Bill Clinton Blames Democrats For Financial Mess
Sep 25, 2008 Political
Bill Clinton was on ABC’s Good Morning America for an interview. He discussed John McCain suspending his campaign to address the financial crisis and that he believed McCain asked for the debate postponement in “good faith.” Clinton also took a swipe at Obama by stating that he knows McCain is not afraid of a debate because he has asked for more and indicated that he wanted ten or so earlier on. This was in reference to the invitation from McCain to Obama to participate in 10 Town Hall style debates throughout the Summer. Barack Obama, the candidate who claims he is ready to debate or “that is a debate I am ready to have” decided not to participate. In fact, it has been 113 days since McCain extended the invitation. It is amazing that the guy who has not accepted that offer is now very anxious to debate.
Anyway, Clinton was asked [with regard to the financial crisis] “A little surprising for you to hear the Democrats say this came out of nowhere, this is all about the Republicans, we had nothing to do with this, Nancy Pelosi saying that she signed the 99 Graham Bill, she knew what was going on with the SEC, these are all sophisticated people, is that playing politics in this situation?”
The question, in and of itself was amazing coming from a member of the media wing of the Democratic party but Clinton’s response was even more amazing:
Well, maybe everybody does that a little bit [plays politics]. 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… [emphasis mine] See the video here
He then goes on to talk about the uptick rule. I know that Clinton is using this forum to absolve himself by saying that he was trying to put standards in place but he clearly stated that the Democrats resisted efforts by Republicans to put tighter standards in place which is what I, and others, have been saying.
It looks like Bill Clinton is still not happy with the way his party treated him and his wife. It is evident that he is not happy with Obama or with the idea of campaigning for him as evidenced by his refusal to dump on McCain and Palin, his agreement with McCain of the debate issue (and the swipe at Obama for not participating in the Town Hall debates), and his decision to take off [from campaigning] for the Jewish holidays (Clinton is not Jewish).
The more people pay attention the clearer it will become that while everyone shares in the blame, the Democrats caused this mess by blocking tighter controls on their money machines.
I rarely agree with Bill Clinton and I think he was an average president but he is a smart man and has been good to his party. The fact that he even said this is an indication that he is not happy with the Democrats.
I think he and Hillary will vote for McCain.
Tags: bill clinton, debate, democrats. republicans, financial mess, good morning america, McCain