# WaPo calls out Gingrich for his preposterous lie about his Freddie Mac role **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 12, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736 "2011-11-12T22:46:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/21 "2011-11-19T03:21:56Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I find it a little tough to swallow that when Freddie Mac walked in and said to Newt, “We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that’s what the government wants us to do,” and Newt told them that “this is a bubble. This is insane. This is impossible,” that Freddie Mac then said, “Thanks Newt. Here’s three hundred thousand dollars. Off you go.” 1.6 million. He must be a great historian. By the way, Fannie and Freddie did not write mortgages. they backed them. The mortgages were written by companies working for banks. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/22 "2011-11-19T04:42:02Z")
Nitpick: he didn’t say he was employed as a historian. He said, “And my advice as a historian, when they walked in and said to me, “We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that’s what the government wants us to do,” as I said to them at the time, this is a bubble.” If I said, “My advice as a Democrat, when my boss told me that he was cutting health benefits to the company’s employees, I told him that he should do the right thing and pay for health benefits for workers.” That doesn’t mean my employer paid me to be a Democrat, it means I’m using the perspective of being a Democrat to offer that advice. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/23 "2011-11-19T04:58:37Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Nitpick: he didn’t say he was employed as a historian. He said, “And my advice as a historian, when they walked in and said to me, “We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that’s what the government wants us to do,” as I said to them at the time, this is a bubble.” > > If I said, “My advice as a Democrat, when my boss told me that he was cutting health benefits to the company’s employees, I told him that he should do the right thing and pay for health benefits for workers.” That doesn’t mean my employer paid me to be a Democrat, it means I’m using the perspective of being a Democrat to offer that advice. Double nitpick. yes he did say he was acting as a historian. [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-18/gingrich-the-historian-skips-over-his-own-past-jonathan-alter.html](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-18/gingrich-the-historian-skips-over-his-own-past-jonathan-alter.html) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/24 "2011-11-19T06:36:26Z")
You gotta check out Rachel Maddow’s reporting on this, she did some serious digging. Actually, no, she just went to the trouble, all the stuff was just lying around, nobody bothered to look. The Fanny/Freddy stuff is just the tip of the liceberg. Newt wasn’t just pulling down some big ass bucks, he was wallowing in the shit! And the punchline? Major businesses, leaders of industry, were handing over metric buttloads of money to Newt on the presumption that he had serious influence in Washingtoh. Newt was the guy who could make things happen. Verily, I shit thee not. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/25 "2011-11-19T09:04:37Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > 1.6 million. To give them advice, which they didn’t take. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/26 "2011-11-19T12:51:58Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Double nitpick. yes he did say he was acting as a historian. > [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-18/gingrich-the-historian-skips-over-his-own-past-jonathan-alter.html](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-18/gingrich-the-historian-skips-over-his-own-past-jonathan-alter.html) I’m open to bein corrected, but I don’t see any quote from Gingrich in there explaining that he was acting as a historian. As far as I can tell, that story is also based on misreading the Gingrich quote. If you have any other evidence, please post it. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/27 "2011-11-19T15:12:51Z")
Well, this is a crucial point in establishing our metric. Is Newt 99.99% a lying greedy sack of shit, or merely 99.98%? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/28 "2011-11-19T15:25:11Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Well, this is a crucial point in establishing our metric. Is Newt 99.99% a lying greedy sack of shit, or merely 99.98%? My appeal to accuracy has nothing to do with the volume of feces that may or may not be held under that… _hairstyle_ he has. It just bothers me when people misread things and run with them – like the whole tempest in a teapot of “OMG Obama thinks Americans are LAZY and they DESERVE to lose their jobs!!1!” Also, as a historian, I already feel my education is sullied having him in our ranks. Not to mention the fact that he’s a really bad historian. I mean, barely competent. Have you read anything he wrote? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/29 "2011-11-19T15:44:10Z")
_1945_ As a writer of alternative fiction, he is a first rate historian! “Another thick damned book! Always scribble, scribble, scribble, eh, Mr. Gingrich?” ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/30 "2011-11-19T16:08:16Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > _1945_ As a writer of alternative fiction, he is a first rate historian! I think you owe America an apology simply for the fact that you remembered that book exists. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/31 "2011-11-19T16:09:03Z")
And the punchline? I remember I read it, because I was determined to finish it. And I cannot remember the least thing about it. Not one word. The same grim determination I used with _Moby Dick_. Which is about fishing. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/32 "2011-11-19T17:25:20Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I’m open to bein corrected, but I don’t see any quote from Gingrich in there explaining that he was acting as a historian. > > As far as I can tell, that story is also based on misreading the Gingrich quote. If you have any other evidence, please post it. > **[As 'historian,' Gingrich was hired by Freddie Mac to win over Republicans](https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-xpm-2011-nov-15-la-pn-gingrich-freddie-20111115-story.html)** > > As 'historian,' Gingrich was hired by Freddie Mac to win over Republicans He said it during the "debates’. ---
**Author:** ![Linden\_Arden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/33 "2011-11-19T17:46:33Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Nitpick: he didn’t say he was employed as a historian. He said, “And my advice as a historian, when they walked in and said to me, “We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that’s what the government wants us to do,” as I said to them at the time, this is a bubble.” Which, if he actually said that (highly doubtful) is another lie. As has been pointed out, Freddie Mac makes no loans, they buy them. And they are well aware they only buy conforming loans and credit history is required on those loans or they are put back to the originator. The credit history/score may be fabricated but it is required. Newt is hip deep in the lie that the GSE’s caused the mortgage crisis and thus he has stopped digging this hole deeper – as reported today. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/34 "2011-11-19T18:00:18Z")
> [@Katriona](#): > > I think I’d pay to see that. > > Nixon: I am not a crook! > > Reagan: My heart and my best intentions still tell me that’s true, but the facts and evidence tell me it is not. What Reagan is missing, of course, is that Republicans tend not to care about facts and evidence. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736/35 "2011-11-20T16:10:07Z")
> [@Linden\_Arden](#): > > Which, if he actually said that (highly doubtful) is another lie. > > As has been pointed out, Freddie Mac makes no loans, they buy them. And they are well aware they only buy conforming loans and credit history is required on those loans or they are put back to the originator. The credit history/score may be fabricated but it is required. > > Newt is hip deep in the lie that the GSE’s caused the mortgage crisis and thus he has stopped digging this hole deeper – as reported today. [The top three non-brain freeze moments from the CNBC Republican debate](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/10/1035053/-The-top-three-non-brain-freeze-moments-from-the-CNBC-Republican-debate) Damn it get it right. This is what he said in the so called debate. he said he was a historian. He said it on TV during the “debate”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wapo-calls-out-gingrich-for-his-preposterous-lie-about-his-freddie-mac-role/602736.md?page=1)