The Reason for the Sub Prime Housing Crises

If you wonder how we got to the point with a housing crisis caused by the Sub Prime collapse? Look no further than the powerful National Association of Realtors. This from OpenSecrets.org:

The National Association of Realtors represents the nation’s real estate industry. While the bulk of its issues tend to deal with property management and control, the group also lobbies members of Congress and the administration on virtually every issue facing business, including health care reform, bankruptcy legislation and tax cuts. One of its biggest issues in recent years has been a move toward deregulating the financial services industry. For years, real estate agents have successfully warded off attempts by banking interests to delve into the sale and management of property. One of the keys to the group’s success: It supports Democrats and Republicans almost equally.

They are the 3rd largest political donors. That is why.

60 Minutes Easy on Hillary Clinton, Tougher on Obama

It was a shameful piece of journalism. Katie Couric totally rolled for Hillary Clinton, allowing her to hit pitch after pitch out of the ball park [read the entire transcript]:

• Now she finds herself locked in a fierce battle with her opponent Barrack Obama. But she's already won several big states and she's got her eye on two important primaries in early March, Texas and Ohio.
  
  With the Democratic nomination in the balance, she remains focused, energized and anything but defeatist.
• "Even in your deepest darkest moments, when you're exhausted, you don't think 'Oh my gosh, I'm going through this, I'm spending so much money, I'm so tired and this could be all for naught?' What if that happens?" Couric asked. "You have to, once in a while, think that. No?"
  
  "No, Katie," Clinton said. "You can't think like that. You have to believe you're going to win."
• "How do you do it? I mean, the satellite interviews, the speeches, the travel, the debates, the schmoozing, the picture taking, 24/7," Couric asked. [Couric did interrupt to challenge her canned answer]
• Asked if she pops vitamins or drinks a lot of coffee, Clinton said, "I take vitamins. I drink tea, not coffee anymore. I have really stopped drinking diet drinks. Because I found that they gave you a jolt, but they weren't good over the long run. I used to drink a lot of them. I drink tons of water. Just as much water as I can possibly drink."
• "Not one scintilla of bad blood between you now?" Couric asked.
  
  "Not from my side, no," Clinton said. "I was sitting on that stage in Los Angeles and I was thinking to myself, 'This is what I have dreamed of my entire life,' you know." [Couric should've challenged this statement and pointed out her race-baiting during the South Carolina primary]
• Asked if the media has treated her the same way as they've treated Obama, Clinton told Couric, "I think the media has certainly been very, shall we say, tough on me."
  
  "Tougher on you than Senator Obama?" Couric asked.
  
  "Or nearly anybody else, the best I can tell. But that's okay," Clinton said.
  
  "You've said, 'I've been through the Republican attacks. And I've been vetted.' And cynics suggest that you're insinuating there's some deep, dark secret that is in Barack Obama's past that will be somehow unveiled by a GOP attack machine," Couric said.
  

Coversely, Obama's interview tonight was more like a real interview [read the transcript here]:

• "I know you'd like to consider yourself the underdog. But by the time we're finished with the next round, it's possible, maybe even likely, that you'll have more delegates than Senator Clinton. Or that you will have won more states. And that you will have raised more money. And have more money on hand. So explain to me how you're an underdog," Kroft asked.
• "I mean, one of the problems that you have, still, is the question of experience. And you've done a lot of remarkable things in your life. But when you sit down and you look at the résumé - there's no executive experience. And, in fact, correct if I'm wrong, the only thing that you've actually run was the Harvard Law Review," Kroft pointed out.
• "You talk about big ideas and often with a lack of specificity. And it’s been one of the complaints about your campaign," Kroft remarked.
• To some people he can come across as being cocky and a bit aloof; others see it as confidence.

Bush FOXNews Transcript: McCain a "True Conservative"

If you say so, George. What you didn't say is that he is much a Conservative as you are (read the entire transcript):

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Absolutely. I know him well. I know his convictions. I know the principles that drive him and no doubt in my mind he is a true conservative. Now I do want to make sure that you don't rope me into getting into this primary before it ends because we have another conservative candidate in Mike Huckabee still running.

Did he ask for your help?:

BUSH: I think that if John is the nominee, he has got some convincing to do to convince people that he is a solid conservative and I'll be glad to help him if he is the nominee ...

But he voted against your tax cuts:

WALLACE: Let's talk about some of the issues that give conservatives heartburn with McCain and quite frankly issues where he broke with you. He was one of only two Republicans — I don't have to remind you — who voted against your tax cuts. The first time, he said because he said they tilted too far towards the rich.

BUSH: He is for making the tax cuts permanent.

WALLACE: And what he did in 2001 and 2003 doesn't bother you?

BUSH: No. He absolutely has said that and he's the kind of fellow who says something, he'll do it and he said, these tax cuts ought to be made permanent. See, you're trying to get me in the trap again of getting involved in this primary and it's not even over yet.

Questions over Hillary Clinton's Family Wealth

The Clintons can't seem to do anything without it being dishonest or crooked:

Hillary Clinton is coming under growing pressure to be more open about the sources of her family’s wealth after she revealed that she had been forced to loan her cash-strapped campaign $5 million.

Critics are claiming that her husband Bill Clinton’s lucrative financial dealings since leaving the White House may expose her campaign to conflicts of interest, and are calling for her to publish the full details of her earnings and assets.

Sen Clinton has made more than $9 million from her 2003 memoirs.

But the biggest earner in the family is the former president, who is finalising an estimated $20 million pay-out from a six-year stint as an investment fund advisor, and has raked in many millions more from consultancy deals, speeches and his writings.

The couple left the White House with $2 million in legal debts in 2001 but are now worth between $10 million and $50 million, according to her latest Senate financial disclosure filings, which allow candidates to list their assets in broad ranges.

Mrs Clinton can put half the funds held jointly with her husband towards her presidential bid under campaign finance laws.

By contrast, her rival Barack Obama emphasised last week that he released his annual tax returns, which break down earnings and assets in detail.

“I think the American people deserve to know where you get your income from,” he said pointedly.