of financial institutions to raise more capital.

[SammyWinstonJack]

5. How is that possible? Didn't he say recently that he doesn't really understand economics?

:shrug: He did forget what he previously knew? :silly:

[Mojorabbit]

6. I heard this from one of my BIL's

the beginning of last week.
on edit I found this
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/17/mccains-attempt-to-fix-fannie-mae-freddie-mac-in-2005/