> Is there
> something behind all this, or is it just some silliness by the GOP?
On the ideological level, it's nutcake neoliberalism, the loony idea that markets will magically regulate themselves. Deep down, though, it's fueled by nativism and revanchism. For all the problems of Freddie and Fannie, they democratized home ownership, especially among citizens of color. The Rethugs want to go back to the days when lily-white WASP bank officers enforced America's version of apartheid.
You'll find the exact same meme in the Rethugs' demonization of ACORN, or unions, or Food Stamps, etc. Its always the same tired refrain -- "I made it with no help, why didn't they". Of course, they made it with the help of (1) public education and (2) GI bills and (3) military-industrial Keynesianism and (4) housing-highway-suburban-sprawl subsidies, all those non-market interventions which they claim are the Antichrist.
-- DRR