Rep. Wilson Clueless That McCain Has Flipped On Housing Plan, Desperately Insists, ‘That’s Not The Proposal’
Rep. Wilson Clueless That McCain Has Flipped On Housing Plan, Desperately Insists, ‘That’s Not The Proposal’
Since Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced his Home Resurgence Plan during the most recent presidential debate, the campaign has been caving to the angry right wing and changing the initially progressive plan.
Yesterday on MSNBC’s Hardball, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) brought up this plan in a heated exchange with Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM), a McCain surrogate, who clearly hadn’t been clued in to the changes. She kept insisting to Moran, “Jim, you know that’s not the proposal”:
MORAN: Well, what I want to tell you is, this is insane. What Senator McCain would do is to have the federal taxpayer buy every bad loan at 100 percent of value, and then guarantee it.
WILSON: Jim, you know that’s not the proposal. [...]
MORAN: His plan would pay 100 percent of the mortgage’s value. These mortgages are trading at 50 percent, sometimes 20 percent of value. Why should the taxpayer pay 100 percent, rewarding the banks themselves? That’s the problem. They’re not worth…
WILSON: No, Jim, mortgage-backed securities are trading at that low level.
MORAN: Look at the plan, Heather.
Watch it:
Moran is right; Wilson needs to read the new McCain plan. On Tuesday night, McCain appeared to argue that lenders should sell the mortgages of struggling homeowners to the government at a discount, rather than their face value — thus forcing lenders to foot the loss.
By Wednesday, McCain had significantly modified his proposal, shifting the cost of the plan from the lenders and onto taxpayers. Under his new plan, McCain would pay each lender the full face value of each mortgage, amounting to a $100 billion boondoggle for lenders who made bad loans.
Transcript:
MATTHEWS: Congressman — Congressman Moran, how does this war over the economy — I mean, we’re on, like, the Titanic, it seems. It just keeps sinking. Every afternoon, we get the bad news.
MORAN: Yes, the market is crashing. This is a stock market crash, and it’s in the middle of a recession. We’ve got to present — a global depression. But with regard to this plan, Chris, of course, you know, we’ll probably have a new plan next week, because we’ve had three different plans in about three weeks.
MATTHEWS: What, do something like Senator McCain wants to do?
MORAN: Well, what I want to tell you is, this is insane. What Senator McCain would do is to have the federal taxpayer buy every bad loan at 100 percent of value, and then guarantee it.
What we passed was legislation that said, if a bank is willing to write down the loan as much as 15 percent and make the terms so that the homeowner can pay them, then, in return, we will guarantee that loan.
That’s what the Treasury Department can do. It’s what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can do. We’re already doing that.
But to say we will buy up every bad loan in the country for hundreds of billions of dollars?
What we are doing is rewarding the very people…
WILSON: Jim, you know that’s not the proposal.
MORAN: … that shouldn’t have made these loans in the the first place.
MATTHEWS: What is the proposal, Congresswoman, that McCain is offering in this regard?
WILSON: The proposal is to look at people who, through no fault of their own, end up upside down on their mortgages, where they’ve got a down payment, where they had good credit, didn’t lie on their forms, and they end up with a house with a bigger mortgage than what it’s worth.
I think that those folks should be a priority, to work out that mortgage rather than just defaulting on it, declaring bankruptcy, so they can stay in their homes. And that is part of the bill.
MATTHEWS: Well, isn’t this the story…
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: I thought that that was what he was proposing.
(CROSSTALK)
WILSON: So let’s focus on keeping people in their homes and not on Wall Street.
MORAN: His plan would pay 100 percent of the mortgage’s value. These mortgages are trading at 50 percent, sometimes 20 percent of value. Why should the taxpayer pay 100 percent, rewarding the banks themselves? That’s the problem. They’re not worth…
(CROSSTALK)
WILSON: No, Jim, mortgage-backed securities are trading at that low level.
MORAN: Look at the plan, Heather. [...]
MATTHEWS: Generally speaking, are the Democrats pro-regulation, the Republicans anti-regulation, Congresswoman, generally speaking?
I thought Republicans were laissez-faire, less government in our lives, less regulation, less taxes. I thought that was your party philosophy?
