Change Of Plans

Revealing
Two longtime Republican congressmen have acknowledged that their names appeared on a list of House members who received special loans through a Countrywide Financial program that set off a Congressional inquiry into whether the disgraced mortgage firm granted special treatment to politically connected clients. (NYT, 1/14/2012)


Only the New York Times could write an article about Countrywide Financial loans to politicians and NOT mention its loan to Democrat Christopher Dodd WHO WAS THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE! As a public service, RedStateVT reminds readers:


...it was revealed that Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.) got a sweetheart deal on his Washington, D.C., townhouse directly from Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of troubled subprime-mortgage lender Countrywide Financial. Participating in the “Friends of Angelo” program saved Dodd about $75,000 on his mortgage, and raised more than a few eyebrows about whether Dodd should be accepting such hefty gifts from entities he’s tasked with overseeing and regulating. (Nationreview.com, 1/29/2009)


Essences
That was the essence of the “Southern strategy” that Republicans, beginning with Richard Nixon, used to urge white voters to defect from a Democratic Party that supported civil rights. (NYT, 1/14/2012)


The Republican Party opposed civil rights? Well, the Times has a short memory. Here is how voting in the House of Representatives broke down for the Civil Rights Act of 1964: Dems - 152 (59%) and Repubs - 138 (78%). So actually, Republican support was stronger. And then there is this:


On the critical vote to end the filibuster by Southern Democrats, 71 senators voted to invoke cloture. With 67 votes needed, 44 Democrats and 27 Republicans joined together to bring the bill to a final vote. Of those voting “nay,” 80 percent were Democrats, including Robert C. Byrd and former Vice President Al Gore’s father, who was then a senator from Tennessee. Again, it is clear that the civil rights bill would have failed without Republican votes. (www.capitalgainsandgames.com, 12/7/2009)


The fact-checker for the New York Times is obviously still on vacation. 


Failing Grade
A country spending twice as much per capita on education as it did in 1970 with zero effect on test scores is not underinvesting in education. It’s mis-investing. (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, 12/8/2011)


Have we not quoted Krauthammer yet this year? Shame on us!