CNN Jacksonville, FL Debate (1/26/12) 8p ET - Official Thread!

[Disconsolate]

Stream? D:

 

[Johncjackson]

Santorum loves FANNIE if you get what I mean.

http://blogs.phillymag.com/bewellphilly/2012/01/26/science-unlock-mystery-gaydar/

 

[bolil]

I need that truck

 

[Giuliani was there on 911]

Newt afraid of getting his ass kicked

 

[nyrgoal99]

Newt playing to the crowd

 

[green73]

Ron's laughing..haha

 

[Eryxis]

WTF, Newt dodging, dodging, dodging.

 

[IterTemporis]

Ron was smiling at Wolf going after Gingrich .

 

[Giuliani was there on 911]

damn Romney with another smack down

 

[eduardo89]

Newt = chickehawk

 

[tsetsefly]

Newt getting owned again, lol...

 

[dancjm]

Oooooooooooooooo

 

[ohgodno]

we need a kindergarten teacher to moderate just grinch and mittens

 

[Tyler_Durden]

Mitts debate coach is worth every dollar.....apparently lol

 

[pauliticalfan]

Newt is such a puss.

 

[Varin]

Lol @ this debate

 

[Aratus]

ron was staring at his shoe as newt spoke

 

[jumpyg1258]

Oh shit, Mitt is wanting to bring it on.

 

[ConsideringRonPaul]

The most relevant questions ever asked at a debate

 

[Matt Collins]

Three of a Kind:
The Fannie/Freddie Insider Connection​

We know Gingrich was a paid lobbyist for Freddie Mac.

Now that Newt has responded to the pressure and released his first contract with Freddie Mac along with a second, it confirms one thing: He was a lobbyist all along.

According to the Washington Examiner, “the Freddie Mac executive who hired Gingrich was… Craig Thomas, the VP for Public Policy -- that is, the head of Freddie Mac's lobbying operations. Thomas was a registered lobbyist at the time.”

Gingrich claims to have not been a lobbyist, but merely a historian hired by Freddie Mac.

The Examiner continues: “Gingrich was providing memos to Thomas on how to lobby (and given Thomas's job as top lobbyist, what else would he be helping Thomas with?).”

“In 1995, the then-House speaker and U.S. representative from Georgia said: “Fannie Mae is an excellent example of a former government institution fulfilling its mandate while functioning in the market economy.” (Bloomberg)

And then…

“Moving to meet new political and regulatory challenges, Freddie Mac has hired Newt Gingrich, the controversial former speaker of the House, as a consultant.

“Mr. Gingrich and his consulting firm, Gingrich Group, with offices in Atlanta and Washington, began working for Freddie in May….” (Joshua Brockman, “Freddie Mac Hires Newt Gingrich as a Consultant” The American Banker. Friday, July 16, 1999)

And how much money did Gingrich make with Freddie?

Newt made between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees from two contracts with mortgage company Freddie Mac, according to two people familiar with the arrangement. (Bloomberg)

“In 2008, the Associated Press reported Freddie Mac paid $11.7M to 52 outside lobbyists and consultants in 2006, including "power brokers" like Gingrich.”(MSNBC First Read)

In a nutshell:

Newt Gingrich says he wasn't a lobbyist for housing-bubble-inflator Freddie Mac, and he certainly never registered as one, but-- as with his consulting for drug companies-- Newt's Freddie Mac work gives off a whiff of lobbying, according to the contract he just released. (Washington Examiner) (CNNMoney)

We know Santorum responded to the Freddie Mac issue at the last debate, but it was anything but true.

NBC Host Brian Williams asked Santorum: “Did vehicles of the U.S. government make it too easy to own a home in America?”

Santorum replied:

“The answer, unfortunately, is yes to that. And there were several of us in the United States Senate back in 2005 and 2006, who saw this on the horizon, who saw the problem with Fannie and Freddie, and who tried to move forward with a bill.”

That’s not what Santorum said in 2005:

“We're very concerned about making sure that we do things in working with this legislation to improve the access to affordable housing,” Santorum said during a July 28, 2005 hearing on the Senate bill, adding that he wanted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac oriented "toward taking a more active role in creating housing opportunities…” (New American)

His position on Fannie and Freddie is anything but conservative:

“...there was one issue where the Pennsylvania Republican [Santorum] sought to play a leading role. Santorum, despite his reputation as a conservative stalwart, had a keen interest in … access to affordable housing….”

“In 2005, when Banking Committee Republicans were trying to tighten the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Santorum pushed to include language in the legislation that would strengthen their affordable-housing goals.” (American Banker)

And now we found out that Romney’s closest advisers were in on the Freddie Mac deals!

The Daily Caller:

“Mitt Romney’s campaign is attacking Newt Gingrich as an “influence peddler.” But it turns out that some of Romney’s closest advisers (or the firms they lobbied for) were paid hundreds of thousands — maybe millions — of dollars on behalf of failed mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

“One of Romney’s top economic policy advisers, Vin Weber (whom Politico described as a “former Minnesota congressman and certified member of the D.C. power elite), spent years lobbying for the group. According to the AP, in 2006 alone, Webber’s lobbying firm (Clark and Weinstock) was paid $360,297 by Freddie. And according to the AP, Weber made no bones about his close ties to the failed mortgage giant:

“I personally met with the CEO several times and with Hollis and his team regularly,” Weber said in the e-mail. “Clark and Weinstock worked effectively and intensely for Freddie Mac under Dick Syron [Freddie Mac's then-chairman and chief executive] and [Senior Vice President] Hollis McLoughlin.”

And Politico continues:

“The DC also notes that Susan Molinari, another Romney surrogate and former congresswoman, did lobbying work for Freddie.

“…it is also makes Romney's call for Gingrich to pay back the Freddie money he earned a bit trickier.”

One candidate in this race did not take lobbyist money from government sponsored enterprises. One candidate in this race is not linked to lobbying and gambling with the taxpayers’ dime.

That candidate is the same one who predicted the housing bubble years before all the others saw it coming.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J10BI3r4wKY&feature=player_embedded

“…the government increases the likelihood of a painful crash in the housing market. This is because the special privileges of Fannie, Freddie, and HLBB have distorted the housing market by allowing them to attract capital they could not attract under pure market conditions.

“However, despite the long-term damage to the economy inflicted by the government’s interference in the housing market, the government’s policies of diverting capital to other uses creates a short-term boom in housing. Like all artificially-created bubbles, the boom in housing prices cannot last forever. When housing prices fall, homeowners will experience difficulty as their equity is wiped out. Furthermore, the holders of the mortgage debt will also have a loss. These losses will be greater than they would have otherwise been had government policy not actively encouraged over-investment in housing.

“In fact, postponing the necessary but painful market corrections will only deepen the inevitable fall.” (Floor Speech, July 16, 2002)