I could find other sources that state Johnson was on Obama's VP search team (such as the one below), and you admitted that yourself, so your comments about my source are ridiculous.JoeWPgh wrote:You can ask this question after citing Newsbusters?!?!?!?!?! This is a case of life imitating satire.m0002a wrote:Have you no shame?
First of all Raines was never an Obama advisor. They both deny any connection other than a brief phone call. But in the whacked out world of Newsbusters, we are to ignore the statements of the actual individuals and take the word of Newsbusters. Johnson served on Obama's VP committee for all of two weeks and was asked to leave. I guess that proves Obama's a secret America hating Muslim or something - there's just no predicting how Newsbusters will 'interpret' their 'facts'.
Then there's Rick Davis' wee problem of getting paid by Fanny as late as last month - until Government auditors pulled the plug on that little deal. He claims he had severed ties with his lobby shop for the duration of the campaign, so he made nothing off the deal. His problem there is that it has come out that the McCain campaign has been paying Davis through his lobbying firm. Hardly a severed relationship, on it's face.
If there was anything resembling a brain at the top of the McCain campaign, they would have never uttered a word about Fanny/Freddy connections, because they're in it themselves - up to their eyeballs.
FNMA hired one Repulican consultant (Davis) and one Democratic consultant (Paul Begala, a former Clinton Advisor). What these lobbyists got paid is not any comparison to James Johnson who was CEO of FNMA and received over $21 million and allowed the sub-prime loans to be purchased by FNMA. He also received direct personal loans from a company that FNMA bought loans from.
James A. Johnson is a United States Democratic Party political figure. He was the campaign manager for Walter Mondale's failed 1984 presidential bid and chaired the vice presidential selection committee for the presidential campaign of John Kerry. He was involved in the vice-presidential selection process for the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama.
On May 22, 2008, Democratic Party officials confidentially divulged that Obama had asked Johnson "to lead the process" for selecting Obama's running mate. On June 4, 2008, Obama announced the formation of a three-person committee to vet vice presidential candidates, including Johnson. However, Johnson soon became a source of controversy when it was reported that he had received loans directly from Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide Financial, a company implicated in the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. Although he was not accused of any wrongdoing and was initially defended by Obama on the grounds that he was simply an unpaid volunteer, Johnson announced he would step down from the vice-presidential vetting position on June 11, 2008, in order to avoid being a distraction to Obama's campaign.
From 1991 to 1998, he served as chairman and chief executive officer of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the quasi-public organization that guarantees mortgages for millions of American homeowners. Previously, he was vice chairman of Fannie Mae (1990-1991) and a managing director with Lehman Brothers (1985-1990). An Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) report from September 2004 found that, during Johnson's tenure as CEO, Fannie Mae had improperly deferred $200 million in expenses. This enabled top executives, including Johnson and his successor, Franklin Raines, to receive substantial bonuses in 1998. A 2006 OFHEO report found that Fannie Mae had substantially under-reported Johnson's compensation. Originally reported as $6-7 million, Johnson actually received approximately $21 million.
Johnson is a strong Obama supporter who has personally donated the maximum $4,600 to his 2008 Presidential campaign, as well as $1,000 to Obama's Senate campaign in 2004. In addition to personal donations, Johnson is a bundler for the Obama campaign, raising between $200,000 and $500,000. He has also participated in Obama campaign efforts to recruit former Clinton supporters.
