NightBlogger

Mary Ann Akers
While congress considers a taxpayer-funded rescue plan, the twin mortgage giants are planning to host receptions in Denver, where Democrats will hold their convention beginning Aug. 28, and in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where Republicans will gather a week later. “Building stable communities for America’s future,” reads the invitation to join Fannie and Freddie for a “housing industry open house reception” at the posh Graves Hotel in Minneapolis, which is listed as one of the “gold list reserve top hotels in the world” by Conde Nast Traveler magazine. “More than 400 expected to attend,” the invitation promises. (The planned parties are especially ironic given that both the Denver and Minneapolis metropolitan areas have been plagued with record numbers of foreclosures.) “Fannie and Freddie should focus on opening the doors to home-ownership, not the doors to swanky lobbyist parties with politicians,” says DeMint’s spokesman Wesley Denton. “If Americans are being forced to bail them out, they should learn to buy drinks on their own dime, not the taxpayers’.” More