Today in a speech at the West Point Military Academy, President Bush further defended his legacy on national security, saying that the U.S. military is “stronger, more agile and better prepared” than it was in 2001. He also gave a “rare shout out to his former defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, for leading the charge for a more nimble military”:

Finally, we are transforming our military for a new kind of war that we’re fighting now, and for wars of tomorrow. This transformation was a top priority for the enterprising leader who served as my first Secretary of Defense — Donald Rumsfeld. Today, because of his leadership and the leadership of Secretary Bob Gates, we have made our military better trained, better equipped, and better prepared to meet the threats facing America today, and tomorrow, and long in the future.

Today, four former CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac testified before the House Oversight Committee on how their companies’ actions may have “contributed to the ongoing crisis.” Blaming Fannie, Freddie, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), and low-income people is one of conservatives’ favorite talking points. In September, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) touted an article criticizing the CRA for pushing “Fannie and Freddie to aggressively lend to minority communities.”

But as the Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo points out, at the beginning of today’s hearing, Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) said that 400,000 documents amassed by the committee showed that the right-wing claim is nothing more than a conservative myth. Later in the hearing, Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY) asked the four CEOs whether poor people caused the current financial crisis. All said “no”:

Richard Syron, former Freddie CEO: “I would think that it wasn’t mostly trying to do things for poor people.”

Daniel Mudd, former Fannie CEO: “[W]hen the market goes down, it’s the folks who are the closest to the margin who — who get hurt first and longest every time.”

Leland Brendsel, former Freddie CEO: “I cannot recall ever being forced to make — or to purchase a mortgage loan that I didn’t feel, as a matter of policy at Freddie Mac, was a good mortgage loan, a sound mortgage loan, and an attractive mortgage loan for the homebuyer or the owner of an apartment building.”

Franklin Raines, former Fannie CEO: “I do not believe that poor people are the cause of the current financial crisis. … Most of the losses, as I read the record, have come on mortgages that were made to middle-class and upper-middle-class people, not to poor people.”

Watch it:

Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act in 1977, requiring banks “to lend throughout the communities they serve.” In the 1990s, greater mortgage lending to lower-income households by CRA-coveed banks increased the homeownership rate for lower-income and minority families. As CAP scholar Tim Westrich has written, “The real culprits in the mortgage mess are non-bank mortgage companies — not covered by CRA — that originated the lion’s share of bad mortgages at the heart of the crisis. They made an estimated 50 percent of subprime loans in 2005.”

Numerous other scholars, including Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman and Center for Economic and Policy Research co-director Dean Baker, have also explained that while Fannie and Freddie made many bad decisions, they weren’t primarily to blame for the financial crisis. At a hearing in September, former top government economic experts agreed that conservatives were pushing myths, rather than facts.

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In an interview with CBS today, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was asked how the U.S. image has fared under President Bush. Rice acknowledged that there were “some negative perceptions” but added that the U.S. is still quite popular:

But I’m always a little puzzled to find the two most populous countries in the world — China and India – even if you want to take the test of popularity, which by the way, I don’t think is the issue, but even if you wanted to take the test of popularity, the United States is very well regarded.

“Among several of America’s traditional allies, support has fallen steeply since 2002,” Pew noted in 2006. An April 2008 BBC poll of 17 countries found that views of US influence in the world are “predominantly negative”:

A November National Intelligence Council report predicted that U.S. influence will decline over the next two decades as China and India gain clout.

Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher has a book coming out later this month, called “Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream.” He previewed it on Glenn Beck’s radio show, revealing that “a lot of liberals are going to love” some of his criticisms about Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). He was particularly angry about McCain’s support for the $700 billion financial bailout:

WURZELBACHER: When I was on the bus with him, I asked him a lot of questions about the bailout because most Americans did not want that to happen. Yet he voted for it. … And I asked him some pretty direct questions. Some of the answers you guys are gonna receive — they appalled me, absolutely. I was angry. In fact I wanted to get off the bus after I talked to him.

BECK: Really? Now why didn’t you get off the bus?

WURZELBACHER: Um, you know, honestly, because the thought of Barack Obama as president scares me even more.

Listen here:

Wurzelbacher said he supported McCain only because he was “kinda the lesser of two evils.” However, his criticism of McCain didn’t extend to his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK). “Sarah Palin is absolutely the real deal,” he said.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is currently under investigation for allegedly trying to sell the open Senate seat vacated by President-elect Obama. Today, Obama said that he had “no contact” with Blagojevich and was not aware of what was transpiring:

OBAMA: I had no contact with the governor or his office so I was not aware of what was happening. As I said it is a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment.

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Jake Tapper notes that, two weeks ago, David Axelrod told a local Chicago station that Obama had spoken with the governor. An Obama transition team aide says that Axelrod misspoke.

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