WILSON: In general, that is true. But it was Republicans in the Congress and also the administration that said we need to change the way in which we monitor and regulate these institutions, and we need to tighten up on Freddie and Fannie.
And it was Democrats in the Congress who said, no, we think this fine, including a guy named Senator Barack Obama.
MORAN: This administration filled every regulatory post with somebody that had an anti-regulatory bias. And that’s why we’re in the situation we’re in.
MATTHEWS: Thank you, Jim Moran…
WILSON: The heads of Freddie and Fannie are supporting Barack Obama and have given more to his campaign…
MORAN: That’s not a regulatory agency.
WILSON: … than any other senator in the last 20 years.
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The McIIIrd campaign is in serious disarray.
Serious.
Disarray.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:22 pmI watched this segment when it 1st aired ; and one would needed only look at the expression on Moran’s face to understand what exactly was occurring ………..
He was in knowing resignation ; like , “here we go again”.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:25 pmOnce again, we see that the candidate does not speak for his campaign.
Can we say ‘puppet’?
Maybe we should also focus on McCain’s puppeteers instead of the puppet itself….
October 10th, 2008 at 12:26 pmHeather Wilson is a complete hack. I cannot stand her commentary on these shows. She’s completely clueless about what is going on, and delivers her cluelessness in a condescending way, like she did with Moran in this interview.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:29 pmWilson is out of a job come January. Looks like “Shouting Head” is her next gig. She’s wrong on the facts and thinks criticizing American policy is treason. A natural for cable tv, in other words.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:30 pmBrianFL Says:
Heather Wilson is a complete hack. I cannot stand her commentary on these shows. She’s completely clueless about what is going on, and delivers her cluelessness in a condescending way, like she did with Moran in this interview.
And yet, the good sheeple of her NM district will send her back to DC in a heartbeat. They must be SOOOOOO proud!
October 10th, 2008 at 12:31 pmMcCain originally had the plan to sell them to the government at a discount on his website. The next day that part of the plan disappeared and the new plan to purchase them at full value popped up.
These people are telling so many lies, they can’t remember what the current talking point is.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:32 pmHeather Wilson should stick to what she is good at; holding hearings on Janet Jackson’s “nipplegate”, and illegally firing US Attorneys who won’t rush through bogus charges against her political rivals.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:33 pm#upside99 Says:
And yet, the good sheeple of her NM district will send her back to DC in a heartbeat. They must be SOOOOOO proud!
Can’t happen. She lost her seat in the primary.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:33 pmCareful Moran, you’ll piss off the old coot. Then he will start singing, Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, Moran.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:34 pmStoopid GOoP.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:34 pmMust be tough for Uncle McNutzi’s flacks. They aren’t real bright to begin with and then he keeps changing his mind on what passes for his policies. Much easier for them to just point fingers and scream “terrorist”.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:36 pmAnd yet, the good sheeple of her NM district will send her back to DC in a heartbeat.
She lost in the primary. She’s out. That’s why she has become a Shouting Head. (The Dem is currently leading the race for her seat, and there is a chance that NM will go true-blue this year.)
October 10th, 2008 at 12:37 pmMy Bad! I forgot she ran (and lost) in her bid for the Senate seat of Domenici. Will be good riddance to have out of the House.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:40 pmUncle Ho Says
October 10th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
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Oh, aren’t we clever today? :-)
October 10th, 2008 at 12:40 pmJim Moran was my Congressman when I lived in suburban DC until earlier this year. He was always a staunch champion of Federal employees (which I was) and usually made the right choices on liberal issues. The thing about him I will never forget, however, is the day in the House when former Congressman “Duke” Cunningham was bullying someone. Moran could take it no longer, jumped up and went after Cunningham. Duke beat a hasty retreat to the cloakroom where Moran found him cowering in a closet saying “don’t hit me, don’t hit me.”
Gotta love it.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:41 pmpaleolib Says
October 10th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Must be tough for Uncle McNutzi’s flacks.
___________________________________________________________
Quite right — they have to pay attention 24/7 to what McCain’s ever-changing positions are. If they blink, they might miss something, as Wilson obviously did.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:42 pmWhat is it with these Repug flacks who try to bully the other commentators into submission? These jerks are always trying to shout out the other side and keep talking over them. That uptight btch kept talking over Moran with her lies until I had to change the channel or buy a new TV.
