Jackson Jambalaya

Ignore the spin and media histrionics. Do the research. Eventually the truth does come out as it always does. In this case, most if not all of the Fannie Mae trainwreck can be blamed on the Clinton Administration and the Democrats. OFHEO warned in 2006 Fannie was out of control and lying on its balance sheets. The Bush Administration tried to reform Fannie and Freddie in 2003 only to be stopped by Congressional Democrats such as Barney Frank who said there was no problem to fix. Senators Hagel and McCain tried to pass legislation tightening the supervision of the agencies in 2005. Meanwhile, former Clinton Administration officials-turned-Fannie Mae executives such as Jamie Gorelick, Frank Raines and others walked out of Fannie Mae with over $100 million in compensation after illegally manipulating earnings statements and engaging in Enron-type fraud. While lining their pockets, they and their Democrat allies were corrupting our mortgage system as The New York Times reported in 1999:

"In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits......
'Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.'' (Frank Raines statement)......
By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings....
In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.
''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.'' .......
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

Yet it's all Bush's fault.

Earlier posts on Fannie/Freddie Implosion and the role of the Democrats:
More evidence of Democrats/Fannie incest:
NYT 2002: Bush tried to reform fannie, Dem's opposed:
Thinking if blaming Bush? Try again.
McCain tried to reform Fannie Mae, Obama took $126,349 from Fannie Mae:
2006 OFHEO report warning of impending disaster at Fannie Mae: