25 Days Away

It's been about a week since I last posted anything, but my, have things heated up in this presidential election.

Since the VP debate and the second presidential debate, the rhetoric and mud have started blocking the view of subjects at hand. The economy? Who cares. Iraq and Afghanistan? Who cares. According to the campaigns, let's talk about Obama's link to William Ayers or McCain's link to the '87 savings and loan scandal.

Point is, let's get back on point, people. I understand election year smoke needs to be blown, but what happened to the issues at hand?

I'm currently on a flight from Florida back to Texas for the extended weekend, so this finally gives me time to write a post. But, there's more to discuss with 25 days left till electing our new president. Let's get back on point.

ER



Politology by Paco

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

Embedded Liberal

Yesterday, the news came out that Gwen Ifill, the liberal PBS correspondent, will be the moderator for the VP debate tonight at Washington University in St. Louis.


Now, how much influence a moderator can have in a debate, I'm not sure, but the fact that she's openly for the Obama camp concerns me. That, on top of her releasing a book on inauguration day titled, "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama" makes Ifill seem less objective. Couldn't the Commission on Presidential Debates have picked someone a bit less biased?


Ultimately, if Ifill acts like a journalist and only a journalist, I have no problem with her moderating. But, if there's even a hint of her throwing curve balls to Palin and soft lobs to Biden, this debate will be remembered as the biggest setup in history by the liberal media.


ER


McCain: Ifill wrong pick

Washington Times: Ifill Urged to Step Aside

The Blame Game

A lot of you Dems out there are blaming us Republicans for the financial mess we're currently in. All I hear is, "8 years of Republicans = economy sucks" or, "Bush is an f-----' idiot."


No matter how unconstructive those phrases are, let's take a walk down Pennsylvania Avenue circa 1999 when the Clinton Administration urged companies like Fannie Mae to ease credit restrictions on minorities and low-income families.


By Steven Holmes from the New York Times:

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

Now, while there's plenty of blame to go around, the above excerpt from 1999 proves to me that you Dems aren't completely innocent in all this. We ALL - both parties - have a responsibility to correct one hell of an economic mess.


With all this being said, the blame game needs to stop. I'm hopeful it stops tonight in the Senate when a new economic bailout deal is voted on.


ER


Full NYT Article: Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending