The Respectfully Republican Conversation

Susie,

I guess $84 mil doesn't buy too much.  I hate to think Obama will win this thing because he has 4 times the money McCain has to spend.

I was just reading an email I received from a friend and it has the low down on what all went on in the White House meeting last week with Obama and McCain.  Obama went off the walls there?  Do you have the scoop?  What I have is way too long to post.

Well I have no idea who called me--Caller Id just said out of area 1-000-000-0000.  First time I accepted one of these calls and thought I'd be getting a list of questions---nope

They asked if I was a registered voter---- If the election was today who would I vote for Obama or McCain.  I said McCain---They said is that definate---I said yes...... They said Oh----Whoever it was I definately did not make their day....... I asked is that all their is--- their answer yes........

Normally would have not participated or at best would have been undecided.

Is that standard for these calls?  I wonder who I was talking to?

Part 2

You see, Obama did not defend the Democrat position on this.  He led off with an attack on the Republican position, as though it was a shock and a surprise, under the auspices that this deal had already been agreed to. When of course there's no surprise about what House Republicans believe and there's no surprise what conservatism is.  "The memo allowed Obama and his fellow Democrats to box in Republican attendees and essentially took what President Bush had billed as a negotiating meeting off the rails."  Now, "'Paulson and his team have not acted in good faith for this President or the administration for which they serve,' says a House Republican leader who was not present at the White House meeting" and told the American Spectator. Paulson -- Goldman Sachs -- is a Democrat.  He's very close to Chuck Schumer, and obviously close to Obama.  

So this whole meeting yesterday essentially was established to show off Obama's leadership skills and negotiating skills, and he blew it!  People who disagree with him, he has no idea how to negotiate with.  Even Obama ended up last night on TV. I think the Democrats were so frightened that the truth would come out about what happened in this meeting.  Obama started flooding the TV networks about 6:30.  He was on Fox News with "Brett" Hume. He called him Brett. He was on World News Today. He was all over the place, doing a bit of a CYA without explaining why he was doing a CYA.  But I want you to listen to what he said to "Brett" Hume on the Fox News Channel last night. It was a bit of a press conference. It wasn't that he called the networks and said, "I want to be on."  But he held the press conference and listen to what he said.

Shirley - Your daughters sound intelligent and certainly well-informed.  You did a fantastic job raising them

[Sorry - I just couldn't resist...backing quietly out of the room now...]

I posted this on the bail out thread.  Meant to post it here.  I could have high lighted the entire article.  This is from THE N. Y Times by Wallison.  Oops, it's not written by Wallison, but there's a quote in there from him.  Dh is calling.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print   September 30, 1999

Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending

By STEVEN A. HOLMES

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

''Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990's by reducing down payment requirements,'' said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae's chairman and chief executive officer. ''Yet there remain too many borrowers whose credit is just a notch below what our underwriting has required who have been relegated to paying significantly higher mortgage rates in the so-called subprime market.''

Demographic information on these borrowers is sketchy. But at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market.

In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.

''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''

Under Fannie Mae's pilot program, consumers who qualify can secure a mortgage with an interest rate one percentage point above that of a conventional, 30-year fixed rate mortgage of less than $240,000 -- a rate that currently averages about 7.76 per cent. If the borrower makes his or her monthly payments on time for two years, the one percentage point premium is dropped.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings.

Fannie Mae officials stress that the new mortgages will be extended to all potential borrowers who can qualify for a mortgage. But they add that the move is intended in part to increase the number of minority and low income home owners who tend to have worse credit ratings than non-Hispanic whites.

Home ownership has, in fact, exploded among minorities during the economic boom of the 1990's. The number of mortgages extended to Hispanic applicants jumped by 87.2 per cent from 1993 to 1998, according to Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies. During that same period the number of African Americans who got mortgages to buy a home increased by 71.9 per cent and the number of Asian Americans by 46.3 per cent.

In contrast, the number of non-Hispanic whites who received loans for homes increased by 31.2 per cent.

Despite these gains, home ownership rates for minorities continue to lag behind non-Hispanic whites, in part because blacks and Hispanics in particular tend to have on average worse credit ratings.

In July, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed that by the year 2001, 50 percent of Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's portfolio be made up of loans to low and moderate-income borrowers. Last year, 44 percent of the loans Fannie Mae purchased were from these groups.

The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.

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Part 3 This is what he said:

OBAMA:  Well, h--h- here's my, uh... --

RUSH:  Number two!

OBAMA:  I think that the way that I've been working over the last week, constantly in contact with the secretary and the congressional leaders, um, uh, eh, you know, may end up creating an environment in which you can actually get somethin' done.

RUSH:  So he's admitting nothing got done in there.  It's probably not good for him to be in things like this. It's better for him to be away, somewhere on the sidelines in constant contact with everybody on the phone.  Obama said, "You know what? It's just better if everybody else gets in the room and then I arbitrate on the phone."  I watched his statement when he got on his campaign plane today and heading down to Oxford , Mississippi , for the debate, he said same thing.  "Well, anymore constant contact.  I have been talking with," and he mentioned all Democrats. "I've been talking to them all morning today.  I'll continue to talk to them and I'll continue to be available if necessary."  This, ladies and gentlemen, I think it's a tremendous indication.

I don't know why... Pepole ask, "Why didn't the White House put this out?" (sigh)  The White House is interested in the deal getting done.  They don't want to insert themselves in presidential politics.  Dana Perino was asked about this in her press conference this morning or her White House briefing.  She was asked about the White House meeting and then what happened.  "Well, you know, we're gonna protect things that are going on. We really don't want to insert ourselves into presidential politics" and so forth.  But I'll tell you what: This disaster that was Obama attempting to take over and chair the meeting yesterday, makes sense of what's happening today.  The Democrats have unleashed this blitzkrieg of insults and bizarre accusations directed at McCain.  "He shouldn't have shown up.  We could have gotten this done without presidential politics.  He came in here and blew it up."  

McCain did put some stuff out last night to the people in the press on their mailing list, and from the sounds of the things from McCain's campaign. Obama was off -- they're confirming this, too, but not in as slam-dunk a way.  But they're confirming that without the prompter he doesn't know what he's doing in there; things broke down quickly after his first point was raised.  It was a disaster with Obama at the helm, and he probably made a fool of himself in that room, and the Democrats are running interference today trying to lay all this failure and all this off on McCain.  It is no wonder he didn't want to be in Washington when the sausage was being made, to use a cliche.  It's no wonder. McCain forced him there, dragged him there kicking and screaming.  That post-meeting statement -- by the way, it took a few hours to come up with this, you know? He and his 300 PR advisors had to craft that statement. Play sound bite number two again.  Listen to this.

OBAMA:  I think that the way that I've been working over the last week, constantly in contact with the secretary and the congressional leaders, um, uh, eh, you know, may end up creating an environment in which you can actually get somethin' done.

RUSH:  I can't get over that.  He's admitting something can't get done with him in the room, in charge of things.  He's admitting it here!  He was in charge and the meeting ended in chaos.  Apparently Obama works best when leaders get their hands dirty and he can talk to them by phone.  Because that way when he's on the phone his thinkers can sort out what his reaction should be to what he is hearing on the other end of the phone.

I notice how all the women who wouldn't support Hillary are all telling Gov. Palin to go home too.  It does give me a laugh.  But a lot of the women who did support Hillary are now supporting Palin.

Should I be reading something into this?   Could it be these women are just Obama supporters and they'd crush, kill and destroy any other woman that should get in his path?

I agree, Susie.  That's how out of touch my dd is.  She had to come up with some irrational reason why it was up to McCain's campaign to do the research when there was no reason for him to do so.  It was definitely up to Ifill to let both campaigns know that she had this book coming out ON inauguration day. 

I was listening to Morris tonight explain how profits are made from books.  He should know.  He's written plenty of them.  If Obama wins she makes several thousands dollars if not higher. If Obama loses she sells four books to her relatives.  LOL

I told my dd that McCain wasn't worried about her "fairness."  Otherwise, McCain took the high road.  I'm tired of him being so damned nice.  Niceness isn't gonna win this campaign.

Shirley, you are right. A political spin doctor said tonight (a neighbor) that McCain has to come out blazing. (And that Chris Dodd has been drunk for 25years...)

You know I e-mailed local McCain people for signs the night Palin was introduced. I was called yesterday and told that I could pick them up---40 minutes away!!! This is Dem territory, and there are real Republicans on my street~~~~why aren't they bringing them to us??? There are MamaforObama signs everywhere.

We are in trouble.

After reading this there is no doubt in my mind Gwen Ifill can be completely neutral, and compose questions that didn't come directly from the Obama campaign:

http://www.essence.com/news_entertainment/news/articles/michelleobamabesidebarack/essence.com

And I keep buying the Brooklyn Bridge.  It seems we have to buy it in sections so I'm told. 

This is really creepy - reminiscent of Hitler's Germany:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LsrtppY2Dc

Then send it to everyone you know. The mother who made the video posted it on YouTube and got so many negative comments she took it down but not before several people copied it. See for yourself - she is claiming copyright so it may get taken down again.