MSNBC "Hardball with Chris Matthews" Interview - Transcript

Interview

MR. MATTHEWS: Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters is from California. She's on the Financial Services Committee.

Congresswoman, what do you make of John McCain's call for a delay in the debate Friday night?

REP. WATERS: Well, I was pretty shocked when I heard that he had suggested that they should put off the debate. And I'm suspicious. I believe that John McCain does not want to debate because he's not prepared to debate Barack Obama. I don't think he's ready.

I don't think he's competent to talk about the economy. I don't think that he's competent to talk about the subprime meltdown and what that means and how to help these homeowners with modifications and, you know, assistance to them, working with the services. I don't think he understands all of this.

MR. MATTHEWS: What do you make of Senator Hatch's comment just now that the reason we're in this mess financially is because, under the Democratic government back in the administration of President Clinton, there was an effort to try to make everyone a homeowner? Was that too aggressive?

REP. WATERS: No, I think that's a cheap shot. As a matter of fact, President Bush has been known to tout how much they have done to help minority homeowners and poor people get into homes. Everybody had known for a long time that there was redlining at one time in this country where people who could afford to purchase were not allowed to. Literally these communities were just drawn out of the economic possibility of owning a home. And so everybody was anxious to see what could be done to correct that. And Democrats and Republicans alike pushed for home ownership; talked about home ownership not only as the American dream but about amassing resources and capital so that they could have equity and take that equity and invest in businesses. So it was something that everybody worked on, Republicans alike.

And I don't blame, you know, Fannie and Freddie for doing what they were organized to do. They just didn't do it right. They got too carried away, came up with all of these exotic products; you know, no-documentation loans, these ARMs that were resetting and quadrupling the amount of the interest rate.

So it's not that, you know, low-income people cannot afford homes. Many of these people pay their rent, pay all of their bills on time. They cannot afford the down payment. But if they had been given the products with 30-year fixed mortgages, they would have been able to stay in the homes. They got into all of these exotic products. The regulatory agencies should have stopped them. They should have known about the no-documentation loans.

MR. MATTHEWS: Right.

REP. WATERS: They should have known about the teaser rate. They should have known about the resets. They should have stopped that. They're the ones who are supposed to be doing the auditing and have their eye on the ball, and they did not do it.

MR. MATTHEWS: Okay, thank you very much for joining us tonight, U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California.

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