WASHINGTON – John McCain unveiled a new ad yesterday quoting a surprising figure slamming Democrats for the country’s economic mess – Bill Clinton.
The ad credits McCain with pushing to tighten regulations on lending institutions – then charges that Barack Obama remained “notably silent” and blames Democrats for resisting.
“Then, the bubble burst. And, taxpayers are on the hook for billions. Bill Clinton knows who is responsible,” says the moderator.
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The ad then quotes Clinton in a recent interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” where he blamed Democrats for stalling regulation.
“I think the responsibility that the Democrats have may rest more in resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was president to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” the former president says.
Here’s the ad’s kicker: “You’re right, Mr. President.”
The McCain camp said the ad would run nationally on cable and broadcast TV.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) and New York Sen. Charles Schumer have long been pushing aggressively for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to encourage lending to low-income home buyers, while calling for an easing of restrictions on the agencies. Critics see that as the key factor in today’s economic crisis.
Clinton has spoken warmly about McCain in a spate of recent TV interviews, calling him both a “friend” and a “great American” – a compliment he hasn’t paid to his own party’s nominee.
McCain appeared at Clinton’s recent Global Initiative in Manhattan.
A day after global markets tanked when the House failed to pass a Wall Street bailout, and after McCain accused him of sitting on the “sidelines,” Obama yesterday made his most direct appeal for the agreement.
“If we do not act, it will be harder for you to get a mortgage for your home or the loans you need to buy a car or send your children to college,” he said, campaigning in Reno, Nev.
“What it means is that businesses won’t be able to get the loans they need to open new factories, or hire more workers, or make payroll for the workers they have . . . Millions of jobs could be lost. A long and painful recession could follow.”
Obama also made phone calls to House members. Although about two-thirds of House Democrats voted for the bailout, many liberal lawmakers and members of the Congressional Black Caucus voted no, and Republicans faulted Obama for not doing more direct lobbying himself.
Obama singled out “greed and irresponsibility” as well as a deregulatory mindset, but concluded: “There will be time to punish those who set this fire, but now is the moment for us to come together and put the fire out.”