Obama's Fannie Mae 'Connection' (WaPo fact check finds none)

Source: Washington Post

(...) The latest McCain attack is particularly dubious.

The Facts

The McCain video attempts to link Obama to Franklin Raines, the former CEO of the bankrupt mortgage giant, Fannie Mae, who also happens to be African-American. It then shows a photograph of an elderly white woman taxpayer who has supposedly been "stuck with the bill" as a result of the "extensive financial fraud" at Fannie Mae.

The Obama campaign last night issued a statement by Raines insisting, "I am not an advisor to Barack Obama, nor have I provided his campaign with advice on housing or economic matters." (...)

So what evidence does the McCain campaign have for the supposed Obama-Raines connection? It is pretty flimsy, but it is not made up completely out of whole cloth. McCain spokesman Brian Rogers points to three items in the Washington Post in July and August. It turns out that the three items (including an editorial) all rely on the same single conversation, between Raines and a Washington Post reporter, Anita Huslin, who wrote a Style section profile of the discredited Fannie Mae boss that appeared on July 16. The profile reported that Raines, who retired from Fannie Mae four years ago, had "taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters."

Since this has now become a campaign issue, I asked Huslin to provide the exact circumstances of the quote. She explained that she was chatting with Raines during the photo shoot, and asked "if he was engaged at all with the Democrats' quest for the White House. He said that he had gotten a couple of calls from the Obama campaign. I asked him about what, and he said 'oh, general housing, economy issues.' ('Not mortgage/foreclosure meltdown or Fannie-specific,' I asked, and he said 'no.')"

By Raines's own account, he took a couple of calls from someone on the Obama campaign, and they had some general discussions about economic issues. I have asked both Raines and the Obama people for more details on these calls, and will let you know if I receive a reply.

The Pinocchio Test

The McCain campaign is clearly exaggerating wildly in attempting to depict Franklin Raines as a close adviser to Obama on "housing and mortgage policy."

(...)




Read more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/09/obamas_fannie_mae_connection.html

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The Washington Post does a great job of disassembling the McCain ad as nonsense.

Just like the "push-polling" of Jewish voters story earlier this week, this has Tucker "McCain's black baby" Eskew's fingerprints all over it.

as to why mcDementia would want to bring this issue to light. Of course, Obama will now have to make a larger issue out of Gramm. And since Gramm and McCain authored and pushed for the very dereg bill that is largely responsible for this mess, I can't help but wonder WTF he was thinking.

It's like he just opened the gate and walked out with a "kick me" sign on his melanoma.

anyone keeping count?

:sarcasm:

What a dirtbag McCain is ...

is at least making an attempt to do it's job this election cycle. I have wondered what has made the difference considering how Kerry was treated pre-election 2004. Perhaps the economy IS what is making the difference this time around. This is one issue that affects us all, including the media.