CENTRAL VIEW for Monday, October 13, 2008

Mortgage meltdown: Pin the tail on the donkey

About now, previously uninvolved Americans (about 15-percent) are beginning to think about presidential politics. This is when both campaigns shift from generic TV and radio commercials to the so-called negative campaign commercials. If based on fact, negative commercials work. If based on falsehood, they can have disastrous results. Ironically, if the mainstream media would do its job by exposing falsehood, negative commercials would not be necessary.

Unfortunately, that has not been the case since the mainstream media became the media arm of the Democratic National Committee. Independent study after independent study confirms this left-wing media bias beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Let’s take the issue of “guilt-by-association.” From the beginning, the Obama campaign has tried to associate Senator John McCain with President Bush. But if McCain supporters try “guilt-by-association” by pointing out Barak Obama’s long-lasting associations with: his childhood mentor, the communist Frank Marshall Davis; his 20-year association with the racist, hate-America Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Father Michael Pfleger; Obama’s association with the “I-wish-we-had-done-more-bombing” William Ayers; Obama’s sweet-heart business dealings with the convicted, Chicago slum lord, Tony Rezko; or the recent endorsement of Obama by Black Muslim supremacist, Lewis Farrakhan, the mainstream media attack McCain.

Moreover, Political Correctness (PC) works against McCain. If, for example, the GOP criticizes the openly gay, Rep. Barney Frank (D) for living for eight years with boy friend, Herb Moses, who was a senior executive with Fanny (given the relationship of Frank and Moses this spelling seems appropriate) Mae while Frank was a member of the House Financial Services Committee, then they are homophobes. You see, Barney Frank is triple PC-protected: Gay, Jewish and Democrat.

Also, just by mentioning “Hussein,” Obama’s middle name, Republicans are accused of referring to the fact Obama was raised in Muslim Indonesia from age-two to age-ten. That is supposed to make anyone stating that fact a religious bigot.

Liberal Democrats and the mainstream media are willing to overlook Barak Obama’s dubious associations because they favor Obama’s promised hikes in virtually every tax you can name, while giving tax credits (cash) back to people who do not pay income taxes to begin with.

With the Left and the Right locked in, what concerns the “late deciders” who will determine this election? Well, they are mad as hell that their pension plans and other investments have taken a huge hit. Wrongly, they blame Republicans.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for the mainstream media to discover The Congressional Record and find all the testimony and the votes cast by Rep. Frank (D) and Senator Dodd (D) in support of the “NINJNA Loans” (no income, no job, no assets) being bundled and sold to Wall Street by former Fannie Mae CEOs Franklin Raines and James Johnson.

Meanwhile, Senator McCain must feel like the epitome of the saying, “Let no good deed go unpunished.” The Congressional Record shows that Senator McCain’s legislative attempts to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were all frustrated by House and Senate Democrats – the very people who are benefiting in the polls from the subprime mortgage meltdown.

The McCain campaign would be well advised to stop trying to paint Obama as a charming charlatan with suspect associates and focus on pinning the economic meltdown tail on the Democrat donkey. For example, Obama’s economic and housing advisors, Franklin Raines and James Johnson looted Fannie Mae of $91 million and $21 million, respectively. McCain should be talking about criminal charges against them and against some greedy Wall Streeters.

The push for subprime NINJNA Loans began with President Carter’s Community Reinvestment Act. Later, Bill Clinton’s Justice Department fined lenders $10,000 per denied subprime loan application. Democrats Rep. Barney Frank and Senators Chris Dodd and Charles Schumer covered up what Franklin Raines and James Johnson were doing to Fannie Mae. Assuming McCain can get through the mainstream media filter, McCain has a well-documented case to be made. He should try and make it.

Voters can find reasons to vote for or against the two presidential candidates; however, it would be a miscarriage of justice for people to vote against Senator McCain because of the mortgage meltdown. He was one of the few who warned it was coming and tried to stop it.

William Hamilton, a syndicated columnist and a featured commentator for USA Today, studied at Harvard’s JFK School of Government. Dr. Hamilton is a former assistant professor of political science and history at Nebraska Wesleyan University.

©2008. William Hamilton.

Dr. Hamilton can be contacted at:

Email: william@central-view.com