I‘ll tell you, the New York Times is a publication that really knows how to put lipstick on a pig. To put it simply, Barack Obama has been a darling of the derelict siblings Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while John McCain has not. Nevertheless, a Jackie Calmes article in today’s ‘Paper of Record’ attempts to draw a parallel in the support both presidential candidates have received from the stumbling behemoths. Since you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, Calmes repeatedly has to rely on bogus equivalencies like the following:
Yes, the Times is insinuating that a lobbyist who had Fannie as one of his clients is the exact same thing as the guy who used to run Fannie. No wonder why a graph of the paper’s fortunes in recent years would resemble a ski slope. What’s more, Obama vowed that his vice presidential selection process would provide valuable insight into his governing style, insight we desperately needed since the candidate has never run anything larger than the Harvard Law Review. Put aside for the moment that the search eventually belched up garrulous gaffe machine Joe Biden as the nominee. The fact that Obama relied on a former Fannie head to guide the process belies his claim to be a fresh face who’s determinedly bringing much needed change to Washington. The use of Jim Johnson’s services in this vital capacity also suggests that Obama has become quite comfortable in the DC sandbox very quickly. And then there’s this additional disingenuous equivalency from the Times:
To give Obama his fair due, according to OpenSecrets.org, Obama actually wins the bronze in this competition trailing not only Chris Dodd but John Kerry as well. Where does John McCain rank in terms of receiving contributions from Fannie and Freddie employees? The Times is oddly mute on the subject. With my research having just begun, all I can tell you is that McCain failed to crack the OpenSecrets list of the top 25. The third ranked Obama raked in roughly $105k from the Fannie and Freddie workers; the 25th largest haul was just shy of $29,000. So regardless of McCain’s ultimate rank, when it came to being purchased by Fannie and Freddie, Barack Obama seriously outclassed John McCain. Of course, you won’t get that valuable piece of information from the Times. Sorry I don’t have the specific numbers on McCain yet. But please go easy on me for not being able to report anything more substantive at this moment – I make no claims to being America’s newspaper of record.
