Crossposted at TPM via By Walter F - September 16, 2008, 10:30PM
I have yet to see the media correct this, but McCain is lying when he says Obama is linked to Fannie Mae's troubles, according to the AP.
"He put Fannie Mae's CEO (chief executive), who helped create this problem, in charge of finding his vice president. That's not change, that's what's broken in Washington," McCain said.
As someone who covers the mortgage industry, I can tell you that this is an obvious attempt at deception. Jim Johnson ran Fannie Mae from 1991 to 1998, a period during which the company was among the most reputable companies in the nation.
His successor, Franklin Raines, was responsible for a massive accounting scandal and was thrown out on his ear.
Daniel Mudd came in to clean up the considerable mess. He did a decent job in getting the house back in order, but ultimately allowed himself to be pressured by Congress into taking on more and more bad loans to stabilize the liquidity crisis.
As for Johnson, he stepped down after it came out that he was given preferential terms on a loan by Countrywide after he was out of Fannie Mae and long before it became clear that Countrywide was selling the country down the river. Nevertheless, it looked bad and he tried to limit the damage (although he probably did more by stepping down).
In any case, Obama did not put Daniel Mudd (who presided over massive losses at Fannie) in charge of the VP vetting process, which is what McCain is suggesting.
The McCain camp knows they are not telling the truth. It is not that they are saying something that's partly true or some such thing. McCain is coughing up a flat-out lie.