McCain on Fannie Mae

I caught the early parts of the presidential debate last night.

Because it was a town hall style debate, ordinary people from the audience posed questions. One ordinary person was Oliver Clark.

McCain speculated that Clark had never heard of Fannie Mae nor Freddie Mac before the financial crisis. Did McCain think that Clark had never bought a house nor taken a student loan, nor had a relative who worked in real estate? McCain patronized Clark.

But it was even odder that McCain said that buying up bad loans would help Alan stay in his home. Alan wasn't the one who asked the question. Oliver was. Was it coincidence that Alan was Caucasian and Oliver wasn't?

Thanks to CNN.com for transcript below:

Clark:

Well, Senators, through this economic crisis, most of the people that I know have had a difficult time. And through this bailout package, I was wondering what it is that's going to actually help those people out.

McCain:

....But you know, one of the real catalysts, really the match that lit this fire was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I'll bet you, you may never even have heard of them before this crisis.....That's why we're going to have to go out into the housing market and we're going to have to buy up these bad loans and we're going to have to stabilize home values, and that way, Americans, like Alan, can realize the American dream and stay in their home.