Do Facts Matter? Recriminations

[392cobra]

Do Facts Matter?
Recriminations.

By Thomas Sowell

Comment: It appears very likely that Obama will be President, facts be damned. I know he is very bright, personable and charismatic. What disturbs me the most is the unknown influence on him of his radical left anti-American close associates. We know he is the most liberal senator, but it might be much worse than that. Paul

Abraham Lincoln said, “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.”

Unfortunately, the future of this country, as well as the fate of the Western world, depends on how many people can be fooled on Election Day, just a few weeks from now.

Right now, the polls indicate that a whole lot of the people are being fooled a whole lot of the time.

The current financial bailout crisis has propelled Barack Obama back into a substantial lead over John McCain — which is astonishing in view of which man and which party has had the most to do with bringing on this crisis.

It raises the question: Do facts matter? Or is Obama’s rhetoric and the media’s spin enough to make facts irrelevant?

Fact Number One: It was liberal Democrats, led by Sen. Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, who for years — including the present year — denied that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taking big risks that could lead to a financial crisis.

It was Sen. Dodd, Congressman Frank, and other liberal Democrats who for years refused requests from the Bush administration to set up an agency to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It was liberal Democrats, again led by Dodd and Frank, who for years pushed for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to go even further in promoting subprime mortgage loans, which are at the heart of today’s financial crisis.

Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the president. So did Bush’s secretary of the Treasury, five years ago.

Yet, today, what are we hearing? That it was the Bush administration “right-wing ideology” of “de-regulation” that set the stage for the financial crisis. Do facts matter?

We also hear that it is the free market that is to blame. But the facts show that it was the government that pressured financial institutions in general to lend to subprime borrowers, with such things as the Community Reinvestment Act and, later, threats of legal action by then Attorney General Janet Reno if the feds did not like the statistics on who was getting loans and who wasn’t.

Is that the free market? Or do facts not matter?

Then there is the question of being against the “greed” of CEOs and for “the people.” Franklin Raines made $90 million while he was head of Fannie Mae and mismanaging that institution into crisis.

Who in Congress defended Franklin Raines? Liberal Democrats, including Maxine Waters and the Congressional Black Caucus, at least one of whom referred to the “lynching” of Raines, as if it was racist to hold him to the same standard as white CEOs.

Even after he was deposed as head of Fannie Mae, Franklin Raines was consulted this year by the Obama campaign for his advice on housing!

The Washington Post criticized the McCain campaign for calling Raines an adviser to Obama, even though that fact was reported in the Washington Post itself on July 16th. The technicality and the spin here is that Raines is not officially listed as an adviser. But someone who advises is an adviser, whether or not his name appears on a letterhead.

The tie between Barack Obama and Franklin Raines is not all one-way. Obama has been the second-largest recipient of Fannie Mae’s financial contributions, right after Sen. Christopher Dodd.

But ties between Obama and Raines? Not if you read the mainstream media.

Facts don’t matter much politically if they are not reported.

The media alone are not alone in keeping the facts from the public. Republicans, for reasons unknown, don’t seem to know what it is to counterattack. They deserve to lose.

But the country does not deserve to be put in the hands of a glib and cocky know-it-all, who has accomplished absolutely nothing beyond the advancement of his own career with rhetoric, and who has for years allied himself with a succession of people who have openly expressed their hatred of America.

© 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

[427 S/O]

It's not a hard truth, it's just the truth.

Thanks Fred.

[4RE KLR]

Obama is "The Great Deceiver"

It amazes me just how many people are on board with the BS that continues to spill out of his mouth.

Hang on to your diapers folks (and your firearms), this is going to get BAD!

[Wayne Maybury]

While I am not an Amercian, I believe that I would have changed my mind by now if I had been thinking of voting for Obama. I just do not like some of the people that he has surrounded himself with.

Wayne

[MChat]

Who needs facts when you have the vast majority of major news outlets on your side?

It's a sad day when the most fair and balanced outlet is labeled "right wing."

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!"

[FWB]

just think about where does canada export to.......if that economy fails where
will you be? is the consumer in canada able to support its gnp? how much is US dependent? is the amero going to be your new currency? will the mexicans find their way to canada?

[Smokingcobra2]

Those of us who post here are informed about what Obama is about. I ask my friends about him and all they say is -CHANGE_ they know nothing else and dont care about anything else or his back ground. THERE MAD AS HELL about what has happened to our economy and the Republicains will pay.
I even WONDER if the present crisis was manipulated to hurt McCain when it was and is to late to save him.
joeg

[Wayne Maybury]

Originally Posted by FWB

just think about where does canada export to.......if that economy fails where
will you be? is the consumer in canada able to support its gnp? how much is US dependent? is the amero going to be your new currency? will the mexicans find their way to canada?

