Is Sen. Chuck Schumer Trying to Have it Both Ways When it Comes to Deregulation?

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Rewriting History?

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York says a lack of regulation by the Bush administration is responsible for the current economic troubles. The New York Sun reports Schumer says, "Eight years of deregulatory zeal by the Bush administration, an attitude of 'the market can do no wrong,' have led us down a short path to economic recession."

But Schumer fails to mention he has been a leading voice of deregulation. The Sun reports he championed the repeal in 1999 of the Glass-Steagall Act, the law which separated commercial and investment banking.

He also wrote an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal in 2006 which warned about what he called "overzealous regulators" and opposed a bill in 2005 that would have transformed Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae from large investment funds into "conduits" that only bought mortgages, packaged them into securities and sold them on the market.

Poor Choice of Words

Embattled New York Congressman Charlie Rangel says he did not mean to call Sarah Palin disabled. Rangel was asked in an interview Friday why Democrats are afraid of Palin. Rangel responded, "You got to be kind to the disabled."

When asked if that was true he said, "There's no question about it politically. It's a nightmare to think that a person's foreign policy is based on their ability to look at Russia from where they live."

Rangel later issued a statement saying he never meant to use the word "disabled" and that Palin entered the campaign with a "disadvantage in the area of foreign policy."

Car Trouble

First it was houses, now John McCain is catching heat over the number of vehicles he owns. Newsweek magazine reports vehicle registration records indicate John and Cindy McCain own 13 vehicles compared to just one for Barack and Michelle Obama.

Newsweek takes issue with the type of vehicles the McCains own. The magazine cites an interview McCain gave to WXYZ TV in Detroit in which he said, "I've bought American literally all my life and I'm proud."

In fact, two of the vehicles are foreign-made — a 2005 Volkswagen and a 2001 Honda sedan. But it is not until the final paragraph that Newsweek says only one car is registered to the Arizona senator — an American-made Cadillac. Eleven of the vehicles are registered to Cindy McCain, who is a known drift-racer and car-enthusiast.

Funny Business

Minnesota Democratic Senate candidate and former comedian Al Franken apparently helped craft an opening "Saturday Night Live" skit that mocked John McCain. The Politico newspaper reports sources at NBC said Franken called the show's executive producer about an idea for a spoof in which McCain is recording over-the-top campaign ads. The skit aired Saturday night.

One show insider said that at a script read-through meeting, Franken was one of two credited writers for the sketch. But Franken — who was last a writer for "Saturday Night Live" 13 years ago — is denying his role, sort of.

An aide says Franken was having a phone conversation about an unrelated topic with the show's executive producer when he mentioned his idea, but not as a sketch. And, his spokeswoman Colleen Murray says, "Al's not in the business of developing skits anymore."

— FOX News Channel's Zachary Kenworthy contributed to this report.