McCain puts focus on Obama and Democrats on financial mess

Hotline:

John McCain today in Cedar Rapids, IA, said Barack Obama has done nothing to help the nation avert fiscal crisis:

"Senator Obama talks a tough game on the financial markets but the facts tell a different story. He took more money from Fannie and Freddie than any Senator but the Democratic chairman of the committee that regulates them. He put Fannie Mae's CEO who helped create this disaster in charge of finding his Vice President. Fannie's former General Counsel is a senior advisor to his campaign. Whose side do you think he is on? When I pushed legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Senator Obama was silent. He didn't lift a hand to avert this crisis."

McCain and Sarah Palin also raised the specter of Obama's one-time patriotism problem by criticizing Joe Biden for saying paying taxes is patriotic.

Palin:

“To the rest of America that’s not patriotism. Raising taxes is about killing jobs and hurting small businesses and making things worse.”

McCain:

"While Senator Obama and Congressional leaders don't know what to think about the current crisis, we know what their plans are for the economy. Today Senator Obama's running mate said that raising taxes is patriotic. Raising taxes in a tough economy isn't patriotic. It's not a badge of honor. It's just dumb policy."

McCain's full prepared remarks are available after the jump (at the link above.) Note that he called for the creation of a mortgage and financial institutions trust, or MFI, to "identify institutions that are weak and take remedies to strengthen them before they become insolvent." And he said he would fire Chris Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

...

His focus on Obama and the Fannie Freddie mess is getting much closer to the mark on assigning blame for the Wall Street fallout. He is misinformed about Chris Cox's responsibility.

First he could not fire him if he was President because the SEC is an independent commission and the Chairman is appointed by the commissioners. Second the Wall Street implosion is not from a failure to regulate. The problems in the financial markets do not spring from questions about the integrity of the marketplace which is the SEC's primary focus.

McCain was much closer to the mark by focusing on how Freddie and Fannie fallout has undercut the investment bankers. Congress is responsible for oversight on those two and it was Democrats in Congress that thwarted the Bush administrations attempts to rein in the abuses. It is Democrat corruption that should be McCain's focus on financial issues. This is a perfect issue for Sarah Palin and McCain to focus on and they need to sharpen their message on it.

As for Joe Biden, he continues to be a gift to Republicans. The could make an ad a day just from his gaffes.

Ed Morrissey has more on the Obama campaign's subprime mortgage expert.

This is Obama's area of vulnerability. McCain should get inside his OODA loop on this one with some ads.

The Jawa Report links a NY Times article from Sept. 11, 2003 reporting the Bush administration's attempt to regulate these entities which were currently under the supervision of Congress. This puts the lie to Pelosi and Reid's assertion about the administrations "failure to regulate" and the Congresses inability to do anything. No wonder these guys are ready to retreat from Washington again. The Republican Congressional campaign should be running ads on this and attacking the Democrats the way they did on energy.

This is more ammo for the attack on Democrats that the McCain-Palin ticket needs to be making.

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