What, specifically, were Bush and the other Republicans trying to regulate within Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

Because what I have been reading is that what they were trying to regulate had nothing whatever to do with the problems in those companies that caused their eventual meltdown.

At any rate, the Republicans wanted to increase regulations on only those two things... Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But those two companies only comprise a very small percentage of the problem. And it was deregulation of all of the rest of the banking industry that, A. the Republicans not only supported, but that was their initiative from start to finish, and B. that is responsible for the vast majority of the problems that caused the start of the whole crisis.

I will reiterate: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not issue the kinds of mortgages that are responsible for the problems. The problem mortgages did not originate with them. So when people try to make it look like it was Democrats trying to get loans for poor people through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they are lying.

The reason Fannie Mae and Freddi Mac went under wasn't because of the kinds of loans they were issuing. They went under because of the kinds of bad loans made by other companies that they were buying from other people. Or rather, the kinds of investment products they were buying that included bad loans that were issued by other people.

The Republicans have good reason to want to run away from their records. They are responsible for seriously damaging the economies of quite a few countries (including the US), and killing at least one. And they are responsible for a hell of a lot of people losing a hell of a lot of money.

What utterly astonishes me is that after doing all of that, there are still people who are stupid enough to support them.