A man may see how this world goes with no eyes. Look with thine ears;
See how yond justice rails upon yond simple thief?
Hark in thine ear: change places, and handy-dandy, which is the justice, which is the thief?Lear, IV.vi.

The news today is filled with outrage that McCain’s campaign manager was a lobbyist for Freddie and Fannie (Mac and Mae, respectively, if you’re as clueless as Sen. Obama).  Meanwhile, Obama skates for his ties to Franklin Raines and the apparent consideration of Jamie Gorelick for Attorney General (not to mention Penny Pritzker or Jim Johnson).

When James A. Johnson walked out of his office as chief executive at Fannie Mae for the last time, in December 1998, the longtime Democratic Party operative and investment banker could look back at his nearly decade-long tenure at the helm knowing the company had lived up to his promises of double-digit earnings growth. The value of its assets had also tripled, and its share price had risen sevenfold.

“Without good numbers, nothing else can get done,” he told The Post in 1998.

Federal regulators sharply criticized earnings-related compensation granted to senior executives by Fannie Mae, saying that those bonuses played a key role in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal at the mortgage finance giant.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Accounting irregularities at national mortgage-lending firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have triggered government probes and the ouster of several top executives.

Good numbers kept Wall Street happy. They paid the light bills for more than 50 partnership offices that represented Fannie Mae around the country. And they made top executives multimillionaires. Johnson received $21 million in his last year as chief executive and a consulting contract worth $600,000 a year.

Until the story of Fannie and Freddie’s illiquidity broke, Johnson was a top Obama campaign advisor and in charge of helping to choose him a running-mate.

The media push to drive all of the responsibility for the sub-prime mess onto the shoulders of the Republicans seems for the moment to be working.  Sen. Sherrod Brown was on NPR yesterday stating that the crisis was created by greedy Wall Street bankers and Republicans who deregulated the finance industry.  His depiction was too much even for Terry Gross, who stated, “Spoken like a loyal Democrat.”  To which Brown answered, with a certain lack of vocal conviction, “Well, it’s true.”  After claiming that the Bush administration had never tried to do anything about the situation.

Only Fox begs to differ, it seems, among the networks, though the true story is reported elsewhere.  How Gorelick, Pritzker and Raines, who was forced to give back $25 million of the $91 million in compensation he earned mismanaging the trust, benefitted from the Enron-style accounting at these institutions is a dirty, dirty matter that the MSM, by and large, doesn’t seem to want to touch.

Mind you, I don’t give Republicans who’ve voted against oversight for Fannie and Freddie a pass, nor do I give greedy Wall Street financiers a pass, or the home equity loan bastards who now feel they’re entitled to a bail-out.  But tucked into the Congressional provisions we now find that there are bail-outs for student loans and car debt. While Dem-leaning policy wonks talk about the inherent unfairness of the Feds permitting certain firms to fail and buying others, they seem not to mind that the government has intervened to save some homeowners from foreclosure while letting those who have gone before them sink, or that some people may have paid off their student debt or automotive financing, while they contemplate making us hold the bag for this.  Are any of them going to recuse themselves for having accepted discounted loans from CountryWide or any of the other mortgage lenders?  Puh-leeeeeeeeeeze!  (I see VDH has the same idea).

They want to limit executive compensation, but where were they when Gorelick and Raines were driving Fannie and Freddie into the ground?  And now the Obama campaign is considering making the architect of the wall between intelligence agencies, whom they previously appointed to help get to the bottom of the 9/11 intelligence debacle, Attorney General?  You. have. to. be. kidding me.  Not forcing Charlie Rangel out of the Ways and Means Committee chairmanship?  Well, I know, they’re Democrats–but at a time like this?  Has anyone in the media bothered to ask Obama whether he thinks Rangel should go?  Or would that be racist?

This isn’t a poison pill.  This is a feature.  I want to know which Congresscritters were responsible for adding this language to the developing bail-out bill that’s already going to cost us all so much.  And as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, it’s very sad how little they were bought off with to cost us so much.  Talk about leveraging.

But, you know, turn the tables and suddenly it’s OPM.  Holy double-talking dublOOns!

If he’s willing to do it (God only knows why), they should appoint Warren Buffett to sort this all out.  Why?  Because he understands the concept of fair market value.

UPDATE: McCain campaign rips NYT for not bothering with public records contradicting their assertions.

Today the New York Times launched its latest attack on this campaign in its capacity as an Obama advocacy organization. Let us be clear about what this story alleges: The New York Times charges that McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis was paid by Freddie Mac until last month, contrary to previous reporting, as well as statements by this campaign and by Mr. Davis himself.

In fact, the allegation is demonstrably false. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis separated from his consulting firm, Davis Manafort, in 2006. As has been previously reported, Mr. Davis has seen no income from Davis Manafort since 2006. Zero. Mr. Davis has received no salary or compensation since 2006. Mr. Davis has received no profit or partner distributions from that firm on any basis — weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual — since 2006. Again, zero. Neither has Mr. Davis received any equity in the firm based on profits derived since his financial separation from Davis Manafort in 2006.

Further, and missing from the Times‘ reporting, Mr. Davis has never — never — been a lobbyist for either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. Mr. Davis has not served as a registered lobbyist since 2005.

Though these facts are a matter of public record, the New York Times, in what can only be explained as a willful disregard of the truth, failed to research this story or present any semblance of a fairminded treatment of the facts closely at hand. The paper did manage to report one interesting but irrelevant fact: Mr. Davis did participate in a roundtable discussion on the political scene with…Paul Begala.

How deep is your tank?