Anatomy of a Scandal
There is only one word for it.
That word is "scandal."
That scandal is rapidly metastasizing, too. Overtaking you, your
family, your business, your kid's education and, last but
certainly not least, the entire global economy.
Begin with the scarlet philosophical thread that takes expression
from the following people in their own distinctive styles.
William Ayers: "I am a radical, Leftist, small 'c' communist ...
Maybe I'm the last communist who is willing to admit it….The
ethics of Communism still appeal to me."
Jeremiah Wright: "God damn America, for treating our citizens as
less than human."
Jimmy Carter: In a June 16, 1976 presentation to the Democrats'
platform committee, Carter promised that America under a Carter
administration would help the poor by putting "Greater effort to
direct mortgage money into the financing of private housing
."
Bill Clinton and Al Gore: Writing in their 1992 campaign book
Putting People First, the two promised if elected they
would: "Ease the credit crunch in our inner cities…to prevent
redlining (and) require financial institutions to invest in homes
in their communities."
Franklin Raines: Like Carter, on this subject Clinton and Gore
were as good as their word, installing Clinton Budget Director
Franklin Raines to run Fannie Mae and get the job done. Raines
did just what he was asked to do. As the New York
Times reported on September 30, 1999:
''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."
Barack Obama: "I've been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you
care about my entire career."
And last but not least…
ACORN: As Stanley Kurtz over at NRO and Sol Stern of
City Journal have both uncovered, a driving force of
ACORN -- quite aside from accusations that it has engaged in
massive fraud in registering voters -- has been to exert
political pressure on banks to give loans to those otherwise
unqualified. In the name, of course, of fairness. Reported
Stern on ACORN back in 2003:
ACORN's anti-capitalism leads it to deep distrust of capitalism's
central instruments -- the banks and other financial institutions
that ACORN would class high among those "irresponsible… largest
businesses." ACORN loudly campaigns against "predatory lending,"
"redlining," and other forms of presumed abuse by financial
institutions that supposedly hinder the minority poor from
getting the capital needed for home buying and business
start-ups. As an antidote, ACORN has latched on to a 1977 federal
law, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which was aimed at
ensuring that banks do not discriminate against poor minority
communities. Under its rules, banks must go through a costly
process of reporting where and to whom they lend money, to show
that they don't discriminate. There are no official penalties for
banks that get less than satisfactory ratings from the regulators
on this issue. But when banks need approval for mergers or
acquisitions, the CRA gives "community groups" the opportunity to
lodge complaints against them, alleging suspect lending
practices. If there's even the appearance of discrimination, the
regulators may put the bank's deal on hold.
How did the banks respond to this political pressure from ACORN
to lend money to financially unqualified applicants? Says Stern:
ACORN has developed a lucrative niche as an "advisor" to banks
seeking regulatory approvals. Thus we have J. P. Morgan &
Company, the legatee of the man who once symbolized for many all
that was supposedly evil about American capitalism, suddenly
donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to ACORN. This act of
generosity and civic-mindedness came, interestingly, just as
Morgan was asking bank regulators for approval of a merger with
Chase Manhattan. Not to be outdone, Chase also decided to grant
more than $200,000 to ACORN.
Stern concludes by quoting one "prominent consultant to the
financial industry, who preferred to remain anonymous" as saying
this: "The banks know they are being held up, but they are not
going to fight over this. They look at it as a cost of doing
business."
The cost of doing business. Wow. Remember that the next time you
look at what's left of your portfolio.
Paying what amounts to blackmail money to appease the political
pressures from ACORN -- while letting ACORN have their way with
banks and financial institutions -- has now, incredibly, helped
bring millions of Americans -- perhaps you, dear reader -- to the
brink of bankruptcy. Stocks, mutual funds, 401k's, pensions,
credit -- the financial guts of a family, a business, and in turn
the underlying financial foundation of the U.S. government itself
-- are now in serious, serious trouble. Entire Wall Street
institutions are utterly collapsed. Somewhere Bill Ayers and
Jeremiah Wright are surely laughing hysterically.
This is in real part because of ACORN, the self-same organization
that is now being investigated for massive voter fraud in key
electoral states from Pennsylvania to Nevada. The same
organization which Barack Obama himself once counseled in his
role as a "community organizer." (You wanted to know what a
community organizer does? Look at the condition of your 401k and
you will now get it immediately.) And, not to be forgotten, ACORN
shares some shade of the philosophical thread that runs in
varying hues from the blood red fuses of Bill Ayers bombs to the
purple prose of Jeremiah Wright's sermons to the housing policies
advocated and implemented by Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Al
Gore and defended by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and an army of
Democrats captured on videotape.
DO YOU GET the picture here? Do you see the thread? William Ayers
thought America was so unfair he became a self-described "radical
Leftist" who expressed his views on American capitalism by
bombing the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon. Jeremiah Wright his
pulpit to preach that America was so unfair because it treated
our own citizens as "less than human." Jimmy Carter was so
disturbed at the lack of fairness in the free market he vowed
that if he were elected president in 1976 he would put "greater
effort" into making sure the government could "direct mortgage
money" to housing for the poor. He was as good as his word,
getting the Community Reinvestment Act passed in 1977. The
purpose of the Carter legislation was to reduce "discriminatory"
credit practices affecting the poor. Like clockwork, this in turn
opened the door for ACORN. Fannie Mae boss Franklin Raines, the
Clinton appointee who walked away from the agency with $90
million, was so intent on making things fair for those "millions
of families" unable to buy homes (as Clinton and Gore had
promised in 1992) that he reduced "down payment requirements," a
key tenet of ACORN.
Here's Stanley Kurtz -- way back in May -- on the findings of
his investigation into Barack Obama and ACORN: "Obama's ties to
Acorn -- arguably the most politically radical large-scale
activist group in the country -- are wide, deep, and
longstanding."
In other words, working with ACORN was part of Obama's
self-appointed role as a "community organizer." Long before
having any association with ACORN had the serious potential, as
it now suddenly very much does, of being a political liability,
Obama sought and received the endorsement of its political arm
for his presidential campaign. These were his old buddies, so, of
course, he got it. Why not? After all, in his own words at the
time:
"I come out of a grassroots organizing background. That's what I
did for three and half years before I went to law school. That's
the reason I moved to Chicago was to organize. So this is
something that I know personally, the work you do, the importance
of it. I've been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care
about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official,
when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois,
ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your
work."
Are we clear here? Barack Obama not only was the counsel for
ACORN as part of his "community organizer" role he considered
"the work you do" important. Said he: "We appreciate your work."
He was proud to be "fighting alongside ACORN on issues" it cared
about. And what do we now know the results of ACORN's work and
its issues to be? Starkly and very simply put they have:
1. Undermined the financial stability of you, your family, your
business and your gove
