Patterico's Pontifications

9/22/2008

McCain strikes bipartisan — but dumb — note on “60 Minutes”

Filed under: 2008 Election,Politics — Karl @ 4:30 am



[Posted by Karl]

As the Politico’s Ben Smith notes, John McCain used a high-profile interview on “60 Minutes” to suggest that he might look to New York Attorney General and former Clinton HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo to head the SEC.

However, as noted here last week, no less a progressive source than the Village Voice reported in August that Andrew Cuomo is one of the fathers of the subprime mortgage mess:

Andrew Cuomo, the youngest Housing and Urban Development secretary in history, made a series of decisions between 1997 and 2001 that gave birth to the country’s current crisis. He took actions that—in combination with many other factors—helped plunge Fannie and Freddie into the subprime markets without putting in place the means to monitor their increasingly risky investments. He turned the Federal Housing Administration mortgage program into a sweetheart lender with sky-high loan ceilings and no money down, and he legalized what a federal judge has branded “kickbacks” to brokers that have fueled the sale of overpriced and unsupportable loans. Three to four million families are now facing foreclosure, and Cuomo is one of the reasons why.

These practices — continued by the Bush administration (despite having warned of them repeatedly) — fueled similar idiocy on Wall Street.

Robert A. George also noticed how dumb the Cuomo idea is, both substantively and politically.

McCain may be trying to play up his bipartisan Maverick cred, but in reading the entire interview, it is apparent that he also blew a chance to tell a large television audience what the editorial board at the Washington Post has already noted:

In 2006, he pushed for stronger regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — while Mr. Obama was notably silent. “If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole,” Mr. McCain warned at the time.

If McCain preferred to avoid naming Obama directly, he could have made the point that people in both parties resisted the reforms he sought.  It is a more powerful message than offering to give someone who was part of the problem an opportunity to make things worse.

(h/t Memeorandum.)

–Karl

35 Responses to “McCain strikes bipartisan — but dumb — note on “60 Minutes””

  1. Hmmmm.

    It’s clear that Palin is a much stronger candidate than McCain is.

    So far his mouth has gotten him into a great deal of trouble. If McCain loses it’ll be because of McCain and nobody else.

    memomachine (6ab657)

  2. The only good thing about this is that the dems or their media lackeys won’t point it out because it will bounce back on them.
    BUT…
    McCain has been implementing some brilliant strategy in this election. NY is in play or at least movement towards McCain. Is McCain laying a trap for Obama to stumble into and point out Cuomo’s ‘stuff’? The blowback is that not only are you dissing one of NY’s favorite sons, but also the Clinton administration, and BTW remind the NY voters how Bill gave Cuomo the job and NY’s own Senator is uh, oh yeah Hillary Clinton?

    The lipstick/pig seemed to be intended to get Obama off his mark. Obama goes on Letterman and expands on it instead of promoting his own BS. McCain has definitely mind f–ked Obama this election. Can you imagine him as commander in chief with Iran? F-in Awesome!

    liontooth (0edfdb)

  3. Umm – did you see the interview, liontooth? It would be a stretch to say he went in to this interview with a plan to throw the opponents off balance. I was surfing around for an hour afterwards to see if anyone felt as I that McCain squandered an excellent opportunity there. KLo at the Corner was the only one to weigh in at the time, so I left a comment on an unrelated thread at HA. He does have a compelling case to make, but I thought he looked tentative and overly cautious to the point of borderline confusion as to his message. The Cuomo comment was a gratuitous slap at Cox, who doubtless also knows Cuomo’s real history in this mess.

    rhodeymark (4f2403)

  4. This whole concept of bi-partisanship has always bothered me. Likely, because the concept of bi-partisanship only seems to be praised when it is Republicans acting like Democrats. Nobody ever calls for Pelosi or Reid to reach across the aisle, but that was a daily call when Republicans ran the chambers.

    JD (41e64f)

  5. Cuomo was attempting to subpoeana Freddie and Fannie officals last year to curb offenses. He was unsuccessful, but that is part of the reason (I suspect) McCain is latching on to him. That and a pretty brazen attempt to reach over to Clintonistas to Team McCain.

    I do not know if McCain is being sincere or just an attempt at playing shrewd politics. This is one of those cases you hope the latter.

    Joe (8102a5)

  6. ASTROTURF DIRTY TRICKS? Dr. Rusty Shackleford says that smear videos aimed at Sarah Palin look to come from a P.R. agency associated with the Obama Campaign. Dan Riehl comments: “Politics aside, if this was the professional manipulation that it appears to be, it is not good for blogs, Left or Right. It undermines their credibility and makes them no better than a propaganda tool become smear merchant for whatever candidate they happen to support.” Stay tuned.

    UPDATE: From the 2004 election, a warning about “black blog ops” that’s seeming kinda prescient.

    http://www.pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/archives2/024721.php

    http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/22/corporate-sockpuppetry-for-team-obama/

    Joe (8102a5)

  7. Oh gawd. Someone remind me, quick, why am I voting for this guy? Oh, that’s right, Palin. So I can go through another four or eight years ghoulishly hoping the president won’t complete his term. (Dammit, I want President Cheney; I’ve wanted him for eight years, and still want him now.)

