Expose the Republican lie/updated

The lie Republicans are putting out is that they were the ones who sounded the alarm about the mortgage crisis. While we have discussed S. 190, John McCain’s only claim to have done anything whatsoever to avert the mortgage crisis, the Democrats have a much stronger claim to having had a clear vision of the problem.

Update: Alan Jenkins, in a piece called “Pre-Inventing History,” shows why getting this right is so important: (1) they want to create a line of resistance to prevent the correct remedies from being undertaken in future (indeed, McCain’s “plan” is a giveaway to the banks that were in many cases central to the crisis [via t/o]) and (2) simply rebutting myths tends only to reinforce them. We have to tell the correct story as stubbornly as they tell their lies, but that means knowing the full story in detail.

One of Avedon Carol’s commenters linked congressional hearings in March 2007 on the crisis:

Kucinich on how minorities are targeted with subprime loans

Cuyahoga Co. Treasurer Jim Rokakis on the consequences in Cleveland

And, BTW, Barack Obama responded to the alarms raised by Kucinich with S. 1222

I do think there are interesting questions remaining in this puzzle. Why didn’t S. 109 go forward? Would it have had any genuine impact? Why didn’t it go forward? What concrete legislative proposals have Democrats introduced since 1995 to prevent fraud, either by borrowers or by lenders?