McCain's Campaign Manager Rick Davis Is Still A Lobbyist

Despite John McCain's pathetic attempt to lie about Rick Davis' lobbyist status, it wasn't too hard to pull the facts from the shallow ground that the GOP dug for them. At this point McCain and his cronies simply do not care about earning the public's trust. Instead they are on a direct strategy to lie and manipulate the public with ridiculous gimmicks that a blind man could see through. Since McCain challenged anyone on Rick Davis' status, the media did exactly that and guess what they found?

From Newsweek:

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Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, has remained the treasurer and a corporate director of his lobbying firm this year, despite repeated statements by campaign officials that he had ended his relationship with the firm in 2006, according to corporate records.

The McCain campaign this week criticized news stories disclosing that, since 2006, Davis's firm has been paid a $15,000-a-month consulting fee from Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage giant recently put under federal conservatorship. The stories, published Tuesday by NEWSWEEK, The New York Times and Roll Call, reported that the consulting fees continued until last month even though, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement, neither Davis nor anybody else at his firm did any substantial work for the payments.

Stefanie Mullin, a spokesperson for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which has taken over Freddie Mac and its sister entity Fannie Mae, confirmed Wednesday that the Davis Manafort contract is being terminated. "All lobbying activity has stopped and political consulting contracts at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in the process of being terminated," said Mullin. (Democratic strategist Paul Begala also was on the Freddie Mac payroll, according to sources familiar with the arrangement.)

The McCain campaign can skirt around the issue all the want, but the truth of the matter is that Davis still benefits from the arrangement. The facts of the case make this extremely relevant and especially revealing about the character of the people McCain employs and by that standard, the character of the candidate as well.

The Bailout Of Freddie And Fannie That's Not A Bailout

George Bush denied that the federal assistance to the two mortgage giants was a federal bailout. So I am confused as to what to call the $25 billion dollar tab that the American taxpayers are picking up to save the two companies (that were started with government money btw). The woes of the mortgage industry continue to ripple across the national and even international economy. To counter bad times, the President expects the taxpayer to pick up the tab, instead of the greedy corporations that helped to start the mess we are in. Of course, the hook to this is that they say it probably won't be needed.

From The NY Times:

The budget office said there was a better than even chance that the rescue package would not be needed before the end of 2009 and would not cost taxpayers any money. But the office also estimated a 5 percent chance that the mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, could lose $100 billion, which would cost taxpayers far more than $25 billion.

But what do they really know?

Mr. Orszag, at a briefing with reporters, acknowledged that pinpointing the eventual cost of the package was impossible. “There is very significant uncertainty involved here,” he said.

So if our "investment" works out it'll be good for us, right?

Mr. Orszag said that the analysis by his office did not distinguish between the different forms of aid that might be offered — a credit line or a stock purchase — and that the analysis showed no short-term potential financial benefit for taxpayers even if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac perform well.

But he said the analysis found substantial risk for taxpayers if the companies had steep losses and would not say if his office had analyzed the implications of a full government takeover of the companies.

Ah so we're basically screwed either way, and guess who the winner in all of this is? The executives in the custom-tailored suits that have run this ship too close to shore. The only question is how close will it get before irreparably damaging the economy.