    Milhouse (89df7f)

  8. My hope is McCain raised Cuomo name in hopes someone would dig into his past.Bring the banking meltdown full circle.

    mymy (2c4553)

  9. McCain is burnishing his Maverick creds….he is inside the loop on BO….McCain is just what we thought he was, a post-partison hack….but Governor Palin may pull the bull across the finish line. Sure would be funny if McCain gets upbraided by his VP.

    Moultrie (0c2c01)

  10. Personally, I don’t want McCain reaching across the aisle especially if it makes him look dumb and unknowledgeable. You cannot sacrifice discretion for the sake of camaraderie and why didn’t someone on his staff prep tell him this was not going to win him any voters?

    Dana (b4a26c)

  11. OMG, Karl found another Democrat to blame for the financial crisis? I am shocked, shocked that he has once again sought to blame Democrats for the last 8 years of Wall Street fun!

    Still, not a complete success, in that he was unable to tie Cuomo to black liberation theology or Alinsky. Keep working, pal, you’ll find that connection

    timb (a83d56)

  12. OMG, timb found another topic on which to display his gigantic ego and unfortunate stooopidity.

    JD (41e64f)

  13. timb – I assume the T is silent? Like dumb? Wall Street merely did what Wall Street always does – look for a way to make money. It’s bipartisan, holmes. The 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (the embryo of this monster), however, was decidedly a brainchild of the Dems. Good intentions meets the Law of Unintended Consequences yet again, or, it was intentional from jump. Your choice.

    rhodeymark (e86321)

  14. timb,

    Give credit where credit is due: the Village Voice found another Democrat to blame for the financial crisis.

    And you apparently have no rebuttal other than ad hominem, per usual.

    Karl (f07e38)

  15. This is very well written:

    The point of the [bailout] is to provide a bid for the bad mortgage-based assets that, in Paulson’s words, are “clogging the balance sheets” of many financial institutions. He wants to provide a market so that financial firms can sell these assets and get on with life.

    The price at which they will be sold is all-important. Get it too low, and you’ll put a lot of firms out of business, because they will be forced to realize capital losses they can’t recover from.

    Get it too high, and you’ll be doing two extremely bad things: you’ll be rewarding banks and Wall Street for making bad decisions; and you’ll expose the taxpayers to losses and inflation.

    So the key question for Paulson and Bernanke is: who will be determining the valuation? You want above all to make sure that this job is done right, which means getting the best available people from the private sector to do it. How will they be compensated, and what are their incentives?

    Already Barney Frank is saying that the people who do the valuation must not be allowed to make a lot of money. How do you get really top people on that basis? Given the dire implications of getting this wrong, it’s charitable to say that Mr. Frank is being shortsighted and probably a little vindictive.

    The really deep problem I have, however, is this: what if the true, correct valuation of distressed mortgage-backed assets is actually very, very low? Like, say, five or ten cents on the dollar?

    This outcome, if it happens, would be reflective of the fact that the housing industry significantly overbuilt, in response to the price bubble that burst in 2006. And that’s a misallocation of resources that simply can’t be willed away by bailouts, taxpayer handouts to Democratic constituencies, or fairy dust.

    http://www.redstate.com/diaries/redstate/2008/sep/22/a-few-important-questions-for-mr-paulson-and/

    http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/jpodhoretz/31851

    Joe (dcebbd)

  16. Karl – It has got more than just ad hominem. It has bone-jarring twatwaffliness too.

    JD (41e64f)

  17. Jeezus. At this point, if it weren’t for Palin I wouldn’t vote. I came away from the convention impressed by McCain’s speech but the goodwill has been draining away ever since. First he pulls Palin off the trail where she’s wowing America and sits her down at the tassled shoes of that jackass at ABC. He still doesn’t get that the media hates him. Now all these mealy appeasements to “bipartisanship.” Is there some cunning I don’t see? All I see is stupid.

    rrpjr (fb0748)

  18. McCain does venture too far into bipartisanship for its own sake sometimes but I also wonder about the Cuomo theory. Saying he might do it doesn’t mean that will happen after the election. The McCain people are definitely inside Obama’s decision loop. He has to keep thinking of Hillary and her people. The rise in support for McCain among women, since July, is astonishing.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  19. JD, suck it.

    karl, what’s the point of doing anymore than make fun of you? Every post is a Manichean epistle on the evils of the Democrats, in this case blaming Cuomo for something he did almost a decade ago. if I thought rebutting your blame attribution would lead to anything sensible, instead of snarky comments and more partisan hackery, I’d try.

    Can we assume under a Karl administration, the buck would stop somewhere else?

    PS Any luck on the connection to Reverend Wright?

    PPS Can you get the insurance claims guy to stop stalking me? You can blame the Democrats for his actions, if you want, but I’d love it if he could set aside his man-crush on me. Or, at least make him repeat Step 8?

    timb (a83d56)

  20. “…Manichean epistle …”

    Karl, consider yourself suitably chastised.
    I just don’t know how you will be able to show your face in polite company again.

