Think Progress

CIVIL RIGHTS -- CBC CRITICIZES BACHMANN FOR ASSERTING 'MINORITIES' CAUSED FINANCIAL CRISIS: During a hearing last week on the financial crisis, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) read an article from a right-wing publication pinning the blame for the housing crisis on President Clinton's attempts to push "homeownership as a way to open the door for blacks and other minorities to enter the middle class." In pointing the finger at minorities and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), Bachmann was echoing a popular right-wing myth, recently peddled by Charles Krauthammer, Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Times, and the National Review. In response, 31 members of the Congressional Black Caucus wrote a letter to Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), calling Bachmann's claims "ridiculous" and asking Boehner whether he agrees with them. "Shifting the blame for the current economic crisis to laws that allow equal access and opportunities to communities of color is ridiculous," they wrote. They concluded by asking "if Rep. Bachmann's position" that lending to minorities is to blame for the financial crisis "represent[s] the position of Republican Caucus?" The Center for American Progress's Robert Gordon explains that lenders made bad loans not in an effort to comply with the CRA but simply "to make money." "Most important," he adds, "the lenders subject to CRA have engaged in less, not more, of the most dangerous lending."

ADMINISTRATION -- REPORT: BUSH 'PERSONALLY DIRECTED' GONZALES TO STRONG-ARM ASHCROFT AT HIS BEDSIDE: In his May 2007 testimony, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey described the infamous strong-arming of then-hospitalized attorney general John Ashcroft conducted by then-White House chief of staff Andy Card and then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to reauthorize Bush's surveillance program in 2004. Comey said he believed President Bush made a call to Ashcroft's wife. Comey explained, "Mrs. Ashcroft reported that a call had come through, and that as a result of that call Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales were on their way to the hospital to see Mr. Ashcroft." "I have some recollection that the call was from the president himself," he said further. Days after Comey's testimony, President Bush dodged the question about his involvement in the matter, stating, "There's a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn't happen. I'm not going to talk about it." Last week, however, Murray Waas wrote in the Atlantic that Gonzales is now telling investigators that Bush was directly involved. The revelation comes after Gonzales refused to tell the Senate in 2007 who sent him to the bedside of Ashcroft, repeatedly asserting, "We were there on behalf of the president of the United States." But now -- by implicating Bush directly -- "Gonzales and his legal team are apparently attempting to lessen [Gonzales's] own legal jeopardy."

IRAQ -- MALIKI SAYS HE'S WILLING TO COMPROMISE ON IMMUNITY IN ORDER TO REACH U.S-IRAQ SECURITY DEAL: In August, the United States and Iraq reached a tentative agreement on a draft  security accord governing American forces, which would have removed U.S. "combat troops from Iraqi cities by next June and from the rest of the country by the end of 2011 if conditions in Iraq remain relatively stable." But that agreement, which is needed to extend the U.S. mandate in Iraq beyond this year, stalled earlier this month because of "objections by Iraqi leaders" over whether American soldiers would have immunity from Iraqi courts. In an interview today with the Associated Press, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said "that he is willing to compromise on the thorny issue of legal jurisdiction over U.S. troops in the country, but warned that Iraq's parliament will not accept any pact that falls short of the country's national interests." During the interview, "al-Maliki signaled that he is now willing to accept immunity for U.S. forces when they are pursuing their official duties, and would only demand Iraqi legal jurisdiction over them when not." It is unclear whether this will be enough to settle the issue, as "Washington wants to protect its soldiers from being tried in Iraqi courts, terms it also requires in many other countries where it has bases."

"Former attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales will not be referred to a federal grand jury for his role in the 2006 firings of nine U.S. attorneys," but a new report released today by the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Justice Department Inspector General does recommend that "a prosecutor continue to probe the involvement of lawmakers and White House officials in the episode."

33 percent: Number of Americans who believe the economy is already in a depression. Just 12 percent said that 10 months ago.

Five bomb attacks stuck Baghdad yesterday, killing at least 27 people and wounding 84. "The bombings reinforced fears among a growing number of residents that the security situation in Baghdad was deteriorating, even though over all it remained at the most stable level since the American-led invasion in 2003."

59 percent: People who believe that the Bush administration's "war on terror" has either made al Qaeda stronger or had no effect, according to a new BBC poll of 23 nations. Forty-nine percent of those polled said neither side is winning "the conflict between al-Qaeda and the US."

On Saturday, the Senate voted to give $25 billion in loan guarantees to the auto industry in Detroit, the largest federal aid package ever offered to the industry. The money "amounts to a subsidy for such products as hybrid vehicles and plug-in electric cars."

Lawmakers are seeking to "penalize excessive executive pay at many companies seeking aid from the federal government's $700 billion bank-rescue plan." But the penalties are likely to be ineffective, as they rely the loophole-ridden tax code. Dean Baker, co-director for the Center on Economic and Policy Research, commented, "Any executive who can't figure out a way around these restrictions should be fired."

And finally: On Sunday, Rainn Wilson of "The Office" spoke at George Washington University, joking that he was there because "Steve Carrell was unavailable this weekend." Wilson was actually there to benefit the Tahirih Justice Center. When asked whom his character, Dwight Schrutte, would pick in the upcoming election, Wilson replied, "Early on in the campaign, John McCain picked Dwight Schrutte as his running mate. He didn't actually follow through." "Dwight for V.P." t-shirts were still up for grabs at a silent auction over the weekend.