When Do Obama Advisers Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson Get Frogmarched?

Funny, but the media doesn't much seem interested. Have a look through recent history and ask why these criminals aren't being held accountable.

More at Hot Air.

Memo to Karen Tumulty: Here's Your Jim Johnson Ad

We noted yesterday how Time columnist and fulltime moron Karen Tumulty was quick to cry racism because Team McCain had the temerity to run an ad linking Barack Obama with Franklin Raines, which the esteemed Time columnist immediately branded racist because, naturally, any ad showing two men who happen to be black must be racist, right?

This is hardly subtle: Sinister images of two black men, followed by one of a vulnerable-looking elderly white woman.

Let me stipulate: Obama's Fannie Mae connections are completely fair game. But this ad doesn't even mention a far more significant tie--that of Jim Johnson, the former Fannie Mae chairman who had to resign as head of Obama's vice presidential search team after it was revealed he got a sweetheart deal on a mortgage from Countrywide Financial. Instead, it relies on a fleeting and tenuous reference in a Washington Post Style section story to suggest that Obama's principal economic adviser is former Fannie Mae Chairman Frank Raines. Why? One reason might be that Johnson is white; Raines is black.

OK, Karen, so here's an ad with Johnson.

Will you be apologizing?

I won't hold my breath.

Now, of course, the dimwit demands to know why the one with Johnson didn't run first.

You just can't win.

More on the ad at Hot Air.

Democrat Senators Received Fixed Countrywide Mortgage Deals

More Friends of Angelo. After former Barack Obama vetter was tossed under the bus Wednesday, some reporters figured it was time to look at who else received special deals from Countrywide Financial Corporation.

And what do you know, two top Democrat senators received cushy deals.

How convenient.

One of them is the Sandwich King, Connecticut's Christopher Dodd, former presidential candidate and now undoubtedly former Vice Presidential material.

Two influential US senators got "VIP" loans from a leading subprime mortgage lender that saved them tens of thousands of dollars, it was reported last night.

The Democratic pols, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Kent Conrad of North Dakota, both received the highly favorable loans under the designation "Friend of Angelo," a reference to embattled Countrywide head Angelo Mozilo, Condé Nast Portfolio reported.

Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, while Conrad is chairman of the Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee. The two senators refinanced properties through the VIP program in 2003 and 2004, the report said.

Others who received "FOA" loans include Alphonso Jackson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bush who resigned in April, and Donna Shalala, who was secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration.

The report came one day after Democratic heavyweight Jim Johnson stepped down as chief of Barack Obama's vice-presidential search committee after revelations he'd gotten Countrywide loans at very favorable rates because of Mozilo.

Citing company documents and e-mails, the report says the FOAs paid lower fees, and if rates fell while a loan was pending, the VIPs would get a free "float-down" while regular customers had to pay a surcharge.

Dodd reportedly received two loans through the program in 2003 - $506,000 to refinance his Washington town house, and $275,042 to refinance a home in Connecticut. The more favorable terms saved him about $70,000, the report says.

Naturally, Dodd defends the sweetheart deals. After all, he's a Democrat and they have special privileges the rest of us don't enjoy.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, a top figure in Democrats' response to the housing crisis, defended through a spokesman two mortgages he reportedly received under a special Countrywide Financial Corp. program that awarded preferential interest rates to people referred to as "friends" of the company's chairman and chief executive, Angelo Mozilo.

"The Dodds received a competitive rate on their loans," said Bryan DeAngelis, Sen. Dodd's press secretary. "They did not seek or anticipate any special treatment, and they were not aware of any." He declined further comment.

The news could cause headaches for the Connecticut senator, who is trying to negotiate housing legislation designed to deal with the foreclosure crisis. The final bill could include expanding a government program to insure up to $300 billion in refinanced home loans.

Publicly, Mr. Dodd has been critical of some of the mortgages in which Countrywide specialized, such as loans known as "payment-option ARMs," adjustable-rate mortgages that give borrowers multiple payment options each month. In December 2007, he co-signed a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that called these mortgages at Countrywide "abusive" because "these loans were not made on the basis of a borrower's ability to pay."

Can you say hypocrisy, kids?

More here.

Safe to say you can probably scratch Dodd off Obama's VP list.