If you have been reading my blogs, you know my opinion on the origin of the recent financial crisis. It is largely about Fannie Mae, subject only to Congressional oversight, exempt from SEC oversight like no other financial institution.

It is about the Democrats in the House and the Senate voting against an increase in Fannie Mae oversight and any restraint of the organization, in spite of reports of systemic risk, out of control growth, and accounting malfeasance of the highest order. Alan Greenspan, and a host of mostly Republican worry warts such as George Bush and John McCain led the charge to reform Fannie Mae with dire warnings from credible reports; and the Democrats defeated it on straight party lines.

Fannie bought and sold Congressional favors and influence. They made large campaign contributions to largely Democratic candidates. The largest recipient was Christopher Dodd, head of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and the second largest contribution was to the most junior senator, Barak Obama.

The man who headed Fannie Mae during its most disreputable period, Frank Raines, who paid himself and his cronies huge bonuses based on performance numbers that were cooked is now an advisor to Barak Obama as is another Fannie Mae whore, Jim Johnson.

Given the incredible partisan origin of this problem, you have to ask why Bush and McCain have not played the partisan card that they easily could have. I can only guess that the reason is that Bush and his administration know what a dire crisis this is, and that it would be difficult to get a deal from Congress if he injected partisan politics into it.

So a deal was hammered out, it passed the Senate and was turned down on the first vote through the House. Worse, it was rejected largely by the Republicans, who some claimed to be put off by Pelosi’s incredibly partisan remarks fixing the blame for the crisis on the Republicans. They more than likely had legitimate complaints, but no one likes the bill- some just have stronger stomachs.

Chutzpa is a great Yiddish term for unmitigated gall. It is metaphorically defined as a boy who has just murdered his parents and then pleads mercy on the grounds he is an orphan. It is also the guy who gets a girl pregnant and then refuses to marry her because she is not a virgin.

Nancy Pelosi’s blaming the Republicans for this financial mess should become a similar classic chutzpa metaphor. To inject such a partisan remark in the middle of this debate from her position as speaker of the house is the worst kind of leadership I have seen. And then to blame the failure on the Republicans for not acting in a bipartisan manner is simply chutzpa squared.

I have little regard for the Republicans who voted against this bill, against their administration, and against their leaders if they only did so to spite Pelosi’s incredible offensive remarks. They should have risen above it. They have let Pelosi pit the Republicans against each other.

But I hold Pelosi is even worse regard for injecting partisanship in the debate and then calling for a bipartisan solution. She is in a leadership role. She is playing the worst kind of petty politics with a time bomb and she is successful in scoring big points and blaming Republicans not only for the origin of the crisis but the inability for Congress to address it.

Pelosi is despicable.

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