First, John McCain released an ad blaming ACORN for the financial crisis. This is an absurd argument, but one that nevertheless at least has a little cache among the economically illiterate of the far-right. ACORN smacked him down on this front, systematically dismembering his illogical argument and indicting McCain's inaction in a brilliant report.
The wildly erratic, flailing McCain has now declared in a robo-slime call, "Since the Democrats took control of Congress only two years ago they have driven our economy into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression." Huh? Are you freaking kidding me? You're not going to blame Democrats generally, or Clinton, or Bob Rubin (all of which perhaps deserve some blame) - McCain is blaming THIS DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS for a crisis with roots A DECADE OLD!!!
In so doing, he once again shows himself completely ignorant on the economy (which he admits in those rare straight talk moments). Analysis and links to the audio and other goodies over the bump.
Thanks to Talking Points Memo for sharing the audio. It's got the other stuff about Rezko, taxes, blah, blah, blah, which we've all heard before. But NEVER has McCain or anyone seeking to hold on to his or her dignity argued that the current Democratic Congress is culpable. Let's analyze this claim further.
Did the current Democratic Congress deregulate the financial services industry with Gramm-Leach-Bliley in 1999, allowing commercial banks to become investment banks? Did the current Democratic Congress pass the Commodities Future Modernization Act in 2000, prohibiting the regulation of credit default swaps? Did the current Democratic Congress sit idly by while predatory lending boomed, especially during the 2002-2006 period?
Look, the current Democratic Congress does deserve a hefty amount of blame and derision for its incredibly weak response to the crisis, failing to help homeowners, and failing to regulate predatory lenders. But for CAUSING THE CRISIS? Not in the reality-based world. Unless of course John McCain knows that Nancy Pelosi has a working time machine that she specifically refused to use to go back to 1999 and warn John McCain and the GOP to not support the deregulation that paved the way for the crisis.
First, blame ACORN. Then, blame Democrats. Who cares if it doesn't make any sense? And they can get away with these lies if nobody calls them on it. Thankfully, that ain't happening.
This blistering press release from ACORN today, entitled "McCain Blame Game Round II: Robocall Edition" (emphasis mine):
Senator McCain is once again flailing around and trying to assign blame for the financial crisis where no blame exists, making the absurd accusation that the current Congress is to blame despite the crisis having roots a decade old. Just as absurd as this newest illogical claim about this Congress causing the crisis, Senator McCain had previously released an ad that claimed ACORN caused the financial crisis. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, as ACORN has been at the front lines of fighting against risky lending and resulting foreclosures for a decade. ACORN responded forcefully with a detailed report, "ACORN and McCain: The Real Story of the Financial Crisis 1999-2008." This report chronicles ten years of ACORN's work on state legislation, federal regulation, lawsuits and protests of predatory lenders, and reports warning of an impending crisis, all while McCain sat on the sideline as Arizona became the 3rd-worst state for foreclosures.
Apparently Senator McCain got the message, and has stopped blaming ACORN for the financial crisis. Unfortunately, he again gets his facts 100% wrong again in a nasty robocall call his campaign just unleashed on American households, in which he claims, "Since the Democrats took control of Congress only two years ago they have driven our economy into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression." Although ACORN believes that Democrats have done far too little to fix the foreclosure crisis or reign in predatory lenders, no rational person or serious candidate could blame their 21 months in charge for a crisis that began developing a decade ago.
John McCain wants Americans to believe that he can solve the current economic crisis, yet demonstrates a total lack of understanding of the housing market and consistently misidentifies the origins of the crisis, and in so doing belies the claim that he is qualified to fix it. While ACORN was fighting on the front lines trying to prevent this economic meltdown, John McCain was standing on the sidelines and cheering on the deregulation that made it possible. Americans deserve straight talk on the most important issue in this election, not desperately blaming ACORN or the 110th Congress for the predations of unscrupulous lenders, their unregulated Wall Street backers, and their political enablers. Senator McCain, before turning around next week and blaming yet someone else for the financial crisis, it would behoove you to look at your own record.
Ouch. John McCain would love to keep the conversation off the economy, and here's that pesky ACORN trying to keep the attention on the economy and tearing apart John McCain's veneer of competence.
And when he's up for re-election in two years? I don't think his foreclosure-burned constituents are going to appreciate his complete disconnect from their woes (seven homes and all) coupled with his lifelong advocacy of deregulation. Napolitano, anyone? Hoo-ah!