Thursday, September 04, 2008

Oddest moment in McCain speech at RNC


We have bit of a competition for this prize. Fairly early on, Mr. Seven-or-So houses bemoaned the fate of a couple who

"lost their real estate investments in the bad housing market."

Gee, what about the 343,000 who lost their homes in the first half of this year? Most people live in their homes, John. Homes are kind of important to them. Sorry about the folks with the investments -- but how about the folks who need somewhere to live?

This oddity was rivaled by another:

"We believe everyone has something to contribute and deserves the opportunity to reach their God-given potential from the boy whose descendents arrived on the Mayflower to ..."

I keep reading that and wondering, what is he talking about? Some of my ancestors arrived on the Mayflower. They've been dead for a long time. Nobody is arriving now to have descendants. To be honest, I expected find this was a delivery gaffe -- but I found it in the text of the prepared remarks. I have no idea what McCain was talking about.

But that's over. Even the TV news babblers seemed relieved as they chatted about the failure of the balloon drop to emerge properly. On to November...

UPDATE on the foreclosures that John McCain seems not to understand: According to the Associated Press

A record 9 percent of American homeowners with a mortgage were either behind on their payments or in foreclosure at the end of June, as damage from the housing crisis continues to mount, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Friday.

But the source of trouble in the mortgage market has shifted from subprime loans made to borrowers with poor credit to homeowners who had solid credit but took out exotic loans with ballooning monthly payments. ...

More than one out of 10 borrowers with a prime adjustable-rate loan is now delinquent or in foreclosure. That portion, 11.3 percent, was up from 9.7 percent in the first quarter and is expected to continue to rise as more homeowners see their monthly payments spike.

This isn't about investments -- this is a prelude to homelessness for people who were encouraged to overextend themselves when banks and mortgage brokers saw an opportunity for a quick profit. The borrowers may have been foolish, but the people who set them up for this fall were crooks. And McCain doesn't get any of this. He has lots of houses.

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