Small Arms Fire
From Melanie Phillips:
More and more people are tumbling to the fact that, as I previously observed, the origins of the sub-prime disaster lay in the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) introduced by Jimmy Carter and then ruthlessly enforced by Bill Clinton to force the banks to give mortgages to the poor to lever them onto the housing ladder – in reckless disregard of the fact that they would not be able to meet the repayments. That was what lay behind the implosion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that in turn sparked this whole crisis.
Ace of Spades writes out the proper response for McCain:
I stayed away from making these partisan attacks, even though you lied ridiculously about me and your own attempts at ‘reform.’ I held back, because partisan attacks—even truthful ones—would harm our country and reduce the chances of getting a vital bill passed. Well, the bill is now passed. I put country first. You didn’t, and you lied on top of that. And now—only now that this crisis has been dealt with, to the extent we can—I’m going to give you a bit of straight-talk about Fannie, Freddie, my attempts to reform it, and your attempts to block reform on behalf of your big donors and friends in ACORN.
James Pethokoukis tells us why McCain won’t say that:
Nope, that is not going to happen. Why not? 1) It is a complicated argument, and McCain is not good at making complicated arguments, not even about earmarks. (Note, additionally, his lack of defense of the war in Iraq during his debate with Obama. Amazing.)
2) There is a racial component to criticism of the Community Reinvestment Act that can make it sound like you are scapegoating minorities for Wall Street’s problems.
3) The campaign believes McCain’s time is better spent talking about taxes and energy and healthcare. Really.
But the AP is already branding the McCain camp as racist based on nothing at all. It seems to think that mentioning Obama’s association with the white terrorist William Ayers is equivalent to Willie Horton ads. (Don’t waste your time looking for logic in this.) So what does McCain have to lose?
In other news, Episcopalians are apologizing for slavery. Perhaps 150 years from now, the presiding bishop will apologize for the church’s current role in the demise of sacramental marriage.
