At CPAC, Limbaugh distorted Frank's position on affordable housing
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SUMMARY: During his speech at CPAC, Rush Limbaugh falsely claimed: "Congressman [Barney] Frank's definition of affordable housing is you get a house that you don't have to pay for, that everybody else in the neighborhood will pay for. And why? Well, because it's unfair that some people can have a house and some people can't. See, it's just unfair." In fact, Frank has advocated for the expansion of affordable rental housing, rather than advocating for, as Limbaugh suggested, universal home ownership.
During his February 28 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Rush Limbaugh falsely claimed: "Congressman [Barney] Frank's [D-MA] definition of affordable housing is you get a house that you don't have to pay for, that everybody else in the neighborhood will pay for. And why? Well, because it's unfair that some people can have a house and some people can't. See, it's just unfair." In fact, as Media Matters for America has noted, Frank has advocated for the expansion of affordable rental housing, rather than advocating for, as Limbaugh suggested, universal home ownership.
Contrary to Limbaugh's claim that Frank's "definition of affordable housing" includes universal home ownership, in a 2006 speech on the House floor, Frank stated: "I always want to make it clear to people that while homeownership is very important, it should not be considered all of our goal in the housing area. A large number of people, for economic reasons and other reasons, will be renters." Similarly, during a February 13, 2002, hearing on the Housing and Urban Development budget for fiscal year 2003, Frank stated (retrieved from the Nexis database): "[H]ome ownership is a very good thing, and I want us to encourage it. It is a grave error to make that the central focus of housing policy from the standpoint of the government. ... [A]lmost by definition, the large majority of poor people are in rental housing, and we will never alleviate the terrible housing crisis that affects so many people in this country if we do not do a much better job of building decent, affordable rental housing."
Further, in a profile of Frank for the January 12 edition of The New Yorker, staff writer Jeffrey Toobin wrote: "According to Frank, at the root of the real-estate crisis was a misguided notion that homeownership should be available to all people -- what President Bush has called 'the ownership society.' " Toobin quoted Frank saying in a speech that home ownership "is not suitable for everybody." In the profile, Toobin also addressed Frank's efforts to preserve and expand housing for low-income renters.
As Media Matters documented, during the January 7 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Limbaugh falsely asserted that Frank "created the problem" of the subprime mortgage crisis. Limbaugh claimed that Frank's "definition of affordable housing was to make sure that people who couldn't pay the loans back got the loans, the mortgages. He forced Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to do this." Later in the broadcast, Limbaugh played a parody song titled "Banking Queen" featuring an impersonation of Frank by comedian and frequent contributor Paul Shanklin. In the parody, Frank, who refers to himself as "the banking queen," threatens banks to make loans or they'll "be fined," adding: "My friends at Fannie sure need it, do it my way or beat it."
In addition, during the same speech, Limbaugh claimed that President Obama's house in Chicago was "purchased by Tony Rezko." In fact, documents posted on Obama's campaign website indicate that Obama purchased the house himself.
From the 5 p.m. ET hour of CNN Newsroom on February 28:
LIMBAUGH: You think Obama has any intention of paying for all of this spending? Folks, if he had any intention of paying for it, he wouldn't do 90 percent of it, because we don't have the money. They don't care about paying for it. All that's just words.
All that's just rhetoric -- paying for it -- because he knows you have to worry about paying for it. He knows we all have to be concerned about -- oh, except -- wrong again. Except the words of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd who were getting -- giving homes that everybody knew they could never pay for. And now Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, the architects along with Bill Clinton of the policy that gave us the whole subprime mortgage crisis, get to sit around and act as innocent spectators to investigate what went on when they largely had the biggest role in causing it?
[applause]
Barney's -- Congressman Frank's definition of affordable housing is you get a house that you don't have to pay for, that everybody else in the neighborhood will pay for. And why? Well, because it's unfair that some people can have a house and some people can't. See, it's just unfair.
So here we have two systems. We have socialism, collectivism, Stalin-- whatever you want to call it, versus capitalism.
[...]
LIMBAUGH: John Kerry [laughter and boos] -- served in Vietnam. [laughter and applause] Now, stop to think of this. And by the way, Barney Fwank [sic] got involved in this, too. [laughter]
Northern Trust, a bank in Chicago -- by the way, which holds the mortgage to the Messiah's house purchased by Tony Rezko. Northern Trust holds the mortgage. Northern Trust was forced, like Wells Fargo was forced, to take TARP money. The Wells Fargo CEO said they were taken into Paulson's room and they were given till 5 o'clock to sign it and they weren't getting out till they did. They wanted it spread all over the banking business. Northern Trust was in there. They didn't want it. They took $1.6 million.
