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ENDOSCOPY:
"How about the hearing where the Democrats went berserk over a report about Fannie and Freddy?"

As I said before, post ACTUAL PASSED LEGISLATION, not soundbytes. None of the soundbytes you posted possess the force of law. Either you can't follow directions or this is the best evidence you have to offer. Nevertheless, there are several counterpoints to make about this:

ENDOSCOPY:
"Could this response by the Democrats be a reason nothing was done?"

1) Actually, something was done or at least attempted. Democrats were not fundamentally opposed to all regulation; they were simply opposed to the solution being offered by the Republicans. In fact, Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland) authored his own regulatory bill in 2005 that was supposed to be the Democratic alternative to the one Chuck Hagel authored. Unfortunately, Republicans killed BOTH Hagel's and Sarbanes' bills in committee.

http://www.allbusiness.com/government/532756-1.htm...
"During deliberations, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Alabama) dismissed the alternative submitted by ranking member Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Maryland)."

2) More proof that Democrats were not fundamentally opposed to any regulation is that shortly after the 2006 elections, one of the first pieces of legislation passed by the Democrats was regulatory legislation, which Republicans FAILED to pass in the 12 years they controlled Congress from 1995-2006.

BARNEY FRANK: "I became chairman of the Banking Committee on January 31st 2007. Less than 2 months later, I did what the Republicans hadn't been able to do in 12 years -- get through the committee a very tough regulatory bill and it passed the House in May. I've always felt 2 things about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- that they had important roles to play but that their regulation should be improved. From 1995 to 2006 when the Republicans controlled Congress, no regulatory legislation was passed. The first time I had any real authority on this was January of 2007 and within 2 months we had passed a bill that regulated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The earliest chance we got to put tough regulation on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, we did it.

BILL O'RIELLY: "Ok. Alright, that's swell."

To suggest that Democrats did nothing is to ignore the facts. The Democrats tried once in 2005 while Republicans controlled Congress to pass regulatory legislation authored by Democrat Paul Sarbanes, and it was killed in committee. After winning a slim Congressional majority in the 2006 elections, the Democrats tried again in 2007 and successfully passed regulatory legislation, but it was simply too late to stop the momentum of Freddie Mac's collapse.

3) You have FAILED to show a causal relationship between the Democrats' testimony in your youtube link and the failure of the regulatory bills to be introduced to the floor of the Senate. What's comical is that you imply that Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist was somehow swayed by the testimony of the minority Democrats and that therefore the Democrats are responsible for the failure of Chuck Hagel's and Paul Sarbanes' regulatory bills.

Well, you couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, Democrats were often barred from the rooms where Republicans were crafting legislation. Bill Frist wasn't swayed by the minority Democrats into rejecting Hagel's legislation. In fact, Frist has demonstrated in the past that he wouldn't care if the minority Democrats had been excluded COMPLETELY from all aspects of the legislative process.

Once again, you've FAILED to prove that it was the Democrats (not the DCI Lobbyist Group and the Republicans DCI paid off) who forced Bill Frist's hand into refusing to introduce Hagel's bill onto the Senate floor.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10...
"On two of the most critical bills this Congress has considered -- the Medicare and energy bills -- Republican committee members met in private, refusing to allow entry to Democrats by claiming that the meetings were not official conference sessions.

While Republican leaders claimed to obey congressional rules by allowing Democrats to attend the opening and closing sessions, the actual writing of the bills was done in secret and exclusively by Republicans; in some cases, Democrats didn't even know in which room their committee colleagues were holed up writing the bill. Democrats were not permitted entry into the closed-door talks to write the complicated bill."

http://www.spa.american.edu/ccps/getpdf.php?table=...
"Bush chose to govern from the 'right-in' rather than the 'center-out.' This pattern held on budget resolutions, tax cuts, energy, Medicare prescription drugs, family planning and abortion, trade, and most other major bills. This tended to leave Democrats out of the equation and to put great pressure on Republican moderates to acquiesce in positions formulated by the conservative 'majority within the majority.'

The exclusion of Democrats from conference committees reached a new high in 2003, facilitated by unified Republican control of the House, Senate, and Presidency. The extraordinary lengths to which the Republicans went to win roll-call votes represented a further shutting out of Democrats, for the idea was to win with as little bipartisan accommodation as possible. 'The Republicans had better hope that the Democrats never regain the majority,' Sen. John McCain warned in late 2003."

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20020415/nichols
"Vice President Dick Cheney cleared his calendar for an April 17 private meeting with Lay regarding what aides described as 'energy policy matters' and 'the energy crisis in California.' Cheney and his aides met at least six times with Lay and other Enron officials while preparing the National Energy Policy Development Group's report, which is the basis for the Administration's energy policy proposals. When Cheney and Lay met in April 2001, Lay handed Cheney a three-page "wish list" of corporate recommendations.

Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972, task forces like Cheney's must conduct public meetings, must allow interested parties to attend and must keep publicly available records. But arguing "executive privilege," Cheney, his aides and Cabinet departments have refused requests for records, despite legal challenges from the General Accounting Office and private groups."

When oil execs were questioned about the existence of this PRIVATE meeting, they LIED about it before Congress with the help of Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who refused to swear them under oath:
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/_files/energy110...
"CHAIRMAN TED STEVENS: The question whether Senator Domenici and I should administer oaths to these witnesses. I shall not administer an oath today.

CANTWELL: Mr. Chairman, I did send you a letter cosigned by eight of my colleagues asking that the witnesses be sworn in. This rare joint hearing--

STEVENS: I did not yield to make a statement.

BOXER: Mr. Chairman, I would like the committee to vote on whether we swear--

STEVENS: There will be no vote. It is not in order at all.

BOXER: Mr. Chairman, I move that we swear in the witnesses.

STEVENS: And I rule that out of order.

CANTWELL: I second the motion.

STEVENS: Thank you very much. That is the last we are going to hear about that because it is out of order. "

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0...
"Bill Thomas (R-CA) broke down in tears on the House floor today as he confessed to a hushed assemblage that he summoned the Capitol police to break up a meeting of Democrats. Late in the evening of July 17, Republican committee staffers substantially rewrote the Portman-Cardin bill and Thomas introduced the new 90-page bill as a substitute the next day, demanding a vote before any congressmen of either party had a chance to read it. The legislation is both complex and controversial. The Democrats objected and adjourned to a nearby library to review their options, leaving behind a single member, Pete Stark of California, to delay action by the committee by exercising his prerogative to have the bill read line-by-line. Thomas summoned the Capitol police to eject the Democrats from their impromptu meeting room, claiming they were engaging in disorderly conduct."

4) For the "party of personal responsibility," you sure are having an awfully difficult time accepting responsibility for this mess.

LOL.

Keep spinning.

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