The Bush administration certainly did not step in to avert a foreseeable crisis. However, neither did the Democratically-controlled Congress. Democrats, led by Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi, among others, put pressure on mortgage companies to hand out these ill-advised loans. They called anyone who stood in their way as racist. Why, because these insane loans where targeted to the poor and minorities. Therefore, if you dared to question the wisdom of such loans, you were discriminating against the poor.