Statement by Senator John McCain, May 25, 2006:
Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.
The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae’s former chief executive officer, OFHEO’s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines’ compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.
The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator’s examination of the company’s accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.
For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs–and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.
I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.
I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.
—— The above is fact – McCain was on this case well before Obama.
The New York Times has charged that McCain-Palin campaign manager Rick Davis was paid by Freddie Mac until last month. Fact is Mr. Davis quit from his consulting firm in 2006. Mr. Davis has seen no income from Davis Manafort since 2006. Davis was not a registered lobbyist since 2005. This is just a lie.
People, get away from the media, and read!!!
Thanks Mavericky Maverickness, your absolutely right about the Canon and Cannon. I’ll be sure to watch my speling…
As for the above joke, (on canon and cannon and speling…) if your entire opinion is based on my misspelling of a word, why are you here? Someone even used a colorful metaphor to describe me based on this. One correction is appreciated, and honestly thanked for pointing out my error. All following are lemmings. This all detracts from the original point, which is what the democrats seem to be good at.
Joseph C
February 19, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Because his brainwashed Obamaites believe what they want to believe, in order to not shatter their fantasyland.
Hyperbolic Plague
February 19, 2010 at 12:40 pm
You mean “canon.” A “cannon” is a weapon. They’re two different words.
That said, nobody said McCain didn’t jump on the bandwagon about the mortgage crisis. What they said was that Democrats warned the federal government in 2005.
I haven’t done the research; I don’t know if that’s accurate or not, but if you’re going to make an argument, the facts that YOU lay out should be accurate, shouldn’t they?
Information Police
February 19, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Because what Obama said is true. Rick Davis is still an equity partner of that consulting firm.
Pənny Proud
February 19, 2010 at 1:26 pm
“I hated the gøøks. I will hate them as long as I live.” – John McCain
oohhbother
February 19, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Both sides has self-serving dialogues prepared to make themselves look good. I see no reason to read yours and skip others.
Your request to stay away from “the media” does not lend credence to your claims.
sixtiesradical
February 19, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Your clueless misspelling of “canon” demonstrates that it is a word you never used before and heard some reich-wing d!ckwad use in a broadcast. Until you have a mind of your own, STFU!
Boss H
February 19, 2010 at 3:24 pm
McCain should know, because he helped create the problem by supporting the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
Then in 2005 Hagel proposed a bill to re-regulate them…. Yeah the same Hagel that Right-wingers claim “should be a democrat because he is a socialist.”
That bill died in a Republican dominated congress.
Of course this bill was proposed after the current crisis was well under way with no way of preventing it.
The the 2nd time Hagel introduced the Bill McCain isn’t supporting it.
Maybe Maverick means… big talk no action.
Democrats warned about the bill McCain supported in 1999.
“this bill will also, in my judgment, raise the likelihood of future massive taxpayer bail-outs. It will fuel the consolidation and mergers in the banking and financial services industry at the expense of customers, farm businesses, family farmers, and others….”
-Senator Byron Dorgan
May 6, 1999
Humanist.. For FreeThinkers
February 19, 2010 at 4:09 pm
What is your point here.. we had a Conservative controlled Congress 10 out of the 12 years. Why didn’t McLame do something about it then. Are you telling me Bush and Paulson didn’t know the economy was going to collapse around their ears? or were they hoping that it happened on Obama’s watch.
Akasanoma
February 19, 2010 at 4:10 pm
You obviously admire people who prefer to be asleep at the wheel and jump up to grandstand whenever it suits their fancy. I personally see nothing about McCain that is admirable. He got shot down over North Vietnam because he flagrantly ignored the parameters of his mission. Don’t read about it. But if you must, he said so himself at the Republican convention. I suppose he should have been court-martialed but who can court-martial a POW even if it’s one who does not know how to follow instructions. Did I hear anybody say “maverick”?
McCain gets no credit in my book. I knew there was trouble brewing in 2002 that could come to a head in 2007 or thereabouts. I wasn’t in Congress and all I was privy to was the myriad of senseless loans that were being offered to giddy would be homeowners who had no business attempting to acquire the properties they did. There were 5 or 7-year gotchas in those loans then. If McCain was not asleep at the wheel he should have alerted us in 2002 not 2006!
Be nice. Don’t use the misnomer of “canon” as cannon fodder.
Secular Humanist
February 19, 2010 at 5:03 pm
The fact is that your Mr Davis continued as a consultant and received his last payment in August.
I know McCain sent a letter 2 years ago – but did he follow up un it?
I want to hear about the future! The past is past, the 21st century is well on it’s way and we need to join it!
Robinson Cruz
February 19, 2010 at 5:06 pm
The news stories about Davis have become a matter of semantics. The New York Times, Newsweek, and Roll Call are all reporting that Davis remains an officer of lobbying firm Davis Manafort, and that Davis Manafort received $15,000 per month on lobbying retainer fees from Freddie Mac. So the McCain campaign, where you presumably got your info, is probably technically correct that Davis was not paid by Davis Manafort, but the stories are also technically correct that Davis is still an office of the lobbying firm.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/160713
McCain did indeed support regulation of Fannie and Freddie in 2006. But the Bush administration began warning that Fannie and Freddie were becoming a systemic risk to the financial system in 2001, when they first called for increased regulation. McCain’s warning came only after release of a report detailing gross mismanagement and accounting irregularities at both firms. For McCain to jump on the bandwagon 5 years later and make his “warning” only after the world knows about the problem is pretty weak. Not that Obama did any better, mind you.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/09/20080919-15.html
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000002956686&cpage=1