[Vision2020] The Inside Man

[Sue Hovey]

Then vote for me for President.  I have never taken a penny from any big 
bank or mortgage firm, and I can find on a map and pronounce both Libya and 
Uzbekistan.  Additionally, although I have often waffled on my 
pronouncements, now that my children are grown, that tendency is no longer a 
problem; so I can support both Massachusetts Health Care and Obamacare with 
equal fervor.

Sue Hovey

-----Original Message----- 
From: lfalen
Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 9:17 AM
To: Art Deco ; Vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The Inside Man

I would go for anybody but Newt or Obama.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: "Art Deco" deco at moscow.com
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 11:09:53 -0800
To: Vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] The Inside Man

>
> a..
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> November 18, 2011
> The Inside Man
> For months, Newt Gingrich tried to ingratiate himself with the Republican 
> Party's right wing by tearing down the two government-sponsored mortgage 
> companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He joined the counterfactual 
> conservative chorus that prefers to blame the companies for the housing 
> crisis rather than the banks. He lamented their cozy relationship to 
> Washington's insiders. And he was rewarded with a swell of support from 
> the anybody-but-Mitt-Romney crowd.
>
> The self-styled reform candidate left out a small detail. He made a great 
> deal of money from Freddie Mac for many years, and he was deeply tied to 
> its power structure.
>
> In his latest book, "To Save America," Mr. Gingrich slams the companies as 
> "so thoroughly politicized" and "irresponsible" that they should be 
> replaced by smaller companies, without government backing, that "focus on 
> making a profit, not manipulating politicians." In an October debate of 
> the Republican presidential candidates, he suggested that Representative 
> Barney Frank be put in jail for being close to Freddie's lobbyists.
>
> In a debate earlier this month, however, he was asked what he did in 
> exchange for $300,000 from Freddie in 2006. He said he advised the 
> company, "as a historian," not to make loans to people without a credit 
> history. That's a nice sum for fortune-cookie wisdom, but it turned out to 
> be just a fraction of his inside deal. This week, Bloomberg News reported 
> that Freddie Mac paid him between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in 
> "consulting fees" over eight years beginning in 1999, ostensibly to help 
> design a program to expand home ownership, among other policy matters.
>
> The real reason he was hired, as company officials make clear, was to act 
> as a liaison to conservatives on Capitol Hill. It wasn't technically a 
> lobbying job, but in 2006 Freddie needed help with rising Republican anger 
> at the companies, and the former speaker of the House had the right 
> credentials. That's typical of the mortgage companies, which over the 
> years have handed out large paychecks to many of the biggest names in 
> Washington, from both parties, in hopes of staying on everyone's good 
> side.
>
> It's also typical of Mr. Gingrich, who has become quite prosperous trading 
> on his influence in Washington while simultaneously pretending he despises 
> the city's essential nature. The man who regularly rails against "the 
> Washington culture of consultants" is one of its better-paid members. On 
> Friday, The Washington Post reported that one of his think tanks collected 
> $37 million over the last eight years from health care companies and 
> insurers that wanted to be close to a prominent Republican.
>
> Hypocrisy and hyperbole are bound up in the daily promises of the 
> Republican candidates to shut huge parts of the government. Rick Perry 
> wants to close two or possibly three departments; Michele Bachmann would 
> close the E.P.A. and repeal its regulations; and Mr. Romney would scrap a 
> health care system virtually identical to the one he created in 
> Massachusetts. But Mr. Gingrich's deception was offensive its own way. He 
> has benefited lavishly from the very spendthrift cronyism that he attacks.
>
>
>
> __________________________________
> Wayne A. Fox
> wayne.a.fox at gmail.com
>
>

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