Well, it's really Ron Paul, but the MSM thinks its John Edwards, who has been playing FOOLEY with regular folks!
"Edwards Says He Will Drop His Investments in Subprime Lenders" by LESLIE WAYNE
DES MOINES, Aug. 17 — The John Edwards presidential campaign said on Friday that Mr. Edwards would divest his portfolio at a New York hedge fund of investments in subprime mortgage companies that have foreclosed on victims of Hurricane Katrina. But the campaign said he would keep his $16 million investment in the hedge fund, the Fortress Investment Group.
Mr. Edwards has frequently attacked such lenders for predatory practices that can tie poor people to loans they cannot repay, and has singled out lenders that have filed foreclosure suits against Hurricane Katrina victims. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Mr. Edwards had financial ties to such companies — ties that he now says he wants to sever.
[Busted, Johno, you LEECH! Why not SEVER BEFORE?]
The campaign confirmed, however, that Mr. Edwards would keep $16 million of his $30 million net worth in Fortress, a private equity fund with $43.3 billion in assets. The fund accepts investments only from institutions and wealthy individuals.
Mr. Edwards’s relationship with Fortress has become a recurring campaign issue. He worked as a consultant to the fund in 2005 and 2006, earning nearly $480,000 in 2006. He has received about $150,000 in campaign contributions from Fortress employees. And after becoming a Fortress consultant he shifted much of his family’s assets into Fortress funds.
Hedge funds like Fortress, which are thinly regulated pools of often risky investments, have come under increasing attack lately. They have been criticized for the high salaries they pay their top executives and for the role their subprime mortgage loans have played in the expanding credit crisis that is causing turmoil in the financial markets. They have also faced criticism for the low tax rate — about half that of ordinary income tax rates — on compensation paid their executives.
Mr. Edwards is the most prominent Democratic candidate to have investments in a hedge fund or to have worked for one. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and her husband, the former president, this year liquidated their stock and mutual fund holdings — which had been in a blind trust — and moved the proceeds into cash accounts. Senator Barack Obama of Illinois and his wife, Michelle, have invested most of their money in a handful of large stock-and-bond funds.
[So your TOP TIER is BOUGHT OFF by Wall Street!
So Gravel was RIGHT!!!!!!]
Both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama received campaign contributions from Fortress, which gave $16,350 to Mrs. Clinton and $11,500 to Mr. Obama, according to public records. Mr. Edwards’s relationship with Fortress is a potential problem, however, because of his campaign against poverty.
[Oh, and to here them all spitball on stage! Oh!]
James A. Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University in Washington:
“It is self-evident that he is saying one thing on the campaign trail and investing another way. He is the non-Washington insider candidate, but he will be seen as being tied to special interests, and that will hurt him.”
[Hurts 'em all!]
Mr. Edwards has made the plight of Hurricane Katrina victims a core part of his presidential bid, even taking reporters on a tour of the lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans last month, where he spoke out against subprime lenders and predatory practices that have led to a wave of foreclosures in New Orleans — some of which came from the subprime lending unit of Fortress.
[Whatta fucking two-faced dip! Boooooo!!!
And I actually liked him last January when he pandered to the MLK Jr. crowd in Harlem!
I'm a FOOL, too!!!!]
The Edwards campaign offered no details on how Mr. Edwards would segregate his money from Fortress’ subprime loan companies.
[Strange choice of words]
Mr. Schultz, the campaign spokesman, defended subprime mortgages:
"[They are] a valuable alternative for families with poor credit histories, [even though] some mortgages may carry predatory terms. The distinction is often difficult to make.”
[That's our shitty, duplicitous system, all right!]
In May, The Washington Post reported that Fortress had ties to subprime leaders that were linked to foreclosures on the homes of Hurricane Katrina victims. At that time, Mr. Edwards talked to Fortress... and was assured that Fortress would “fix the problem.” For that reason, the aide said, Mr. Edwards did not take any further action."
Just another AIPAC whore, otherwise he wouldn't be in the top tier.
