Elder Scam
by digby
“I think it’s unfortunate that they go to these elder statesmen of the parties at their stage in life and solicit things like that,” [Fred Thompson] said. “I have my own opinion, I disagree with Bob Dole even though I respect Bob Dole very much.”
Asked by TPM whether his reference to that “stage in life” suggested Dole was too infirm to render sound judgement, Thompson clarified that he took issue with the Romney campaign’s effort to court the former presidential nominee.
“He’s been in bad health, he’s had bad legs,” Thompson said. “I hate it when people irritate folks like that…you know they shouldn’t be bugged and dragged into all this, but if they want to they’re plenty capable of making their own decisions.”
I guess he’s an expert. After all, this is the guy who’s out there conning the elderly into taking out reverse mortgages, something many observers believe is the next sub-prime crisis:
Thompson’s new employer, however, has a troubled track record. Regulators in Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington State have cracked down on the firm for deceptive marketing and consumer fraud. In February, for instance, the Illinois attorney general, Lisa Madigan, sued AAG and its president for direct-mail solicitations that Madigan described as “extremely misleading.” That same month, the state of Massachusetts temporarily banned the company from doing business in the state…
In AAG’s case, putting a celebrity face on its mortgage products is at the core of the company’s marketing strategy. Before hiring Thompson, the company used the late veteran actor Peter Graves as its spokesman. And in August 2009, AAG president and CEO Reza Jahangiri explained that a large part of the company’s national marketing campaign would revolve around a “celebrity spokesperson” who “adds that credibility and gets borrowers a little more comfortable with the company.”
Nice. Kindly old Arthur Branch vouches for it so it must be ok.
Read the whole article for the full dossier on Thompson’s employer’s deceptive practices (and Thompson’s history of shilling for con artists and elder scammers.) He really should be ashamed of himself. He can’t need money that badly.
Update: And, by the way, Bob Dole was able to vigorously run for president when he was 73 years old — and that was after a lifetime of dealing with war injuries suffered when he was mowed down by German machine gun fire in Italy in 1945. When Thompson ran in 2008 (at the age of 66) he couldn’t cross the Iowa County Fairgrounds without using a golf cart. Just saying. He’s an asshole.
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