The First Gaffe (more to come!)

from Mudflats:


“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Who are THEY?” asks Palin. 8 09 2008

OK, it wasn’t that bad, but it was a pretty bad gaffe.

The number one issue of concern on people’s minds these days is the economy. Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs today Saturday, Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had “gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers.”

>>>>>HOCKEY BUZZER NOISE!<<<<<<

Sorry. These lending institutions “aren’t taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization,” according to McClatchy.

As the current administration skips merrily along with their convenient ideology of privatizing profits, and socializing failures, Palin is obviously oblivious to the inner workings of….uh oh….the ECONOMY.

Palin’s statement “is somewhat nonsensical because up until yesterday there was sort of no public funding there,” said Andrew Jakobovics of the Center for American Progress Action Fund. “The ‘too expensive to tax payers,’ I don’t know where that comes from.”

“You would like to think that someone who is going to be vice president and conceivable president would know what Fannie and Freddie do,” said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “These are huge institutions and they are absolutely central to our country’s mortgage debt. To not have a clue what they do doesn’t speak well for her, I’d say.”

Neither does she. But notice that Palin didn’t dodge the question. She didn’t panic and say she’d need to check with someone, or that she needed more information, or skirt around it. She actually felt confident enough to answer, and lay it all out there - and be completely wrong. She had no clue.

At least we now know that McCain, who admitted he didn’t really know much about the economy, decided to balance the ticket by choosing a running mate who doesn’t know ANYthing.