I wonder how many would have answered the call to serve in Vietnam if, forty years later, their service would have been use as a point of ridicule in the speech of a guy who allowed others to serve in his place?
Shame on this pompous slug and on every one in the room who laughed.
aw say it........popous a$$
I couldn't IMAGINE being at this *conference*- so much hate and drivel, apparently. Off topic, but did any read today that Dr. Dobson is resigning from Focus on your Family? Can't wait to see what he does with all his free time! More hate and bigotry? You betcha'!
Rush's job is to lay out the main lie so all who follow him can follow the same script. Consequently. conservatives believe the housing crisis was created by Barney Frank forcing banks to loan to people who could not afford it by using the community reinvestment act.
Nevermind the fact that banks regulated by the CRA made something like 10% of the subprime loans.
Nevermind the fact that the companies that pushed those loans, the Ameriquests and Countrywides, were totally unregulated, and under zero pressure from Barney Frank or federal policy.
Nevermind the fact that anytime a poor person got a loan they could not afford, they got it from a mortgage lender with a college degree...an expert, backed by an underwriting committee, who should have, and did know better, but didn't care because they were making big bucks doing the deal, and knew they could sell the paper, so someone else would be stuck when the borrower went belly up. Fannie and Freddie may have had a role in making a market for those loans, but no one in the federal government forced lenders to come up with No Document loans, or dramatically escallating ARMs or interest only loans. The financial geniuses on Wall Street created these loans so they could bundle them up and sell them, so they could all get paid. They did, and they wrecked the economy.
But it is important to Rush to blame democrats and poor people, so he trots out this big lie, and they all parrot it. They see that lots of blacks and browns got suckered on these loans, and now its the minorities fault. This is pure racism, and blaming the victim. Its sick, sad and typical.
The saddest fact is that most of those borrowers could have afforded houses, if someone had sold them a house they could afford. Under the old rules, they would have been told, "Look, you make 50 grand, you can't afford a $300,000 home, but you can afford $150,000." Under the proper regulations, and common sense, that used to govern mortgage lending, they'd all be paying their fixed rate mortgages and everything would be fine. Instead, Wall Street had all this investor money to spend, so it encouraged irresponsible lending. Its Rush's job to cover for the rich and blame the poor.
Yet he always forgets that he lives on welfare. He gets all of his income by broadcasting on airwaves the public owns, and has given to broadcast companies for free. Its pure welfare, from the public's airwaves to Rush's pocket.
Also off topic, this is addressed to MMFA. Why do your past posts (starting sometime in 2007 or 2006, I believe) now have all the comments erased? When I go back a while, all the topics come under the heading of County Fair with ZERO join the discussions/show cooments. I like to go back and read those now and then and sincerely hope you could restore them. Thanks, Mr.L
wow.....Rush has truly been vaulted to the top. i mean he is right up there with Ann Coulter.
making fun of someone who went off to war.....way to go rush....i wonder what his contribution to Vietnam war was.....oh wait its bashing guys who did serve and were brave and use debunked claims to discredit them. yeah great contribution
So rush is the leader of the party ! All the palin's gonna rush to his side what is best for the party like ? I'd like to see him run for office to test his mettle and answer questions.
Wow!
El Rushbo isn't merely digging the grave of the Republican party, he's decided to use the political equivalent of "Storax Sedan" to excavate and kill them off in one fell swoop.
Sedan created the then largest man-made crater in the US (perhaps some open pit mines are now larger), but El Rushbo's crater will dwarf it by comparison. Sedan was a hydrogen bomb ostensibly for the peaceful purpose of digging a canal, but instead irradiated more Americans than any other nuclear explosion.
I'd like to as MMFA to post a letter that we could sign, thanking Rush Limbaugh for becoming the leader of the Repbulican party and for just talking a lot.
Any takers?
Sign me up.
id add an amendment thanking him for ensuring the neo cons are a minority forever
Just call 800-282-2882 between noon-3 EST Monday-Friday ;)
And suggesting that the Conservatives start the National Conservative Party. This way those damn Republicans won't be their scape goats. NCP forever. Then we will really find out what a feeble minority the Cons really have grown down to.
Did he in fact throw hannity under the bus ?
