So Jim Johnson, from Sen. Obama's VP search committee, is the subject of a Wall Street Journal article suggesting that he got below market average loans from Countrywide with the direct support of its ethically-challenged CEO Angelo Mozilo under an unofficial program not readily available through your local mortgage broker (unless your local mortgage broker is Angelo Mozilo). Well, yeah, perhaps a little distasteful, especially given Johnson had been CEO of Fannie Mae prior to this and was therefore the biggest buyer of mortgages. Unsurprisingly, the Obama campaign called the foofaraw "overblown and irrelevant." Speaking as a strong Obama supporter and long-time professional watcher of banking markets, this could possibly smell a bit, though in fairness I'd point out that anyone in a position to take out $7 million in mortgages had damn well better have an above-average FICO score.
That being said, sublime irony below the fold.
The amusing bit to me is that McCain, who seems to forget a lot these days, allowed one of his minions to trash Johnson:
"There is nothing 'overblown and irrelevant' about millions of Americans facing foreclosure and Barack Obama entrusting his most important decision as a presidential candidate to a man who has accepted millions in special loans from a subprime mortgage lender," said Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for the Republican presidential contender.
And the Senator from the Phoenix Home For Those Past Their Sell-By Date himself:
“I think it suggests a bit of a contradiction talking about how his campaign is gonna be not associated with people like that. Clearly he is very much associated with that,” McCain said.
Did the good Senator misremember his own past dealings with certain distasteful elements within the banking industry? Unsolicited advice: if you've taken nine free vacations and over $100,000 in campaign contributions from the CEO of a bank which collapsed due to irresponsible and fraudulent business practices, sending said CEO to prison despite your best efforts to pressure the independent Federal Home Loan Bank Board to lay off, shut the $%@#$ up before the kettle bites the pot right back in the ass.
Just saying.