The Canadian and US economies are very closely linked. The TSX (Canada's Dow) has been hit much worse than the Dow has. Firstly, the US is Canada's number 1 trading partner and secondly, our economy is supported heavily by energy and natural resource stocks. The US financial crisis combined with the melt down in energy and resource prices have been a double wammy for us.

The Canadian economy is based very heavily on exports, especially of raw materials and natural resources. The drop in demand and/or prices will hurt us significantly.

Our Federal Government has been running a budgetary surplus for several years now based on increased tax revenue even though the Federal Goods and Services Tax rate has been decreased twice. Our banks have very limited exposure to the present financial situation in the US but I do not believe that anyone really understands what is going on in the financial markets and no one can predict what is going to happen next.

Our currencies have been trading more or less at par for the past year but the $CDN has dropped to about 91 cents US lately primarily due to the drop in oil prices. A North American dollar has been discussed off and on for many years but right now I don't think that anyone considers it to be a possibility.

I am not sure exactly what you mean about Mexicans heading up here but I am sure that they would head back down south when the snow arrives.

Wayne

[cobra de capell]

We are screwed......

[aharris]

I don't think Obama has a monopoly on disinformation. The WMD's come to mind. It seems that politics is all about suspending the truth.

Andrew

[Cobrabill]

[QUOTE=aharris; The WMD's come to mind. It seems that politics is all about suspending the truth.Andrew[/QUOTE

Only problem is, there were WMD.

[aharris]

Cobrabill

I think you are illustrating my point.

Andrew

[ralph puglisi]

Andrew

Didn't the whole world believe Sadam had WMD's, even Sadam? Why is it that when Liberals run out of arguments they fall back on "He did it first".

It didn't work when you were eight and it doesn't work now.

[aharris]

Ralph

I'm saying that they all do it, always have and always will...

Andrew

[Cobrabill]

Originally Posted by aharris

Cobrabill

I think you are illustrating my point.

Andrew

Why do you libs always get things backwards?
You are illustrating mine.

Fact:Hussein gassed the Kurds.
Fact:Gas is a WMD.

Point
Set
match

You lose-liberal.

[Joe Wicked]

I have had friends in Iraq that found bunkers with a multitude of chemicals commonly used in chemical weapons, containers, explosives, remote detonators, etc... Everything was in place to build the chemical weapons. Some were even assembled, but since they were not fully assembled/chemicals loaded in, they were just bombs, and not WMD. They could not say it was a WMD find because it was not fully assembled. It was obvious what was going on before they were raided. The WMDs were there, Saddam just did a good job of moving the completed ones out of the country before the forces got there. He knew they were coming, so he planned ahead in attempt to make the US look bad.

[427 S/O]

Correct Bill, and don't forget about the uranium, left over from Saddam's dictatorship and recently sold to Canada!. Funny how all this gets lost when arguing WMD's...........

[nevermind65]

Bahahahaha! There were no WMD! None, nada...zilch! The only items ever found were remains of chemicals left over from years earlier. Even the weapons inspectors said that the storage areas hadn't been used in years, and soil samples taken show the same thing.

Saddam was a good liar, but that is about it. He kept the whole ME at bay thinking he had all these weapons in hiding waiting for an attack. Saddam was a desperate man in his last hours. Had he really had the supposed WMD, no doubt he would have used them against our troops. Absolutely no reason not to.

[cobra bill]

Originally Posted by nevermind65

Bahahahaha! There were no WMD! None, nada...zilch! The only items ever found were remains of chemicals left over from years earlier. Even the weapons inspectors said that the storage areas hadn't been used in years, and soil samples taken show the same thing.

Saddam was a good liar, but that is about it. He kept the whole ME at bay thinking he had all these weapons in hiding waiting for an attack. Saddam was a desperate man in his last hours. Had he really had the supposed WMD, no doubt he would have used them against our troops. Absolutely no reason not to.

You are absolutely correct, there were none! he was putting up a front to keep his mortal enemy Iran at bay, yes at one time he had WMD's hell we sold them to him, what do you think that photo of him and Rumsfeld was all about?

[Cobrabill]

[quote=nevermind65; Had he really had the supposed WMD, no doubt he would have used them against our troops. QUOTE]

Correct-but you(Hussein)can't use what you got rid of previously because the inspectors were coming.Nice try though.