What part of 'BE A MAN' is it that Bush apologists can't grasp? ------- 'The goal is, everybody who wants to own a home has got a shot at doing so.'the quote above is from President Bush in June 2002.Makes it a bit difficult for the grovelers to put all of this at the feet of Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Bill Clinton, Captain Kangaroo.More from the same speech:We are here in Washington, D.C. to address problems. So I've set this goal for the country. We want 5.5 million more homeowners by 2010 -- million more minority homeowners by 2010. (Applause.) Five-and-a-half million families by 2010 will own a home. That is our goal. It is a realistic goal. But it's going to mean we're going to have to work hard to achieve the goal, all of us. And by all of us, I mean not only the federal government, but the private sector, as well.And...And so what are the barriers that we can deal with here in Washington? Well, probably the single barrier to first-time homeownership is high down payments. People take a look at the down payment, they say that's too high, I'm not buying. They may have the desire to buy, but they don't have the wherewithal to handle the down payment. We can deal with that. And so I've asked Congress to fully fund an American Dream down payment fund which will help a low-income family to qualify to buy, to buy.====================================================================================================================States warned about impending mortgage crisisBush administration, financial industry thwarted efforts to curb greedBusinessWeek.comBy Robert Berner and Brian Growupdated 12:59 p.m. ET, Sun., Oct. 12, 2008More than five years ago, in April 2003, the attorneys general of two small states traveled to Washington with a stern warning for the nation's top bank regulator. Sitting in the spacious Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, with its panoramic view of the capital, the AGs from North Carolina and Iowa said lenders were pushing increasingly risky mortgages. Their host, John D. Hawke Jr., expressed skepticism.Roy Cooper of North Carolina and Tom Miller of Iowa headed a committee of state officials concerned about new forms of 'predatory' lending. They urged Hawke to give states more latitude to limit exorbitant interest rates and fine-print fees. 'People out there are struggling with oppressive loans,' Cooper recalls saying.Hawke, a veteran banking industry lawyer appointed to head the OCC by President Bill Clinton in 1998, wouldn't budge. He said he would reinforce federal policies that hindered states from reining in lenders. The AGs left the tense hour-long meeting realizing that Washington had become a foe in the nascent fight against reckless real estate finance. The OCC 'took 50 sheriffs off the job during the time the mortgage lending industry was becoming the Wild West,' Cooper says.Story continues below ↓advertisementThis was but one of many instances of state posses sounding early alarms about the irresponsible lending at the heart of the current financial crisis. Federal officials brushed aside their concerns. The OCC and its sister agency, the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), instead sided with lenders. The beneficiaries ranged from now-defunct subprime factories, such as First Franklin Financial, to a savings and loan owned by Lehman Brothers, the collapsed investment bank.VERY LONG DETAILED ACCOUNT - GO LOOK IT UP.---