Picking Some Fights

For those of you who are long-time readers of this blog, you know I'm very much in favor of McCain-Palin picking some fights, especially ones that the American people agree with, like more domestic energy production, hammering corrupt politicians, and not rewarding bad behavior by rich Wall Street types.  Palin has been doing some of that recently, which is terrific.  Now it appears that McCain is jumping in:

In a speech in New Mexico today, John McCain will attack Barack Obama and the Democrats for not supporting regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. From McCain's prepared remarks:

This crisis started in our housing market in the form of subprime loans that were pushed on people who could not afford them. Bad mortgages were being backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and it was only a matter of time before a contagion of unsustainable debt began to spread. This corruption was encouraged by Democrats in Congress, and abetted by Senator Obama.

Senator Obama has accused me of opposing regulation to avert this crisis. I guess he believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough it will be believed. But the truth is I was the one who called at the time for tighter restrictions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could have helped prevent this crisis from happening in the first place.

Senator Obama was silent on the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and his Democratic allies in Congress opposed every effort to rein them in. As recently as September of last year he said that subprime loans had been, quote, "a good idea." Well, Senator Obama, that "good idea" has now plunged this country into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

To hear him talk now, you'd think he'd always opposed the dangerous practices at these institutions. But there is absolutely nothing in his record to suggest he did. He was surely familiar with the people who were creating this problem. The executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have advised him, and he has taken their money for his campaign. He has received more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than any other senator in history, with the exception of the chairman of the committee overseeing them. Did he ever talk to the executives at Fannie and Freddie about these reckless loans? Did he ever discuss with them the stronger oversight I proposed? If Senator Obama is such a champion of financial regulation, why didn't he support these regulations that could have prevented this crisis in the first place? He won't tell you, but you deserve an answer. …

Who is the real Senator Obama? Is he the candidate who promises to cut middle class taxes, or the politician who voted to raise middle class taxes? Is he the candidate who talks about regulation or the politician who took money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and turned a blind eye as they ran our economy into a ditch?

This is outstanding!  As I blogged just days ago, the reason it's important to 'name names' is that the American people are outraged by what's going on in our economy.  It's not like a natural disaster caused this downturn - it was caused by greedy and corrupt politicians and fat cats, and people know it.  It makes the blood of most Americans boil to watch their hard-earned savings and retirements evaporate while those corrupt fat cats get off with a gentle massage on the wrists.

There is no doubt that someone will be blamed for all of this when the polls open in November.  If McCain does not adequately point to the Democrats in Congress as the leading proponents of the policies that created this situation, it will be the Republicans who take the lion's share of that blame for the simple fact that the current President is a Republican.  Yes, it's that simple.  Pointing out these facts -- not opinions, not guesses, but undeniable FACTS -- is not only playing preemptive self-defense, but it could also turn the tide of the election itself.  If these quotes from the mouths of Democrats themselves reach enough potential voters, well, let's just say it'll be over, especially when combined with Barack Obama's other problems, including a woeful lack of experience and an abundance of radical associations.

Well said, Senator McCain!  Say it in the debate Tuesday night, too!

There's my two cents.