    Another Drew (a81639)

  21. timmah – You are a vile rephrensible little twatwaffle. Responding to your inane comments is now stalking? You are the one, I will remind you, that seems to think it is okay to intersperse your comments with personal information about me. FOAD. Run back to Caric. Leave me alone.

    JD (41e64f)

  22. Have Sarah Palin field press questions at every public event. Not many, just a half dozen or so. But every single public event.

    It is fodder for the news cycle. Low ball questions will get booed by the pro Palin crowd. And it forces the press to report how Palin draws 60,000 and Michele Obama? She drew about 100 today in Wisconsin. Biden is not much better. Even “the One’s” crowds are down.

    Joe (dcebbd)

  23. PPS Can you get the insurance claims guy to stop stalking me?

    You can do that, Timmah! Just go away!

    Pablo (99243e)

  24. in this case blaming Cuomo for something he did almost a decade ago
    — Yeah, Karl! How DARE you blame Cuomo for something he did? Don’t you know there’s a statute of limitations on personal responsibility? and that for people like tiny timb it runs out as soon as someone in the general public finds out what you’ve done? And how dare you connect something that happened before W took office to what is taking place now? Don’t you realize that everything was perfect under the error-free Slick Willie administration? Yep. No skeletons there — no dead bodies to be dug up. [What? WHAT?! How many? Sheeit!!! Remind me never to piss him off.] It’s inconceivable that the roots of the current crisis extend beyond the last eight years.

    Can we assume under a Karl administration, the buck would stop somewhere else?
    — That’s funny, coming from the guy who just finished absolving Andrew Cuomo from responsibility for the consequences of his actions.

    Can you get the insurance claims guy to stop stalking me?
    — Stop parading around wearing that negligee with the curtains drawn.

    Any luck on the connection to Reverend Wright?
    — He’s part of the subprime mess too? Man! Everything he touches turns to shit!

    JD, suck it.
    — That’s mighty presumptuous of you. You don’t even know if JD owns an electron microscope and a pair of mini-tweezers.

    Icy Truth (31efee)

  25. Icy – even the likes of timmah and harpy cannot ruin my good mood after the US won the Ryder Cup.

    JD (41e64f)

  26. The lefties have come up with a solution for the financial crisis. Ask Chris Dodd to fix it. You heard that right. The Senator from Countrywide has a plan.

    Mike K (f89cb3)

  27. Maybe McCain is planning on taking Ace’s advice, and intends to drop a bomb this Friday in the debate by announcing that he has a plan, reading that plan, and then revealing that it was from legislation he introduced in 2005 which was shot down by Democrats.

    DaveS (d737be)

  28. “…an electron microscope and a pair of mini-tweezers.”

    Icy, to un-mix the metaphors (so to speak), shouldn’t that be “micro-tweezers”?

    Another Drew (a81639)

  29. JD, you are bigoted against the whole of Europe — or at least those countries that they allow to represent them in the Ryder Cup (Racists!!!).

    Icy Truth (31efee)

  30. Were there any Georgians playing for the EU?

    Another Drew (a81639)

  31. You’re absolutely right, Drew; and that is what I was originally going to write. I changed it to “mini” because of this stupid tic I have when it comes to repeating words within a sentence, especially adjectives.

    Icy Truth (31efee)

  32. Were there any Georgians playing for the EU?

    — There were . . . that is, until their driving range was converted into a bombing range.

    Icy Truth (31efee)

  33. Comment by Icy Truth — 9/22/2008 @ 11:55 am

    Would that make it now a “practice green”?

    With very large cups!

    Another Drew (1e1c13)

  34. Icy Truth, you almost reached a Karl-esque level of silliness when you were able to bring in the ol’ Clinton Chronicles assertions…man, I forgot how stupid some people on the right can be. Can you tell us all about the Mena airport?

    Are there any right wing sites not populated with angry 55 year white baby boomers in full rage over politics (e.g. Pablo). As Karl’s post above demonstrates (guess the resumes didn’t work, eh?), all the “conservatives” have are accusations and finger pointing. There hasn’t been an idea of how to get out of this mess from Heritage, AEI, the Manhattan Institute, etc since it began.

    All we have left is the conservatives whining about some Democrats.

    In the end, history will record Goldwater’s heirs dried up and blew away. Liberals never defeated them; reality did. Their apogee was David Addington!

    Oh, now little angry boomers, go ahead and call people names…look at Steve Scmidt, it’s all you have left.

    JD, you’re not a boomer, I admit, but you have your own demons to handle and the world view of a seven year old, so you go ahead and call me names too. Since you apparently must call me (or anyone who criticizes daddy) your funny names, hop to it, bitch.

    timb (8f04c0)

  35. FOAD timmah. Quit following me around. Get a life. Go sue someone. Do anything but stalk me. You are a sad little pathetic coward.

    JD (41e64f)


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