If McCain Doesn't Want To Talk Fannie And Freddie, Why Is He Running?

by Jim Geraghty - October 5th, 2008 - National Review Online

Don't the American people deserve to know that Democrat Barney Frank, then-ranking member and now chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said, “I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing”? Isn’t the fact that the ranking Democrat in charge of oversight of Fannie Mae was in a sexual relationship with a high-ranking Fannie Mae executive a glaring conflict of interest? Isn’t it worth noting that Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters insisted, “we do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and in particular at Fannie Mae, under the outstanding leadership of Mr. Frank Raines”? Shouldn’t the American people know that Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks insist that “there's been nothing that was indicated that's wrong with Fannie Mae”?

Yesterday I was preparing for my planned debate on WTVD-TV with Congressman G.K. Butterfield. My debate preparation assistance was provided by a friend here in Bertie County. During the discussion on the economic crisis my friend kept insisting that I could not use the fact the Clinton administration threatened criminal charges against banks if they did not meet exorbitant quotas for minority loans. It was the loans banks made in response to this pressure that went into foreclosure and tiggered this crisis. That will sound racist he said. You can't say that.

I agreed . . . and then I got angry. That is what the NAACP and the MSM and the Democrat Party have rigged. Today, freedom of speech is meaningless in America. Truth is not enough. You can't say anything that blacks could take offense at no matter how true it is. You cannot even talk about things they have done, if what THEY have done is racist, because they have convinced the media that they can't be racist. Our government can practice as much tyranny as any soviet state ever practiced, threatening lending officials with criminal charges, fines, loss of preferred interest rates, even jail, if they do not give the right quota of loans to minorities (mostly blacks). However you cannot mention this tyrannical pressure publicly since their racist actions are not discussable. Mention the tyranny and you are the racist.

Barack Obama may be a Marxist, but he is also a racist. If he is elected do you really think that affirmative action will end or will it get worse? During the Clinton administration, tyranny became the normal action for a huge number of officials in HUD and the Attorney Generals office. It was tyranny in what they thought was a good cause, but it was still tyranny. It was tyranny even though no one in the MSM would even whisper about the evil practice. I doubt Obama will be less evil considering his sanctimonious belief in his own perfection.

This writer is upset with McCain because he is not explaining this crisis well. McCain, the number one good guy in this issue since he has repeatedly tried to fix the problem before it became a crisis, still cannot explain the crisis to the American people. It is not as easy as saying he cannot explain it because it is complex, as this writer does. McCain cannot explain it because he would be called racist if he tried to tell the truth.

1984 has become the reality of government in America today.

It reminds me of the poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller.

When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews, I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

I wonder if the 21st Century American version will start out:
When they came for the bank lending officers, I remained silent.
I was not a bank lending officer . . .

My friend reminded me of another famous quote by Thomas Jefferson that is equally appropriate. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Threats are threats. Tyranny is tyranny. The bank officials may have been intimidated by the power of the federal government, but today we are all afraid to speak the truth. That is the worst tyranny. The tyranny of gutlessness

The time for shedding blood is fast approaching again. The most important questions is, "Do Americans really care about freedom any more?"