It's funny rush can even annunciate the word 'fairness.' He is the same pig who caused 2000 Clear Channel employees to be laid off to make way for his multi-million dollar contract. Yeah, he cares about working people all right.
he needs the money for his pain pills
One tiny pill for every soul he has caused to suffer.
What, stop leading the nation's righteous over the same cliffs as he has for over two decades? No illegal drug gives that kind of enduring rush. I figure he's good for another decade even if he decides he's the victim of all of this.
All of this, being that we do make positive strides in our economy over the next two years.
Why even listen to him, we all know he lies. He says things just to be controversial and make more money. As all republicans, making money is all that counts to the ingrate.
worrierking - JK's service is not the point of ridicule. Never has been. It's Kerry's idiocy that is the cause of his criticism
thejbomb65 -Read the MMFA quoates from Rush's speach. He said, "John Kerry" and there was laughter and boos. Why laughter? Because he is a buffoon. Why Boos? Because he is a liberal buffoon. This is taking place at c-pac after all. Then Rush said "Who served in Vietnam" and there was laughter and applause. Why laughter? Because Kerry chose to make it a point during the 2004 election that he was a Vietnam hero and Rush has made it a point not to let you forget. An inside joke of sorts. The applause comes from recognizing his years of service to our country. Nobody made fun of him because he went off to war. Be real.
OK, I'm the one who's "not real", and you think a room full of rabid dittoheads applauded Kerry's years of service to his country?
If I'm not mistaken, hasn't McCain been lionized for his time in Vietnam? Are we to gauge service and say that this one deserves our respect and gratitude while that one deserves our ridicule?
The mention of Vietnam or anyone's sacrifice in Vietnam should never come from Limbaugh's lips, unless he's apologizing for evading his own service there.
Good on the left for finally leveraging the greatest strength of the GOP against them as their own greatest weakness.
Rats that they are, Republicans can't run from Limbaugh fast enough.
It is curious that, while the electoral victories were rolling in, Limbaugh's schtick was always met by Republicans with nonchalance. He is what he is, he's just joking, he's entertainment, he may be offensive... but he has a point, was the constant rejoinder. Now, since once again, their conservative ideology has failed the United States miserably and they are facing permanent minority status, they are looking for scapegoats externally, instead of examining their, 'you're on your own ideology'. Most rank and file Republicans today, if they're not too ashamed to admit they're Republican, will say they don't like Limbaugh, that they disagree with him, that he doesn't speak for them and he is drag on the Party. These are the same Republicans who would have told you last year that Limbaugh's success in the media market is due to the mass appeal of his message.
Huh?
I'm confused. He is the same Rush today that he was in 1992. You guys used to love his ideology, now you can't stand the man.
Republicans are a mess of mixed emotions. No wonder they can't be taken seriously on the big questions that require sober, open minded solutions. They can't open their mind to the possibility that, in their view of government, they are almost completely at odds with the principles our founding fathers put forth in the documents at the birth of our nation.
Somebody snuck a cell phone camera into the CPAC auditorium...
http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/site/about/pictures.html?expand=5#image
DOH!
Don't look now, but Blimpaugh made a goof in quoting the Constitution.
He said, "We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights"
Sorry, FatBoy, that's from the Declaration of Independence... not that any of the drooling Trodlodytes in the audience would notice.
Not only did these fake patriots not notice, they applauded wildly.
Applauding ignernce - only in the irrelephant party.
Rush gets away with stretching the "truth" while hiding behind his line of ....'I am just an Entertainer'. He is entertaining indeed.
These guys like Rush, Neal Bortz, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingram, etc. have perfected this craft of speaking false "truths" as Republican/Neo-Conservative "core" principles. The sad thing is "NOT" that they get away with it, but that these people are paid "MILLIONS" to distract American People from real problems of today that our Country are in. Millions is what they are paid, not just a million.
So sad on how they mask their opinions as their "true" beliefs, while being paid "millions" to "ENTERTAIN". Btw, if somebody paid me a million dollars or more to say crazy stuff to distract the opposition as entertainment - hell, I'll be yelling and ranting non-sense too. So sad when you really think about the bottom line - money. Hmmm.
Money, indeed. The American Plutocracy is very stingy by nature, and Obama has them nervous... some of them might have to settle for living like kings instead of Roman Emperors.
Of course, the ones screeching the loudest won't even feel it when the tax rates revert to Pre-Bush levels.... they'll still have more money than God.