Subprime Lender Scandal
Oh boy. Obama and his minions are really out there trying to sell voters a huge load of crap folks. This video will help you get a better understanding of this. This whole "crisis" has the dirty fingerprints of Democrats and the Messiah all over it.
The American people need to know the truth.
Well, like the sunrise and sunset, you knew this had to happen. Jimbo, we hardly knew ye.
Game Over Jim
Former Fannie Mae Chairman James Johnson said he has quit Senator Barack Obama's vice presidential search committee after the Wall Street Journal reported he may have received preferential mortgage terms from Countrywide Financial Corp.
Johnson said that while he has done nothing wrong, he left to avoid being a hindrance to Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee.
``I would not dream of being a party to distracting attention from that historic effort,'' he said in a statement. ``I believe Barack Obama's candidacy for president of the United States is the most exciting and important of my lifetime.''
Johnson's ties to Countrywide became a campaign issue after Republicans pointed out that Obama had been critical of the mortgage lender in campaign speeches. Johnson's role as a political insider also contrasted with Obama's pledge to bring change to Washington.
Johnson, 64, said that ``blatantly false statements and misrepresentations'' were written about him.
Oh, I guess he means those statements that he got sweetheart loans from his buddy Angelo Mozilo of Countrywide. But wait, those were true Jimbo. If they weren't, you'd still be working...I mean not working for Obama. Silly me.. ;)
UPDATE: Rich Lowry has the McCain Campaign's response to Jimbo's resignation.
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Hey Barack, didn't your boy Jim Johnson...oh wait..that was just a game right? ;)
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I'm being played
In a surprise development, Barack Obama was asked a tough question by the mainstream media. It didn't go to well...
UPDATE: Here is video of most of the exchange provided below:
ABC News' Sunlen Miller today asked Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, how he could "rail against Countrywide Financial Corp as an example of insiders and today's economy while your VP search is headed by someone who got questionable loans from Countrywide?" (This is an issue we wrote about earlier today.)
"And in addition," Miller continued, "another person on that same VP search team – Eric Holder -- has also been involved in the Marc Rich scandal."
"Well, look," Obama said, "the, the, I mean - first of all I am not vetting my VP search committee for their mortgages, so you’re gong to have to direct -- "
"But shouldn’t you?" asked Miller.
"Well, no," Obama said. "It becomes sort of a, um, I mean, this is a game that can be played - everybody, you know, who is tangentially related to our campaign, I think, is going to have a whole host of relationships -- I would have to hire the vetter to vet the vetters. I mean, at some point, you know, we just asked people to do their assignments.
"Jim Johnson has a very discrete task," Obama continued, "as does Eric Holder, and that is simply to gather up information about potential vice presidential candidates. They are performing that job well, it’s a volunteer, unpaid position. And they are giving me information and I will then exercise judgment in terms of who I want to select as a vice presidential candidate.
"So this – you know, these aren’t folks who are working for me," Obama said. "They're not people you know who I have assigned to a job in a future administration and, you know, ultimately my assumption is that, you know, this is a discreet task that they're going to performing for me over the next two months."
Folks, this guy wants to run our country? Jim Johnson is not working for him? Let's see, if I name someone to a panel that I want to vet my vice presidential candidates, I am to assume that they are not working for me? LOL, C'mon!
UPDATE: Jim Geraghty is really going on a tear with this one. A great read.
I liked this particular part.
Many, many readers predict the phrase, "This is not the Jim Johnson I knew..." in the near future.
Will Vegas be posting odds on this? LOL! ;)
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Here's the RNC's response to what we looked at earlier today involving Obama VP search member Jim Johnson.