It’s a common ploy for these loser freaks.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:47 pmRetirement is going to be hard on “Leather” Heather.
Breaks m’fuukin HEART, it does, it does…
October 10th, 2008 at 12:49 pmNot her fault, you’d have to stay up and be with the mccain camp 24 hrs/day to keep track of the flip floppers.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:55 pmCan’t happen. She lost her seat in the primary.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Sorta. She had to decide whether to contest for Domenici’s Senate seat, or keep her seat in the House. She chose to go after the Senate seat, and lost in THAT primary, to a southern New Mexican/Texan Bush loyalist, Steve Pierce.
She was stunned, because she had always thought herself Pajama Pete’s hereditary successor, having played his ‘lap-top’ for 15 years. As I noted above, I do not think she’ll take retirement well…
October 10th, 2008 at 12:56 pmOn an uglier note, whatever happened to Katherine Harris?
October 10th, 2008 at 12:57 pmRU; By even mentioning that bwitch Harris, I just lost my lunch. :-(
October 10th, 2008 at 12:59 pmJohn McCain hasn’t had an original idea in 70 years. This so-called ‘modified proposal’ wasn’t written by him but by one of his lobbyist frieds/campaign adviser.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:01 pmRUCerious Says:
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On an uglier note, whatever happened to Katherine Harris?
October 10th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I don’t believe it gets much uglier than Wilson ; she’s looking quite mannish ……..
October 10th, 2008 at 1:06 pmMcFlippy can remember what he said for does from hour to hour, much less day to day.
John and Shara are counting on their mob mentally crowds for hate and bigotry to drive his campaign, screw the real issues, repukians love the hate.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:06 pmoops… McFlippy can’t remember…sorry
October 10th, 2008 at 1:08 pmThe flip-flops have turned into bouncing off the walls, and seem to be accelerating. The inevitable outcome is the bursting of the bubble. POW!!1!!
October 10th, 2008 at 1:13 pmI’ve been saying it for awhile now, as it gets closer to crunch time McCain is going to be stuck trying to keep his base and attract independents at the same time. He cannot support one side of an issue without isolating/turning off the other side. Hence the perpetual flip-flopping. He poses a policy position one day, two days later he realizes that the intended voters aren’t responding and flips his position. I don’t see how he can possibly gain any new voters in the short time that remains. The nation’s collective opinions are gelling and the more that voters pay attention, the more they are turned off by Stinky McCranky.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:13 pmHere is a very simplistic but succinct metaphorical explanation of the housing market and stock market collapse according to McLiar. Imagine, if you will, three snakes. The first snake tells the other two that he has found a way for them to make money by saving on their food bills. The key, he tells them, is to eat each others tails. He explains that each of them grow two inches per day so they are each to eat one inch of each other’s tail every day which will be a net gain of one inch per day of sustained growth. The two snakes then ask how the first snake will get by. He explains he will just take a small percentage of each day’s growth and they will all live happily ever after or until one stops growing. Guess what! The markets stopped growing and the two snakes ate themselves up and now the broker snake wants the zoo keeper to hand him a pair of new snakes.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:29 pmWilson is obviously internally conflicted over her latent homosexuality.
I’ve had PE teachers that were less manly.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:42 pmRUCerious Says:
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On an uglier note, whatever happened to Katherine Harris?
I’ve been asking that same question as well. We haven’t heard hide nor hair on the local front from her either. Maybe she’s hanging out in St. Armand’s Circle?
October 10th, 2008 at 2:12 pmclusterphuckTim; FLAGGED!
October 10th, 2008 at 2:44 pm“…Wilson clueless”
The headline says it all, doesn’t it?
October 10th, 2008 at 2:46 pmWhadda maroon! Hope she doesn’t win her next election!
October 10th, 2008 at 2:51 pm“The proposal is to look at people who, through no fault of their own, end up upside down on their mortgages, where they’ve got a down payment, where they had good credit, didn’t lie on their forms, and they end up with a house with a bigger mortgage than what it’s worth.”
I watched this and it makes no sense. These are not bad loans. None of these loans toxic receivables. Are we to compensate people in no danger of losing their homes simply because of a shift in market values?
BTW, every time I see Heather I think “Memo to Mike Rogers: Out this idiot.”
October 10th, 2008 at 2:56 pm