WASHINGTON - RNC Press Secretary Alex Conant released the following
statement following Barack Obama's remarks in Raleigh, North Carolina:"It takes a lot of nerve for Barack Obama to stand before voters, speak
to the rising costs hurting families, attack his opponent on the housingcrisis, and completely ignore the fact that both he and his campaignleadership have enjoyed housing deals that no average NorthCarolinian would be able to access. Obama's failure to address the scandals within his own campaign and instead spend his time attacking others is the sort of old politics that will be rejected bythe American people. Voters deserve straight talk from their leaders - not recycled rhetoric that ducks serious questions."Jim Johnson, A Former CEO Of Fannie Mae And Top Obama Campaign Adviser,
Received Special Loans From Countrywide:Jim Johnson, A Former CEO Of Fannie Mae Chosen To Lead Obama's Vice
Presidential Search Committee, Received Special Loans From Countrywide
Financial CEO Angelo Mozilo. "Countrywide Financial Corp. makes mortgage loans through a vast network of offices, brokers and call centers. But a few customers have gotten their loans a special way: through Countrywide Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo. These borrowers, known internally as 'friends of Angelo' or FoA, include two former CEOs of Fannie Mae, the biggest buyer of Countrywide's mortgages, say people familiar with the matter. One was James Johnson, a longtime Democratic Party power and an adviser to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign, who this past week was named to a panel that is vetting running-mate possibilities for the presumed nominee." (Glenn R. Simpson and James R. Hagerty, "Countrywide Friends Got Good Loans," The Wall Street Journal, 6/7/08)* While CEO Of Fannie Mae, Johnson And Mozilo Worked Closely And
Maintained A "Close Friendship." "From 1991 to 1998, Mr. Johnson served
as CEO of the Federal National Mortgage Association, also known as
Fannie Mae, which worked closely with Countrywide, one of the nation's
leading lenders and loan servicing companies. In 1996, Mr. Johnson named Mr. Mozilo as chairman of Fannie Mae's national advisory council. A 1999 article in the American Banker said the two men had a 'close
friendship.'" (Josh Gerstein, "Top Talent Scout For Obama Tied To
Subprime Lender," The New York Sun, 6/9/08)"Property Records Show Mr. Johnson Has Received More Than $7 Million In
Loans From Countrywide Since 1998, The First read more »
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This looks pretty interesting folks. James Johnson, whom Senator Obama tapped to be on his VP search team, is going to be searching for some antacid after this gets some traction in the media.
James Johnson, one of three people tapped by Mr. Obama recently to oversee the search for his running mate, took at least five real estate loans totaling more than $7 million from Countrywide Financial Corp. through an informal program for friends of the company's CEO, Angelo Mozilo, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. The Journal said at least two of the mortgages, among a series of loans made available to people Countrywide officials called "friends of Angelo," were at rates below market averages, though it is difficult to predict a market rate without access to nonpublic information about a borrower's credit history and other factors that can reduce interest charges on a loan.
Among the loans to Mr. Johnson, according to the Journal, were a $5 million home equity line of credit against a house in Ketchum, Idaho, a 5.25% loan of $1.3 million for a home in Palm Desert, Calif., and a 3.875% loan of $971,650 for a home in Washington, D.C. The interest rates applied for the first five years of the loans.
"That reeks most high," a public relations specialist and vocal critic of Mr. Mozilo, Bonnie Russell of Del Mar, Calif., said. "Where's the 'change to believe in' if they're playing the same old game using the same old players?"
On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama has criticized Countrywide's executives. "These are the people who are responsible for infecting the economy and helping to create a home foreclosure crisis. Two million people may end up losing their homes," Mr. Obama said in March at a town hall meeting in Lancaster, Pa.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the senator from Illinois "fumed" over a total of $19 million in bonuses set to be paid to Mr. Mozilo and the president of Countrywide, David Sambol. "They get a $19 million bonus while people are at risk of losing their home. What's wrong with this picture?" Mr. Obama asked.
In a written statement issued in March, the senator called the payments "an outrage" and suggested Mr. Mozilo and others had "tricked" homeowners into unaffordable loans. "These executives crossed the line to boost their bottom line," Mr. Obama declared.
A spokesman for the Republican National Committee, Danny Diaz, yesterday called the loans to Mr. Johnson "highly questionable" and said they conflicted with Mr. Obama's public comments. "Barack Obama needs to immediately address this matter; otherwise, his rhetoric will continue to prove to be nothing more than complete hypocrisy," Mr. Diaz said.
Whoops! That sure doesn't sound like 'change we can believe in', now does it? ;)
Makes you wonder how long this guy will be a part of Obama's VP team. Keeping this guy on makes Obama look like a huge hypocrite.
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